When all else fails...blame the weather! Actually...Mother Nature pile drove me into the mat and walked away laughing. Warm and windy was the theme this year. Temps in the low 70's, humidity at 70%, sustained winds of 25mph with gusts well over 30mph. I knew it would be bad when I woke up and the flags outside of the window were whipping. Walked into the corral and started to cook. Temps were around 68 when we started and did nothing but climb. I don't remember the wind ever being at my back. Always a head wind or a side wind. My hat blew off 3 times during the race! When we reached the 4 mile mark I was already boiling, my head looking like a cherry tomato with seeds ready to spray everywhere. It took everything I had to keep a 6:24 pace, which should have been easy. At the 10 mile mark I was done. I went to Dallas to run a PR or near PR...but there was no way that was going to happen. I backed it down as we started around the lake but the wind got worse! (photo proof above) My spirits were really at an all time low when I reached the half marathon mark. So much so that I stepped off of the road, took off my number, and walked over to the relay runner bus. I sat in the grass for about 20 minutes and watched everyone run past the half mark. It hit me that I should stop being a baby and just finish....like everyone else. So with blanky and binky in hand, number pinned back on, I jumped back in and slogged it to the end. I think the wind was the worst between miles 14 and 18.
I would like to run this marathon again sometime down the road. Everything was fantastic except the weather.
Splits according to the chip timing system
Start to 6 mile mark: 39:46 (6:24 pace)
6 mile to 13 mile mark: 48:26 (7:02 pace)
13 mile to 20 mile mark: 1:11:12 (10:19 pace)
20 mile to finish: 51:29 (8:17 pace)
Final time: 3:30:53
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