It's official! I got my BQ!!! I will write a full post later, but I wanted to let everyone know. This would not have been possible without discovering this Blog. Thanks to everyone who has provided great advice and positive encouragement over the last 11 months.
In addition to thanking everyone on the FRB, I wanted thank all my family and friends supporting me to achieve this goal. Special thanks to my wife Lauren for allowing me to put in all this training with a newborn at home, and thanks to my son Russell for sleeping through the night from two months on for the most part. We have been blessed.
It was pretty chilly this morning (mid 30s) but there wasn't much wind so things were ok. The first 16 miles felt very comfortable and I was positioned between the 3:00:00 and 3:05:00 pace groups. I had to work really hard to try and maintain pace from miles 17-22 and my pace started slipping a bit. Somewhere between miles 22 & 23, the 3:05 pace group caught me. At first, I thought I was done for, but then told myself I have worked too hard to give up this close to the end. I was able to find strength somewhere to hold on. Shortly before mile 26, I was slipping a little behind the pace leader. Thankfully, my wife and son were there to cheer me on and gave me a last bit of energy. Right around mile 26, most of the pace group had either gone ahead or fell behind. The pace leader turned back and saw me and encouraged me to push on. I was able to kick a bit for the last .2 miles. I checked my watch at this point and realized the pacer was a bit ahead of pace and I realized I was going to do it. I sitll wanted to finish strong to get as much below 3:05 as possible to try and lock in a spot for Boston 2014. I got really choked up just before the finish and threw my arms up screaming in celebration at the finish line. Got choked up a few more times shortly after the finish. What an amazing feeling!
My mile splits were as follows:
7:03, 6:54, 6:51, 7:02, 7:01, 6:53, 6:46, 6:59, 6:44, 6:58, 6:42, 6:49, 6:56, 6:52, 6:53, 6:56, 6:59, 7:05, 7:01, 7:02, 7:11, 7:13, 7:14, 7:01, 6:59, 7:01, (6:40 pace estimate for final .2 miles, my garmin didn't turn off right at the finish).
I was able to shave another 22+ minutes off my previous PR from May. This was definately due to the approx 40% increase in my mileage base since the last marathon.
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