Just over 3 hours...again.

Nate Bundy and Me
I am the good looking guy in the blue shorts on the right there.

I set out this year to become a member of the elite group of sub three marathoners. I trained with a buddy who was also looking to make this lofty goal. To run a marathon in under three hours you need to maintain under a 6:50 per mile pace. Try as we might, I came across in 3:02:11 with my running partner right behind me with a 3:03. Looks like I will have something to shoot for another year. My strategy this year was to fuel up during aid stations so I would have some energy at the end to pick it up a bit. I did fuel up, grabbing "Gu" , Gatorade, and water as often as I could. I saw at mile 21 and 22 that I was on track, I was running a 6:51. It wasn't a matter of if I would beat three hours, but by how much. I wasn't prepared for how hard the last three miles would be. By the time I was at mile 24 My Garmin started showing that I was running 7:30 and 7:45. I would try to focus, to dig deep and kick it in..thinking to myself, "You only have two miles! Two miles of gut wrenching work is a lot easier than another year of regret that you didn't make your goal!" Then I thought, " No don't get all stressed out, you will run tighter and slower. Stay loose and run strong, that will help you get your speed" Well, whatever I thought, nothing seemed to make up for the fact that I had nothing more to give. Whatever I tried seemed to have no impact on increasing my speed at that time. I was now running 8 minute miles as I drug myself along Diagonal street and I even hit 9 minute miles on Tabernacle. I was just coming up on the last turn when my watch showed 3 hrs. I had about .3 miles to go. Ugh!! Thanks to the crowd at the finish line, I did finish as fast as I could to get myself back down to a 7 minute mile for those last 3 tenths of a mile, knowing that I would be back to face this challenge again.