I was in Corral 1, so I was right at the front to my surprise. Could even see the woman singing the national anthem, which was awesome. Corral 1 included everyone running a 3:10 and below... including elites. I placed myself at the back of the corral to make sure I didn't get caught up with any sub-3 runners.

Starting off it was great, I never looked at heart rate and just ran by feel and pace. The first half was the "hilly" portion, but I was trained for hills now, so no big deal.

Here's my splits from the official results.
5 Km 22:08 --- split ave: 7:08/mile -- total ave: 7:08/mile
10 Km 43:13 --- split ave: 6:48/mile -- total ave: 6:58/mile
7.4 Mi 51:36 --- split ave: 6:59/mile -- total ave: 6:58/mile
Half 1:32:11 --- split ave: 7:07/mile -- total ave: 7:02/mile
14.5 Mi 1:42:40 --- split ave: 7:29/mile -- total ave: 7:04/mile
20.5 M 2:27:14 --- split ave: 7:25/mile -- total ave: 7:10/mile
(needed to only maintain a 7:42 for the next 5.7miles to do a 3:10 at this point)
26.2 M 3:31:13 --- split ave: 11:13/mile -- total ave: 8:03/mile

Although I was trying for a sub 3:10 to BQ, I can't be that disappointed by my performance. I set a few new PRs during this race. The first being a new half marathon PR during the first half. My previous PR was from a month and a half ago at the Platte River Half in Denver with a 1:36. So to do a 1:32 and then still keep the pace at sub 7:30 for another 7+ miles shows a huge amount of improvement. So definitely happy about that. Another PR actually comes starting from mile 4 to 7.1, where I did a 20:53 5k time (slightly faster than the 21:05 that the 5k to 10k mats registered, but both would be a new PR since high school). The final PR comes of course with the marathon itself, although slower than I hoped, it's still a PR considering my last (first) marathon was in Sedona on a hilly course that I was untrained for was a 4:02 (but I say I 'took it easy' on that race considering I could still go for hikes the day after). It's still a new PR by 31 minutes.

Back to how I felt during the race... the first half was supposed to be the hardest part (terrain wise). It was, but the hills were relatively small compared to what I do here in Colorado now. So it felt easy running up them and down them while others were whining about them. The first half went by awesome. I saw my time and though, "sweet, that was actually WAY too easy to do... but I should probably back the pace off just in case." which is what I did. I figured I'd banked a large amount of time at that point, knowing a 1:34 would allow me to do 7:15 pace from then on out and still hit 3:10. I calculated that the extra 2 minutes... 120seconds... divided by 13... ~9 seconds. So I could actually start doing 7:24s instead of 7:15s and still be good. So I backed off and for the next 6 miles I averaged 7:25s, some 7:20s, some 7:30s, etc. Just kept myself in check and knew that I had done the math right. Recalculating each mile or two to make sure I didn't mess up.

Then it happened... not the wall... but the marine layer giving us moisture, cloud cover from the sun and keeping us cool... it went away. The temperature all of the sudden rose 20 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, 10 degrees warmer than normal for San Diego this time of year. This was somewhere around mile 15 or 16. I began throwing a cup of water on my chest, drinking one, and dumping another on my head. Then they had wet cold sponges at one point. I grabbed it, threw it inside my hat and put the hat back on. Each water station I did the same thing, if there was no sponge, I'd keep the one I had take the hat off and dump more water on it and put it back on. It didn't work, the sun got me, sapped my energy, I hit the wall and after a mile when my pace sank from 7:25 to 8:25, then the next mile went to a 9:10 I knew the BQ time was done. I kept pushing, did a 9:08 for mile 23 and realized at that point, seeing a 2:56 on the clock with 3.2 miles to go... there was no way I could do a 13 minute 5k pace. But I still thought... hey, 3:20-3:25 isn't bad at all! 3 miles x 9 = 27.. 2:56 + :27 = 3:23... I'll take it if 9 minute miles is all I have in me. But, unfortunately that heat caught up to me. All of the sudden it hit me like a brick around 23.5 miles. I dropped to a 13:01, the legs didn't want to move. But I thought back to my 24 Hours of Utah ultra... and some of the things other runners told me then... mainly: "Just keep moving forward, you'll get through the low points". So that's what I did. It hurt almost as much as mile 45 of my ultra, but I kept pushing on... I did a 12:44 for mile 25, pushed harder and got back to an 11:35 for mile 26, but my "sprint finish" for the last .2 was still only a 10:24... but it felt like a 5:30 pace :)

Overall, a great race, new PRs, still all in the top 10% of the AG, overall and just male racers, and more importantly learned even more than I did at Sedona. Sedona I took it so easy it was hard to learn much, but pushing yourself to the point you explode teaches you more than just getting through it without much effort. I'll definitely be ready for MCM in October, and more importantly, I'll know how I might feel around mile 20 during IMAZ. Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention. Used a new pair of shoes too... had only put .6miles on them on Friday, but they felt so good I had to use them, they were only 6.4oz. I still love them and am glad I used them.

Nothing. I set out with one notion: BQ or blow up trying. That's exactly what I did. I knew BQ was going to be a long shot, but I'd kick myself everyday if I took it easier, finished with a 3:15 and fuel left in the tank and would always wonder just how much fuel was left and if I could have gone faster. This way, I know for sure there was nothing left in the tank, I gave it everything I had from start to finish, unfortunately my body wanted the finish to be at mile 23.

walked a bunch trying to find my friends. Then we walked the mile and a half back to their hotel. Got an easy massage from my friend (she's licensed), took a nap, got in the hot tub at their hotel pool, had a great burger for dinner, got to bed early, woke up and got back in the car to drive back to Denver. Packing the car was the hardest part... the drive went well though. On Tuesday I did a 7.5 mile run at 9min/mile pace. Wednesday I'm feeling good again for the most part.


Glycogen