Great Run: Another PR!

My time was 3:17:29 at the National Marathon: another personal record! I went into this race wary of whether running so fast would be a good idea. After all, this is meant to be a tune up race in advance of the Boston Marathon in 3 weeks.

I metered my time carefully up to the mile 20, though still averaging better than the 7:38 pace I kept at my previous marathon (Marine Corps Marathon, Nov 2006) and PR. After pulling up through the 100 foot steep ascent of the Calvert Climb, between mile 19 and 20, I slowed down a little for my legs to recover. At one point the 3:20 pace group (that's 7:38 minutes per mile) caught up to me when I felt strong enough to kick it into gear and push hard the last 6 miles. Nothing held me back. I finished the last .2 miles in an all out foot race with another marathoner who eked out a nose ahead of me.

Of all the marathons I've run so far, none have been so satisfying. Plus, my legs remained strong throughout. With one exception (MCM 2002) I cannot recall any marathon where I finished so strong. One way to interpret this is that I didn't push myself hard enough, which means this was a good tune up run! Exactly my goal. I just need to make sure I don't slough off in my last couple of weeks of training and I will get another PR at Boston.

Next up: Cherry Blossom 10 miler, Sunday Apr 1.