Congrats to Aaron who ran a huge PR of 3 minutes and for breaking 2:20! Matt ran a great race (3 min PR!), Dave PR'd again (and fell at the finish again) and Clyde, Mike, Iain (steady as ever), Jon, Ben, Jacob (watch out for him in the future), Justin, Hille (3 min PR), and Collin (off the couch) all ran solid races.
As for me, I felt more prepared for this race than the past two years so I thought 2:18 was a stretch, but possible. And I thought sub 2:20 was very possible and anything above it would be disappointing. Alas, disappointment.
2012 1:10:05 / 1:11:09 = 2:21:14
2013 1:10:45 / 1:09:40 = 2:20:25
2014 1:11:25 / 1:09:03 = 2:20:28
Looking at this it appears I ran a smarter race, which I probably did, but I just didn't have it in me to run sub 2:20. I put it all out there, so I am happy for that, but something was slightly off. I ran the downhills super well but any mile with a hill or flat I was working too hard. This explains my slower first half where there are more hills. I would surmise that I just wasn't in the best shape for a marathon. More miles probably would have served me well. I only got up to around 75 running miles a week which is less than usual, even for me who isn't a big miles guy, obviously.
To the race. The race got started 15 minutes late because the busses were delayed. I didn't mind because the sun came out sooner and I didn't think heat would be a factor. For the first three miles we were in a big pack (Iain, Jon, Jacob, Aaron, and Japanese runner). There were probably a bunch of others right on our heals but I didn't look back. At around mile four Aaron and I picked it up a bit and put a slight gap on the group. Aaron and I then ran together up Veyo and through the half way point. I noticed that my Veyo and mile 10 splits seemed slow (5:58,5:50) but I tried not to worry about it. I was holding back ever so slightly but I was still working more than I wanted. Not good. Fortunately my spirits were lifted at miles 15 and 16 where I ran two 4:57s. Crazy at it sounds that was the moment Aaron broke away and gapped me by about 20 seconds. He didn't have a watch to confirm but I know he ran those miles in around 4:45! From 16 on the theme was hammer the downhills and struggle on the uphills and flats....all the way to the finish. The wheels never really fell off but nothing felt smooth. My neck and upper body, more than anything else, never felt loose which probably cost me some energy. Should have hit the hot tub yesterday :)
Anyway, I don't want to sound like a complete debbie downer. I placed second, which is awesome, and I ran my best. I can't ask for more than that and I will take away a few lessons learned for the future. For one, we are already planning a Big Mountain/Emigration or Monte Cristo downhill dash to prep for next year.
Doing the same thing and expecting better results won't cut it!
Splits:
5:15,5:32,5:19,5:15,5:18,5:01,5:08,5:58,5:43,5:33,5:50,5:30,5:15
5:15,4:57,4:57,5:08,5:08,5:32,5:19,4:58,5:22,5:14,5:15,5:30,5:33
