I ran 3:36 -- thanks to that benchmark Boston Qualifying time of 3:40 -- otherwise I bet I would've cruised along, jammed with the the bands and high-fived people a bit more - definitely at the end.
Dad ran 4:33. I'm flippin' impressed. Especially since -- and i hate to even say it since it goes against all my performance training advice -- he only committed to 'training' for it 5 weeks ago.
The day went as perfectly as it could've. 50 degrees and sunny. No blisters, no chafing, no bathroom stops.
GEAR: I wore my favorite go-to Under Armour outfit:
NUTRITION: Pre-race -- I used SportQuest's Carbo Pro (mixed with Gatorade G2), along with their Vantage, Motivator and Thermolyte, as well as a little extra caffeine, a banana and a CLIF Bar. During the race: Razz + Mango CLIF Shots and sips of both Gatorade Endurance and water at almost every aide station. Brought along some Luna Moon's to eat, but they were too hard to chew since it was so cold out. **Note - take note of race temp when thinking about nutrition to use.
THE RACE: I started out at 8 min/mi as planned, but only for the first mile. It felt so easy to run 7:15s over and over that I was confident I could keep going with that. That lasted through mile 15 - the longest run of my life up to that point. It was then that I made a note to self that no matter what happened from that point on - it was all a bonus. I can't say the rest was easy. I ended up averaging 8:15min/mi. It was definitely one of the hardest things I've done in my life. There was a good chunk of time where I would say that I wasn't really running, but more like moving my arms and legs whichever way would keep me moving in a forward direction. A few times i did stop to take :30 to 1min to walk and enjoy the sights and sounds - one time in particular - in the Bronx - when RESPECT was blasting and I danced around (with my arms moreso haha) and THAT was awesome. Central Park was definitely my favorite part of the race - and I was glad I had my name on my shirt at that point. It was like I had thousands of friends cheering me on! They really seemed to KNOW me out there - cheering from the heart you could tell. Thanks to everyone out there. It was super special.
THE FINISH:
POST-RACE: The walk from the finish to the exit to meet my family seemed more like a death march I'll admit! After grabbing my race gear bag, changing into dry, warm clothes, I found a spot in the sun to lay out my towel and do some regen(eration) with my TRX and TP Quadballer which I had packed conveniently in my bag. I used the TRX both as a stretch rope for some AIS stretching - since I was too stiff at first to stand and stretch, but then I found a tree to harness it to and went through a few key stretches, then rolled out my legs with the Quadballer. I'm blown away that more people don't have a stretch rope at the very least for themselves post-race...more on that later.
After that it was photo ops and NY pizza with the fam. Delish.
I have a week here on the East Coast for some downtime with family including a trip down to Under Armour in Baltimore to put some more final touches on my 2009 race kit and down to visit GW/DC for the day, before heading back to SD to make a pre-2009 season plan...
Thanks to everyone who's signed on to Twitter. It's fun isn't it??
Happy Election Day :)
