Felt great this morning but mentally didn't feel the usual drive to work hard. Not unusual at the start of a race for me but usually once the gun goes off it kicks in.. Today, the gun went off and I still only wanted to make an attempt at getting through 26.2 miles without any suffering (a solid long run).
Didn't wear a watch and there weren't many clocks on the course. I wasn't paying attention to time, only how I felt and fueling, so no splits. By recognizing people around me I knew I was starting at about 3:10 pace and didn't feel like I wanted to go any faster. This told me right from the start that it was going to be a slower race (which I knew it might be due to the last 10 weeks including 2 marathons, a 5k(pr), 10 mile race and 10k(pr). I wasn't concerned at all about the slowness as my goal was merely to avoid the dead legs and mental breakdown that I most always encounter in a marathon. The entire run felt like a jog. I attempted to pick up the final mile when I saw # 3 girl ahead of me but because of my(!#&*@#!) wonderful friends and husband cheering for me, she was alerted to my presence and I never caught her.
So, though the race was slow, I am content(well....sort of) I felt happy and comfortable the entire race. I encountered a couple of miles from 22-24 in which I wanted to be done running (marathons are way too long) but all in all, I felt strong the entire distance and now do not feel like I did anything more than a long run.
I was planning to take a break this week and swim instead of run but maybe I'll just do some slow jogging and get in some LSD miles on trails to recover.
I will definitely do the fast/load diet again.
No more marathons until SGM.
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