At 0545, the Protestant Church service started. Pastor Bowman and the praise band did another fine job. "Run from evil, Run to God". Sounds like what I like to tell people in my line of work.
At 0630 it was time to get outside. Some mist.
At 0710, our blue wave started. It was crowded at first and I wanted to hit my first mile split of 11 minutes. I did. Thereafter, I was even able to fell like I was slowing, and clicked off many more 11 minute miles. The first 10 miles was a light but steady rain - something you might think twice about going out it otherwise. My compression shirt was perfect - got wet but not baggy.
We hit the 13 mile halfway point and I was feeling good. Mile 14 and 15 and 16 went well, seeing my friend Jay. At mile 17, I saw my mother and father. Pretty cool to see both of them!
But about mile 18, I was slowing down. I was a little behind pace at the 30K mark (18.3) but it was a good time. Thereafter I could not keep the pace and fell behind. Sometime in the next 5K, the 5 hour group passed me and then a second 5 hour group. At that time, I just knew I wanted to finish as best as I could. My goal had been 4:45, but I kept on.
Toward the end, mile 23, I tried to get it going. It did not really get going, but I kept at it. At mile 25, I had written "Kick!" and I ran the whole way in, nearly falling at one point, but stayed upright. When I could see the clock I ran as hard as I could to make every second count. I knew I'd be close to my previous best of 5:05.
My clock time was 5:06 but my chip time was... 5:04!!! A new personal best!!!!
And under tough conditions. My coach Glenn later that day said that I should try a cold, dry place to race, like Las Vegas. Great idea! Anyone who has done 65 marathons has a lot of good advice to give.
Check out my detailed results here.
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