Wow, what can I say. I am truly humbled. The knee felt absolutely perfect today, the weather couldn't have been better, and up until mile 14 or so, I was running the race I wanted to run and doing just fine. Everything was working in my favor. And then, the wall. I saw the signs shortly after the half-marathon point, and then they increased expotentially to the point where I knew qualifying for Boston was no longer going to be possible. So, rather than slogging through and finishing, I decided to save my body and drop out a little before mile 18.
I'm bummed. But at the same time I know I gave it my all, and I'm pretty content with that. I just didn't have it in me. More work needs to be done, and I'll get there.
Mile 1 6:54
Mile 2 6:53
Mile 3 7:01
Mile 4 7:02
Mile 5 7:00
Mile 6 6:52
Mile 7 6:55
Mile 8 7:03
Mile 9 7:01
Mile 10 6:50
Mile 11 7:08
Mile 12 7:01
Mile 13 7:02
Mile 14 7:12
Mile 15 7:35
Mile 16 6:46
Mile 17 7:26
To 17.75: 8:32/mile pace
While to me the splits look good on the computer screen and the fall and decision to DNF seems very abrupt, the splits alone don't tell the tale. What I was actually feeling was a very different story. Mile 15 felt twice as tough as the mile before and seeing the slow split startled me. I paniced, and somehow managed to fly that next mile also with immense effort. However, mile 17 felt even tougher and from there until the point I made the decision to drop out, expontentially tougher. Mind over matter just wasn't cutting it.
Part of me wonders that if I had stuck with shooting for 7:10/miles, things would have been different. But I decided about a month ago I was going to shoot higher. However, I feel little regret in going the route I did. Some regret, but just a little. It's what I chose to do and I thought I could do it for the duration, or at least until closer to the end and hold on. Just not the case.
I'm leaning towards the Sugarloaf Marathon in May. I'll be 35 years old by then, meaning I'll have five extra minutes to BQ. I anticipate being in much better shape by then also, not to mention a little wiser.
Got to meet Mark. Really nice guy and it was nice to meet someone from blog-land face to face. Thanks for cheering me on, Mark.
Big thanks to those of you out in blogland for your help along the way. Reading your training and race reports is an immense source of inspiration, not to mention information.
