It was a perfect morning for a long run, overcast and cool. Having taken the shuttle from Saint Paul to Minneapolis we waited in the Metrodome staying warm until 7:40 when we made our way to the start. I headed into Corral 1 and Jenny into Corral 2.Pushing my way near to the front I hooked up with the 3:20 pace team and hoped to hang with them until the end securing a Boston qualifying time.
As the race got underway I felt great until about mile three when I realized that I was going to have to pee soon! By the time we hit mile 5 I had to stop, it only took about 20 seconds but it put me 20 seconds off pace, I took the next half mile to catch up with the pace team, I should have taken longer to do this as it meant I ran a 7:20 mile but probably closer to 7:10 for the half mile, way too fast, burning a lot of energy. I soon settled back into the pack.
One of the other miles (don't recall which) in the first ten was also a little fast as we hit a 7:25 mile but I seemed to be doing OK. It was great to see my kids just past mile 10 and then a couple of friends between 11 and 12.
We were through the half in just over 1:39 so we right on pace for our 3:20 finish. At mile 14 my back started to tighten and the lower left part of my back felt like a rock. By mile 15 I started to fall off my pace a little as the back tightening eased and transferred into my hip flexor which ached for the rest of the race. I continued to race through about mile 18 as I could still see the 3:20 group a few hundred yards ahead of me. By the time I hit mile 19 they were gone and so was my desire to push hard for a BQ.
I had a choice to make, chose my next goal... push hard and maybe get a PR or relax, have fun and enjoy the rest of the race. I selected the latter and treated the rest of the race like an ultra, steady and slow, walk the hills. I took time to stop and say "Hi" to Brian, Barb, Darrell, and then stopped to hug and high five my kids. I took time to thank volunteers at the water stops for giving of their time to make the race possible. I was glad to be able to take in all that Summit Avenue has to offer in crowd support.
I crossed the finish line in 3:39:50. Not a bad time considering how much fun I had over the last 7 or 8 miles!
So what went wrong? Why no BQ? Well the answer is simple... relationships and life! I took a trip to Viriginia to catch up with friends and see U2 in concert last week. Not the smartest way to prepare for a marathon. Wednesday night I was up until 2:00 am enjoying time with a good friend. Thursday night I spent a litlte over 5 hours standing at the U2 concert and didn't get back to the hotel until 2:00 am. I woke up with a serious calf cramp the next morning. Of course there is no guarantee of a BQ in any race and I while the timing was bad I wouldn't have done anything differently. There's always another race but only so much time with friends.
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