I can come up with lots of valid excuses for having my second slowest marathon (out of 20), but the truth is, I just wasn't mentally or physically prepared for today's Cowtown Marathon.
It was good having Tom Slick in town for this event -- he added quite a bit of his "Tom Slick" charm to this event...he'll probably get his picture in the Ft Worth paper with a cigar in his mouth as he crossed the finish line. He never ceases to impress me, as he is so dedicated to his training and his pre-race routine.
I didn't sleep at all last night, and felt a little feverish...but, I decided to give my 3:40 pacing a shot. The temp was 67F and 90% humidity, with S 15-20 MPH wind. I should be able to run in these "local" conditions. I was more worried for Tom Slick.
I was right on schedule up until the 18th mile, when I made an unscheduled pit stop. I handed the "3:40" sign to one of the group, and said I would catch up. I knew, I wouldn't catch up. I was just feeling aweful. I walk-ran the last 7 miles...totally dejected. I guess some days just aren't your day.
It was a little encouraging to see a few people from our pace group after the race..and they thanked me for the steady effort for the first 18 miles. One of the women, ended up speeding up for a 3:35, and the guy I handed the sign to finished at about 3:41 (I told him to keep the sign as a sourvenir for his first marathon.)
Even though I had a bad day, it was a great weekend. Hanging out with Tom Slick, seeing lots of running buddies, and adding another finisher medal to the collection (3rd of 5 to complete the "Cowtown Star").
I think my finishing time was around 3:53 -- I'm not in a hurry to look at the Garmin.
Update: 2/28/2011
Splits
1 - 8:20
2 - 8:20
3 - 8:21
4 - 8:09
5 - 8:14
6 - 8:15
7 - 8:23
8 - 8:16
9 - 8:24
10 - 8:43 Long uphill mile into the wind..was shooting for around 9:00
11 - 8:20
12 - 8:14
13 - 8:09
14 - 8:08
15 - 8:18
16 - 8:15
17 - 8:13
18 - 9:18 (pit stop..the beginning of the end)
19 - 8:33
20 - 8:41
21 - 9:42
22 - 10:13
23 - 11:06 - I believe this is my all-time slowest marathon mile
24 - 10:44
25 - 11:56 - a new all-time slowest marathon mile.
26 - 8:59 - I managed to eek out a sub-9:00 only because a friend of mine came by with a chance to BQ. She seemed to be struggling, so I let her draft with me. She helped me as much as I helped her. So, I'm wondering if I was really hurting bad -- or just overly lacking motivation for the past 6 miles. I don't know.
Time: 3:52:50
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