I was recently thinking of the quote attributed to Steve Prefontaine, "The only good pace is suicide pace, and today's a good day to die." That was sort of my approach to today's race. I knew the first 6 miles or so were mostly downhill, and then the race got harder after that. I decided to "cruise" those first 6 miles or so until the hill that climbs out of right hand fork up to the golf course. I would then just have to trust in my mental strength and physical training to hold on and run as strong as I could the rest of the race. My good 18 miler a couple of weeks ago gave me confidence that I could run the 13.1 mile distance with little risk of bonking.
I was sitting in the portapotty (for the 3rd time this morning) when Hawk announced 30 seconds before the start. With chip timing, I wasn't too worried, but I didn't want to get stuck behind a wall of slower runners. I hustled and climbed the fence 10-20 yards behind the start line just as the race began and started in about the perfect spot for me. Some runners were faster, some slower, and it never got too congested. Within the first mile or two most runners had settled into their race pace.
My first six mile splits were: 6:52, 7:21, 7:30, 7:32, 7:36, 7:43 (7:26/mi avg). I was still at about 7:30/mi avg pace at the midpoint of the race. I was very pleased, but I knew the struggle was just beginning as I headed up the hill to the golf course. I took a few shot blocks, a good drink of water at the aid station, and faced the coming challenge head on.
My pace varied quite a bit over the next 5 miles, taking it easy on the uphills, and taking off the brakes on the downhills. Splits: 8:08, 7:47, 8:27, 8:58, 8:52. I was working hard and was tiring, but still felt pain free and confident. The course had been shaded with perfect cool breezes the first 6 miles. It began to get warmer during these miles, especially in the unshaded sections.
Once I had climbed up the last big hill and was headed west on the long straightaway I focused on my form and maintaining a steady pace as I focused on a couple of older runners ahead of me (about my age) and aimed to maintain or close the gap. I managed to finally catch and pass one of them, but not the other.
I kept telling myself to maintain the steady effort, and that I was mentally tough enough that I would be able to muster a decent sprint at the end. As it turns out, my final sprint was only minimal. I later realized I had kind of been sprinting the entire last couple of miles: My paces for the last two miles were 8:17, 8:06. I've been training at around 9:00 pace, so low 8:00's was pretty much sprinting for me.
I finished 200 of 855 runners overall (men & women). It felt very good to be in the top 25% again instead of the bottom 25%. My finish time of 1:42 was 15 minutes (>1:00min/mi) faster than my time of 1:57 last year.
I'm very satisfied with my training at this point, and with my performance at this race.
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