Notes
USATF Marathon Championship, 20th, 2:16:09. Early wake up to catch the shuttle at 4:45 to the start line. The day broke rainy and overcast with winds SSE @ 5-7 mph. I was feeling excited but not jittery, I even decided to forego the headphones during the ride to try to stay present. I was focused and readying myself to take a swing at a big performance. The rain let up just before the start and wouldn't be an issue during the race; outside of making the course just the tiniest bit slippery. We started and I immediately fell in behind Noah in the lead pack. My plan was to ignore the time and just put myself in the best position to finish top 10. Tyler Jermann, Matt Llano, and another runner I didn't recognize let a gap form between us and the lead group which was perfect because running in the chase group kept me in what felt like a smooth rhythm. I settled in for the long haul with the only time checks being at the clocks along the course every 5k. I wasn't going to do too much mental calculation, just wanted to keep it at or under 16:00/5k. It wasn't all fresh and easy though since I seemed to develop a mild side stitch after my first 3 bottles. On the third one, I was able to run it out but I had to let the others go to stay within myself. 10 miles was too early to potentially stretch myself and blow up the race. Everyone told me that CIM wasn't flat and there were rollers for the first 20 miles, but I wasn't expecting them to come with such frequency. It felt like we were constantly going up or down. My group led by Matt McClintock rolled me up around 11 and I didn't go with them, I was still working at my own rhythm, the hills had already begun to affect my quads and while it wasn't bad it was noticeable and I was sure it was going to get tremendously worse. I had a creeping worry that I was paying for my hubris early on. Noah was flagging up ahead with an Achilles injury and would drop out soon after our brief exchange but seeing him struggling gave me a new purpose to represent the team the best I could so I carried on, trying to run the strongest rhythm I could, knowing there was 75 min to go. I went through half in 66:48 and my reaction was mixed, It was a good setup to PB but I also wanted to nail my OTQ so I knew regardless of how bad I felt later on, I would need to at least run this next half in 71 min. I was chugging along when I passed Richey at 16 and he let me know I was in 14th place. I had been keeping my eyes up the road and I'd been keeping the group of 4 that McClintock was leading close enough that I set about chipping away at them. My quads were getting worse but I was still managing a good strong cadence. I did enough to move myself into 10th just before 35k. It was an extremely long journey to pick up those places but it gave me great purpose to embrace the suffering in a really tough spot in the race. The Top 10 position only lasted a mile before Evan Landes, Lou Serafini and Joey Whelan came by me. I was now in a battle for position and did what I could to respond, and I called a couple of challenges, but ultimately with 3.5 miles or so, they were going away from me. I had lost my A Goal of Top 10, and I didn't really know where I was at in terms of time to judge if I could get my B Goal of PR-ing, so I focused on my C Goal, get the OTQ. My quads were on the verge of convulsive cramping as I passed the 23 mile mark and I tried to do the math which essentially posed the question, "if I run 6:00 pace the rest of the way, will I still make it?" A bunch of guys passed me in those final miles but I was more concerned with staying upright and running my best pace, but now every stride was painful and I was too conscious to just bear down. A small consolation through these dark miles was that I had passed Tyler. I got to the 26 mile mark by the grace of God and for a short moment, tried to rally a kick, but that was quickly shut down by the threatening feeling in my quads. I knew from about 24 on that I would need to majorly blow up to miss the OTQ. I crossed the line just over 2:16 and felt relief more than anything that I secured my spot in 2024's field, but a weird sense of disappointment that I had given up the fight in the final miles and conceded to let this be an alright day instead of a really good day. It takes some perspective to digest this effort. I had missed most of 2021 with injury, blown up at Grandma's, and began to think that I wasn't cut out for this level of competition anymore. I had to give the Sacral injury time to heal, and the Kidney stones just derailed that return further, but I didn't give those medical issues time the time to emotionally heal, I had begun to expect that things should come around quicker, that I should immediately become the runner I was before the injury. Looking back at the pacing breakdown, I might've been able to squeeze into the 2:15:3x's, and playing it safe prevented that, but I still ran my second fastest marathon today, and more than 9 minutes faster than my previous one. As I said, I'm relieved to secure the OTQ but I don't think my approach to the race will change. I think the gambling in the first half keeps me engaged, it feels risky, but in a good way. I will get stronger as I put together consistent training, and I will be able to absorb that 5:00-05 paced opening half better. I will be able to close the door eventually and run a fast time, today was just a step in getting there. 5k: 15:38, 10k: 31:14 (15:36), 15k: 47:26 (16:12), Half 1:06:48, 25k: 1:19:24 (31:58 15k-25k), 30k: 1:35:31 (16:07), 35k: 1:51:43 (16:12), 40k: 2:08:27 (16:44)