<p>Trail marathon. This time I actually did some good training for it. The spaghetti feed was good with a nice 3 piece folk band playing.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Weather was cool at the start but did get warm. Despite being on a wooded trail there was a nice breeze in my face. Slept in the car, which went sorta ok. Woke up on time and was one of the first to the bus pickup. Reached the starting line with an hour and 20 minutes to go. Nearly first in line for the portapotty, I had remembered to bring everything and it was looking like a good day. BSd with a couple of runners. One was a preacher named dave who knew Bjorklund and Shorter and had served in Iraq. Final prep went well and I toed the line.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>My pr was 4:06, but thought I had sub 4 for sure and maybe a 3:55 in me, maybe even a 3:50 if everything was perfect.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Off we go. The first mile is a paved road with one small hill, marker 1 in 8:15. Maybe too fast but it was effortless. Miles 2 and 3 had some downhill, they went in 8:06, 9:09. Yikes again, but still no strain. So I threw the expectations out the window and ran what felt right. Miles 4,5,6, in 8:22, 8:18, 8:18. I did the first 3 miles without my mp3 player as a safety precaution, fumbled with it during mile 4, got it on, good to go. Miles are still fast but effortless.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miles 7,8,9 in 8:25, 8:35, 8:17. Still good. Miles 10,11,12 in 8:31, 8:07, 8:39. Mile 11 had some downhill and I slowed going through the waterstops at 10 and 12. Mile 13 in 8:41, first half in 1:49:37. Things are going way way way better than I expected. Worked on maintaining form and try to stay steady on the pace. Miles 14,15,16 in 8:34, 8:26, 8:47. I took my G1, ibuprofen, and finished off the licorice during mile 14. At the rest of the aid stations I would grab a cup of poweraid and a cup of water, drink the poweraid, about half the water, and pour the rest over my head. I am now falling into the pace I was originally targeting. The 2:14:29 is an all time pr for 16 miles and I would set a new all time pr for every mile to the end.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miles 17,18,19 in 8:39, 8:42, 8:47. It was getting warm, I had slowed a little but still going strong. Miles 20, 21, 22 in 8:52, 8:39, 8:56. I was slowing more and could have kicked it down but decided not to risk blowing up. I was passed about the same number of people that were passing me. In my last 3 marathon I was running about 9:30 pace for the last 8 miles and I usually passed 10 to 20 runners and maybe 1 would pass me. But at this pace I am among people who can actually run. I maintain for 2 more miles.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miles 23, 23 in 9:11, 9:07. The left hip and quad are definetely complaining, but I hold it together and start to kick down. From here to the end I pass about 20 runners and nobody passes me.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Miles 25,26 in 8:45, 8:23 with 1:29 for the last .2. The last .2 was under 7:30 pace and about 20 yards from the finish I caught one last runner with a hard sprint. My watch says 3:43:58, a PR of over 22 minutes. This goes with PRs for 5k, 10k, 30k, and 20 miles that I had set during training. In the first weekend of taper I had missed a half marathon PR by 26 seconds, so I felt that this was the best training I had ever done and a smart run would be a guarenteed PR, and it was, and ran the entire distance without walking a single time. Usually I bonk or lock up a knee at mile 19.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Splits were 1:49:37,1:54:21. My 11th and 22nd fastest half marathons. The 30k time of 2:37 is 3 minute pr over a 1 minute pr I ran last month.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Recovering. Some stiffness in the legs, nothing serious. I am contemplating a 50k trail run next weekend.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Good runs everybody.</p>
