This was not only my first marathon but my first race of any distance since I was about 9 years old. I was new to everything about the race. (I started running distances over 3 miles about a year ago) My Goal was to get 2:59.59 to break 3 hours. Everyones advice before the race was to take it easy for the first half because they said your body will lie to you and tell you to run faster than you should. I kept track with my Garmin and was trying to stay close to the 6:52 mile pace that is required to break 3 hours but Veyo knocked me back from that average. (I had done no hill work for the 3 months preciding the marathon because of calf injuries) i hit halfway at about a 1:32.30 but I felt fine and kept trying to run fast enough to bring the average on my watch closer to 6:52. I was actually amazed how fast the miles kept coming up and I was at 20 before I knew it. I was thinking I might get my sub 3 finish. About mile 22 my right hamstring felt like it was cramping I slowed just a little and it went away and was able to speed back up. I gave it everything I possibly could till the finish line running about a 6:38 pace for the last 4 miles but I came up 21 seconds short of my goal. My watch actually said 6:52 on the homestretch but then corrected itself back to 6:53. I was really disappointed in not pulling off my time. I did qualify for Boston and I did win my division but 2:59 is so much better than 3:00.
I learned that to negative split is good but not by so much as I did. I did the second half around 4 minutes faster than the first. I would have got my time had I run the first 7 miles just a little bit faster. Next year Ill know better. |