And the numbers for marathon 11....
- We're over $6000! But there's still one more marathon to go and we can do so much more! Thanks as always for your continued support!
- One person guessed my finishing time of 2:59:19 exactly, 14 people guessed within 10 seconds, and 9 people guessed within 20s for a total donation of $420.
- 11 marathons complete, cumulative time of 32:40:32, average time of 2:58:14. That keeps the average finish time at #Sub3ForPtR and 8 out of 11 have been under 3 hours.
Wow, what a perfect day for a marathon! It was calm, partly cloudy and about 40F. As we got moving I started to have a little FOMO which in this case is pacer's regret. I felt so smooth and springy that I thought to myself "Man, I wish I was racing this one!" But I had a job to do and kept my mind on task, coming through the first mile in 6:50, right on target.
As the miles clicked off, I continued to feel great and the group I had was in the zone as well. The course was essentially flat with some small rollers here and there that did well to break the monotony of being completely flat without adding any significant challenge. I was a bit surprised at how many major intersections we went through along the course. I thought on a number of occasions "These people waiting are going to be here for a while!"
As the race progressed into the latter stages the race was still going well for everyone in my pace group. But things can take a turn for the worse pretty quickly in a marathon so I started breaking out the dad jokes (a.k.a bad puns). The one about a pirate's favorite letter (courtesy of Kate Kokal) was a zinger. And I picked up a new one from someone in the pace group about why bikes have kickstands (they're too tired!).
In the last miles I still felt good so I used that energy to keep everyone with me on pace and focused. Some chants of "Think strong, be strong, stay strong!" for mental strength and "Hey! Oh! Let's go!" to keep everyone's stride on target. As I looked around with a few miles to go, I could tell it was going to be a great day for a lot of people.
I rolled across the finish line feeling like I could have run another five miles but the real joy was seeing the jubilation of everyone finishing around me. There were 30 people that finished between 2:59 and 3:00 alone! Not to mention several that were in my group but eventually pulled away in the final miles. I met the pace coordinator in the finish chute and as he congratulated me on a great pacing job he also said he hadn't seen so many people finish in the three hour pace group!
In summary it was a great day for a lot of people and another strong #Sub3forPtR performance. With one more marathon to go I technically have a cushion of 19:27 to keep the average under 3 hours. But I'm not resting on my laurels as I get ready for the Rehoboth Beach Seashore marathon. If I'm feeling good, I may just see if I can double my cushion! But regardless of how I perform it's been a great ride and we've done a lot of good for Pumped to Run!
See you in a few weeks in Rehoboth Beach!
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