Paul, I know I already said it but you absolutely crushed this race. When I look back on the goals you had for time, you still made it with plenty of time to spare. Hopefully, in a few days you'll be able to look back at this and see just how incredible you did. I would absolutely kill to be able to be that pace. My marathon PR is 4:30:01 and I know I'll never beat it. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I'm proud of you. We're all proud of you. YOU certainly are the bison.
This might be my favorite piece you’ve written thus far here at RP. The Bison reference is fantastic, and it’s great seeing the smile on your face in the photo at the end. I was tracking you on Monday and I figured those hills must have been tough sledding.
When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2023, I hit a wall only eight miles in. I knew I had 18 miles to go and it was just a matter, alright, we’re gonna power through this and move on. While road racing remains my preferred choice for the time-being, I’m glad you were able to do it and now go back to your true passion.
And I totally get you on the weather. High 40s, low 50s is ideal. Coming out of cold winter weather, anything over 60 suddenly feels uncomfortable rather quickly!
This mirrors my most recent racing experience pretty closely, other than the pace and the distance 😆
My training set me up for high expectations and the events of the day wore my goals down until it was just trying to salvage what I could.
Besides the hills being worse than the ones I trained on it was the crowds. Running in crowded spaces takes so much more energy than running on your own. In your case the low 60s temp really didn't help. I wish your race started earlier so you could have gotten the low 50s from the morning.
That moment you realize you're not going to crush your goals and you still have a lot of race left is a tough one. I let myself quit for about 30 seconds. I'm still not sure if I regret it or not.
Hell yeah, brother.
I am now intimately familiar with getting stoked on aggressive timing goals, only to have them go out the window, and then settle in for the grind.
Way to get that thing done, Paul.
Now, come back to the trails.
Paul, I know I already said it but you absolutely crushed this race. When I look back on the goals you had for time, you still made it with plenty of time to spare. Hopefully, in a few days you'll be able to look back at this and see just how incredible you did. I would absolutely kill to be able to be that pace. My marathon PR is 4:30:01 and I know I'll never beat it. I think I speak for all of us when I say that I'm proud of you. We're all proud of you. YOU certainly are the bison.
This might be my favorite piece you’ve written thus far here at RP. The Bison reference is fantastic, and it’s great seeing the smile on your face in the photo at the end. I was tracking you on Monday and I figured those hills must have been tough sledding.
When I ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2023, I hit a wall only eight miles in. I knew I had 18 miles to go and it was just a matter, alright, we’re gonna power through this and move on. While road racing remains my preferred choice for the time-being, I’m glad you were able to do it and now go back to your true passion.
And I totally get you on the weather. High 40s, low 50s is ideal. Coming out of cold winter weather, anything over 60 suddenly feels uncomfortable rather quickly!
As always, fantastic writing Paul. Congrats on closing your chapter. Great story 👏
This mirrors my most recent racing experience pretty closely, other than the pace and the distance 😆
My training set me up for high expectations and the events of the day wore my goals down until it was just trying to salvage what I could.
Besides the hills being worse than the ones I trained on it was the crowds. Running in crowded spaces takes so much more energy than running on your own. In your case the low 60s temp really didn't help. I wish your race started earlier so you could have gotten the low 50s from the morning.
That moment you realize you're not going to crush your goals and you still have a lot of race left is a tough one. I let myself quit for about 30 seconds. I'm still not sure if I regret it or not.
Side note: Props to the road crew forever and always. They are our lifelines at home and on the courses.