#111 Yesterday

Well... the good news is I ran a 2min PB and finished in 2:34:13 (3:39/k). The bad news is I (once again) missed my goal of running 2:32. Oh well. There's always next time.

2:34 is still pretty damn good though. It placed me 104 overall in a field of 38,871 finishers! That means I was ahead of 38,768 people! I was also 94th for my gender and 40th in my age group. So, without saying much more, I'll conclude by saying that I'm entirely pleased with the outcome and absolutely thrilled with the experience (these World Major Marathons are simply incredible. I can't wait to do them all).

But as much as I'm happy with my time, I'm not exactly proud of my pacing 'strategy' (or lack thereof) in which I went out and ran a tad bit too fast in the first half (1:15:21; 3:34/k) and then faded considerably in the second half (1:18:52; 3:44/k) running a 3:30 positive split. But that there's the marathon and I guess it could have been much much worse! One of these days, I will learn my lesson and go out and run a smart race that includes a negative split. Until then, my plan is to keep getting a bit faster at the shorter stuff so that my future marathon splits are still respectively fast and enable me to continue running PBs.

So what's next? Well lots of rest and recovery! A marathon really takes the wind out of your sails. I went for an easy 8k this afternoon and although I was really glad to be out there running, my body was less excited and I felt like I was 80 years old (no offence to Ed Whitlock or anything). I'll continue to take it easy for several weeks, running only when and how far I desire. I'll also eat lots of junk food and get really fat (okay, maybe not really fat, but bigger than the scrawny 60kg I am now)!

And as far a future training goes... Given how much I've trained not only this (Chicago) cycle (3000+ kms in 23 weeks), but over the past 3 cycles (Boston, NYC Hamilton, Toronto Goodlife) dating back to Dec 2011; I'm deciding to take a "break" from hard training and try to have some fun running lower mileage and putting less pressure on myself. I'm already signed up for Boston 2014, but I'm currently telling myself that it will not be a goal race but rather a celebration and more of a 'fun run'. Instead, I really want to race ATB as my goal which will allow me to focus less on overall mileage (quantity) and more on speed (quality). It's quite likely I'll change my mind 10 times on this in the next 10 days, but that's what I'm saying right now. And who knows, maybe that quality will translate to a great time in Boston. It's way too soon to tell...

To conclude, I'd like to thank everyone who has and continues to support me in my desire to be a better (but entirely amateur) runner (and consequently a better person... I hope). To my training crew and club, "the Black Lungs" (who also killed it in Chicago!), thanks for pushing and pulling me to faster times. To my friends and family, thanks for tolerating me and my ridiculous running lifestyle. To my 'fans' and supporters, thanks for following my progress and reading my rants. To my dog Charlie, you're a dog and you'll love me no matter what I do or do not do! And finally, to my lovely lady friend Melinda, thanks for being there during both the good and the bad times... and hopefully forever! I wouldn't even want to do this without you. Thank you all so much.