I've had a nice string of very good race performances in Arizona dating back to 2011. Eventually it had to end. I'm glad I kept it alive while my parents still lived there. Now I need to pick a destination where I can start a new streak. Europe would be good.
This exchange went on for a while longer...
Race recap - 1:09:46, 5th place
My goal was to try and stay in the 5:10-5:15/mile range. I figured best-case scenario was ~1:08, and I'd be happy to come in under 1:09.
A couple guys in green took off pretty quick, and I found myself in 5th place by the first turn, where I would stay the entire race. I came through 5 miles in 25:58, right where I wanted to be (5:09, 5:10, 5:13, 5:13, 5:13). Physically I felt pretty good at that pace - not the typical burn of a half-marathon.
The 6th mile was only slightly outside of my target (5:17) but that's where I lost it. The guys in 3rd and 4th were only a little bit ahead of me, and I was in a perfect position to catch up and overtake them, but I just didn't care enough. I justified to myself that if I ran the rest of the race at marathon effort that would be good enough; I wouldn't risk aggrevating my hamstrings... and if I finished outside of the Top 3, I wouldn't have to worry about the awards ceremony and could get to the airport quicker for my flight. I just wanted to get the last 10K over with and go home. Not exactly an attitude I'm proud of, but that was my frame of mind at the time.
Mile 7 was 5:23, and that's the last marker on the course that I trust. Don't get me wrong, I think the Phoenix Marathon is awesome, well-organized, etc. They do just about everything right. But the course marks over the last 10K have been a little wonky the past two years. Next two splits were 6:47 and 4:08 (I either dropped the hammer on Mile 9 or these average out to 5:27 pace). Next 3 miles were 5:40, 5:10, 5:32, and the last 1.1 was 5:50 (5:16 pace). Then 19:01 for 0.3 miles of talking to Burt and retrieving my warmup clothes until I remembered to stop my watch.
Overall I ran ~5:13 pace for the first half and ~5:25 pace for the second half.
This was taken towards the end, when I was done. Here's an accurate caption:
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