Woke at 5 AM. Cold and misting. Did my 40 minute warm-up by myself at 7 AM. Race started at 8 AM. Planned to run 8:42/mile. This is what McMillan said I needed to do to complete a marathon in 4 hours. I felt comfortable, that is, I ran easy. Ankle muscle didn’t tighten up. Whew! What a relief. Early on accidentally lost my Carbo-pro. It fell out. Mile after mile at about 8:30/mile pace. Breathing well, not gasping. Only had Mocha Cliff Shot at mile 6. Up and down the hills. Started breathing hard up the last hills. However the last two miles became a death march. Did not feel good. Shaded the overall experience. Ended in 1:50:59 with a 8:28/mile pace, which beat my plan of 1:53:58. Neat. Confidence building with regards to my marathon goal, but nagging worry why I had such a hard time during the last two miles especially the crappy run inside the expo grounds. Why do I alway hate that expo grounds section. Afterwards I stripped off my wet clothes and changed into dry ones. The wet ones must have weighed pounds. Maybe that helped make it so tough. Or did I go out too fast? Or was it the lack of fuel? Or maybe I just don’t have it in me? Argh!
Update: After the race I looked for my Carbo-pro bottle. I walked the entire outer boundary of the expo center looking. It was still cold and miserable. I was shivering. All I had on was shorts, a shirt, and a fleece. The two mile loop took me a hour to gimp along looking it. I got back to my car and left the center driving slowly while looking at the side of the road. About a mile up the road I found the bottom and top about a foot apart.
01 8:01.17
02 8:36.44
03 8:24.87
04 8:27.88
05 9:31.63 (why is this so long?!)
06 8:22.37
07 8:35.00
08 8:08.00
09 8:17.21
10 8:39.18
11 8:51.61
12 8:28.00
13 7:57.12 (this seems too short)
13.1 1:44.60
