We headed out on Saturday. The weather was great – low 50s and soon to be sunny. Beforehand I saw my coach and asked if this one was to be long and slow. He correctly me rightly and said it should be long and easy. I stood corrected, and I agreed. So after we took off I followed a pair of runners who kept a constant, but decent pace (I interpreted this as easy, but maybe it was too fast). After about 4 miles I thought they were going too fast so let them drift off ahead of me. While going down Lake Austin Blvd a group of four guys split around me and two ran on the left and other two on the right – this was unusual. They were much faster. A second later my coach was running next to me. He had been running with them and now they just gracefully zoomed ahead. Now remember I felt that I had been going too fast, and was starting to slow down. So when he appeared I continued my faster pace. I felt I was holding him back. He said no that he wanted to run with me. Unfortunately I felt like a student with the teacher staring over me watching my every move. This continued down Scenic. At a water stop I noticed that some of the other runners who stopped at the same time or just a few minutes later were typically ahead of me – that is, I was going too fast. However, the next section is to run to the top of Mt Bonnell. And again my coach is right beside me and I just don’t want to disappoint him. I mention that I might need to walk the hill. He mentioned that the hill is too steep and a runner has to break stride to even climb it. I agree. Just before the start of it a much faster runner named Jimmy starts taking smack with my coach and off they go up the hill. I breathed a sigh of relief because I could finally run on my own at my own pace. On the way up I walked a bit, but ran most of it. As a crested the top, there my coach was again waiting for me, and again I felt that I had to push it yet I could barely breathe. We reached the turn around, and came back down Mt Bonnell and headed down Pecos. I was looking ahead to a hill on Pecos and knew that I was done – fully cooked, and had to walk the hill. I felt terrible. I knew my coach could just float up it, but he was kind and we walked it together. Finally on the downside I finally asked my to leave me. I needed to run on my own at my own pace with my own thoughts – and I was feeling down because I just had walked. On he went and caught up with Jimmy. I saw him at the next water stop, but this time he headed out with Jimmy. I ran the rest of the way on my own listening to my iPod blasting in my ear. I kept up a slower but constant pace. When I got to the last mile I noticed that if I continued to press I could finish 18 minutes early. This would mean that I had run it with a 9 minutes/mile pace – my marathon goal. At the end my watch read 2:42:59. Close enough – 9:03. I feel bad about what happened with my coach. There have been many times that I thought it would be great to have my coach run with us. My only thought is that having him there was great, but I think a short (mile or two) run together would be great, but for me it was too long and too much pressure.
Update: Each person should presents their own perspective. See what my coach said.
