i ran a really smart and well executed race, if i do say so myself :) the plan was to go out at 7:45s and see where that took me. my guess is that i was probably pretty close to that if the garmin hadn't made the miscalculations in the underpasses. i was really consistent and made sure i didn't get caught up in frenzy of the half marathoners. i kept a "feel" on my HR and scaled back when it felt too high. that became a little hard around mile 11 when everyone started screaming, "your almost there" and tried to pick it up to the half finish. there are DEFINITELY way more halfers in this.... but, i stuck to the plan and kept it consistent. i took some preemptive motrin at mile 10 just incase. this, i think, ended up being a fantastic decision. nothing was hurting at the time, but i just wanted to stay ahead of it. i also made the decision to run with my fuel belt. this, also, ended up being a fabulous decision. apparently there wasn't any Gu on the first half of the course. i started with 3 bottles: one water, one w/ a scoop of EFS and one with a scoop of EFS and pre-race. i drank the water first. i started the EFS one about 6 miles in. i filled up my empty with water again, drank that, and then started the pre-race bottle around mile 14-16 (not entirely sure), i had one more bottle of water after that. this worked out great. i also grabbed a Gu at some point and had that as well, but I don't really remember when. I felt well fueled at all times. never felt hungry.
I was well trained for this, and that was apparent in the last 10 miles when i started to pass a lot of people. as i think about it now, actually, i don't remember getting passed at all in the second half. i never cramped, never felt like i was going to die. i was definitely ready to be done by mile 23, but nothing really "hurt". because my garmin was off, i wasn't really sure where i was for much of the second half of the race. scott and i were trying to do the math about what i needed to finish in sub 3:20, which was my A goal for this race. we figured it was about an 8 min pace, but we were moving faster than that. the last mile and a half were hard. i wanted to be done, but at the same time i was trying to increase my pace to finish in sub 3:20. the last 2 miles were around 7min avgs and it is a good thing. i finished with 7 seconds to spare. phew!

one other point of note: in my running for the last year or so, since switching to newtons, i feel like my feet have been my limiter. i've been plagued with ridiculous blisters. i switched to injinji socks and that made all the difference in the world. i had one blister that i didn't even realize until i was at home getting in the shower. my toenails are completely fine. i won't lose a single one. they are really amazing. i will actually take the time to use them for all running races and even 70.3+ tris.

i am extremely grateful to scott, who ran with me the second half. it was nice to have company. i owe him big. he is seriously the best coach i could have hoped for.

we also had great fexy cheering support throughout, which made it a fun. they had told us where they were planning to be, and looking for them at the different points and hearing them scream for me was so motivating. i am so lucky to have such great teammates.

the weather was also amazing. cold, while waiting for the start, but great within minutes of starting. it was a PR kind of day. it was a 31 minute PR for me, which i am just thrilled about. if you had told me EVER that i was capable of a 3:teen marathon, I wouldn't have believed you. i've only secretly entertained that thought for about 2 weeks prior to this race. i'm just on a freaking cloud right now.

absolutely nothing. i was expertly trained (thanks, scott). i had a nutrition plan and pace strategy, and worked them. i left nothing to chance.

i walked around looking for ryan and the rest of the team. stretched a little.


nothing.


i had heard a few complaints about missing mile markers and no nutrition on the course like they had said there would be. i didn't notice any of these things because i had my garmin and my fuel belt.

i really enjoyed this course a lot. for that alone, i would highly recommend this race.