Philadelphia Marathon 11/08

Philly 2008This was my 9th Marathon(including 2 Ultras) since starting in May 2007.It was 27 degrees with some wind at race start. I decided to wear shorts, a long sleeve NF baselayer shirt, one short sleeve shirt over it, gloves and a hat. I wore a ratty old sweatshirt at the starting line that I ditched right before the start. I followed one of Hal Higdons training plans for this race and it worked out great. I really recommend it. If you work full time it's a great plan because the workouts during the week are really hard, but not time consuming, and then most of your miles come on the weekend.They broke the race up into different time starts this year because last year it got way to clustered at the first few drink stations. I was in the first group that started at 7:04am.I wore my Nathan fuel belt that holds 2, 10oz bottles and I stuffed 5 gels in the pouch, plus 1 in my shorts pocket. (Mostly GU Vanilla Bean and a couple of GU Octanes).One bottle had gatorade and one water. I ran the first half of the race exactly like I wanted to. I keep my Garmin on a mile lap, so I can see how fast I'm clocking each mile. I maintained just under an 8 min pace easily for 13 miles. The race splits at this point, the Half Marathoners cross the finish line and the full obviously keep going in the opposite direction. A large portion of the second half is run on a highway along a river, so it was windier and colder. The drink stations on this open road all had ice on the ground from all of the dropped water. The volunteers were all great about warning everyone, but you had to go slow or you could of easily wiped out. Next year some salt at each station might be a good idea. (Only one station had salt on sunday).I continued to feel great all the way to mile 20 before I started feeling a little tired. My mile 20 came in at 8:15, which I wasnt happy about. I knew that if I was gonna hit my goal I couldnt start dying so soon. I regrouped, had a talk with myself and pushed out an 8:05 mile 21 and another 8:05 mile 22. Then my mental struggles really began on mile 23, I was happy though because I still felt good enough to push pretty hard, but I just didnt have enough in the tank to maintain that earlier pace and get that negative split. my slowest mile was 25 at 8:38 and my last mile was 8:23 and I finished pretty strong with my hands in the air knowing that I beat my PR by more than 10 minutes. I guess I let to many miles go just over that 8 min mark cause I ended with a 8:09 pace average for the race.After the race I was wondering how bad I really wanted to Qualify for Boston. Training for this race was really hard, not to mention all of the pain and struggle in those last 4 miles. Knowing that I need another 14 minutes off my time was very disouraging to me.Proving that the pain was only temporary, I was looking for a good Boston Qualifier the very next day to run in the spring.It might be the NJ Marathon on May 3rd 2009. It would be fitting, since that was my first ever Marathon in 2007. My wife finished her first Half Marathon also on Sunday. 2:06.She loved it and had a great time, but said she might not do it again until we go back to Philly. For her, I think the mental build up you go through leading up to a big race messes with her head too much and causes her some anxiety.
I can't go without mentioning how great the spectators are in this race!! It was below freezing and the streets were filled with cheering crowds. It's such a great race to run. Thanks to everyone on the blog for your positive support and thoughts, and all of the motivation you provide.