3M Race Report 2006

Overall 3M went very well. My goal time was HMGP which was 2:04:00 9:27/mi. I decided to try a progressive pace run, starting slower at the beginning and speeding up so that I could practice not going out too fast. My mantra was "Not too fast" at the beginning and "Don't give in to the daemons" through the rest.

Mile 1-6 was spent weaving through and passing what seemed like an endless number of people. I thought I had started too far up but I was wrong. And with my goal time slipping away I was pretty frustrated, and felt like I was wasting too much energy getting blocked by tons of people.

Mile 7-10 was pretty difficult, I hadn't hit my pace by mile 7 (I didn’t hit my lap at the mile 6 marker until later, so I didn't know I had hit my pace for the first time). I didn't think I was going to hit my goal time, I was starting to slouch (started repeating Mantra #2) so I just figured I would run the rest of the race out.

Mile 10-finish: Once we turned onto Duval I saw the long downhill and decided to increase my pace. I figured it was all downhill, so I just went for it. I did the first and second mile pretty fast. At mile 11 I knew I was almost home, and had a lot left in the tank so decided to give it everything I had. I passed tons of people, and just kept increasing my speed. The only thing that hurt was a blister on my left foot, but otherwise everything felt great. By Mile 11 I looked at my pace band and saw that I was ahead of my goal time and that I was going to break it. I got to the 13 mile marker and started to get a little tired so I pulled it back once I knew I was going to break my time and crossed the finish line, looked at my watch, and saw that I was a minute and a half faster then my HMGP. That was about the happiest I have ever felt after a race (splits below).

Afterwards I felt great, stretched out and went to breakfast.

I am having one injury problem though that started a couple days before the race. The muscle inside my right calf and thigh is hurting. It is pretty difficult to explain without showing you, but it hurts a little when I stretch it a certain way, and some when I walk. Oddly enough it doesn't hurt at all when I run (I just did my 5 mile recovery run), and doesn't hurt more after I run. I can show Matt at the workout tomorrow evening and maybe he can explain it better. I may go get some ART work done on it, and maybe a message.

Mile 1: 9:59
Mile 2: 9:41
Mile 3: 9:32
Mile 4: 9:33
Mile 5: 9:16/mi missed mile marker 6
Mile 6: 9:29/mi
Mile 7: 9:29
Mile 8: 9:42
Mile 9: 9:22
Mile 10: 9:12
Mile 11: 9:14
Mile 12: 8:41
Mile 13: 8:12
Mile 13.1: 7:45/mi

Total Time: 2:02:36
Total Pace: 9:21/mi