Two weeks after the race and I'm finally getting around to writing it up. I could go on about being busy doing this and that but in reality it took me a little while to process it properly. In a very strict sense, it was a failure. I ran 3:06:49 which is not Sub 3.
All signs pointed to a difficult day starting Friday when I slipped on ice walking to catch the Airport Flyer. It didn't seem bad at the time but when I woke up Saturday I realized I was wrong. My lower back was so tight it was difficult to walk first thing in the morning. I stretched and showered before moving around and eventually felt limber enough to go for a run. What was supposed to be a short course preview run turned into 9+ miles due to my uncharacteristically poor following of directions (that I wrote down wrong to begin with as well). The off and on rain combined with temperatures in the mid 60s on race day didn't help either.
When the gun went off Sunday and I got out right on pace through the first mile, I honestly felt comfortable enough and confident that I could make it through in spite of the extra challenges I had on top of the already difficult task of running 26.2 miles. Even as I went through the halfway point and started on the second loop (Birmingham is a two loop course for the marathon) I still felt sure that the Sub 3 quest was in the bag. Everything changed around mile 17. The pace started to slip and I couldn't find the strength to get it back. I came close to recovering pace around 20 miles but that was it. The remaining miles clicked off about 20 to 30 seconds shy of what I needed.
It was quite humbling to cross the finish line feeling about as exhausted as any other all out marathon effort but see the time so far from what I knew I was capable of. Not to mention well short of Sub 3.
Feeling a little dejected and burdened by the idea that I had let a lot of people down, the wonderful friends and family I have came to support me and help me keep things in perspective. Thanks to all of you for that.
And thanks for helping raise nearly $1000 for PtR so far! If this pace remains steady then we'll raise ~$6000 for PtR by the end of the year, nearly double the goal I have set!
Going forward I will continue to aim for Sub 3 for each marathon but I want to get that time I lost back too! So as it stands my total time is 6:06:28. I'm pacing my next marathon in Knoxville, TN on March 25th so not an opportunity to get it all back there. Which is for the best since it's not a particularly fast course. But Boston is my April marathon and I intend to at least beat my worst time at Boston of 2:52:21 which would get all that lost time back and more!
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