Posted by Victor Birch on November 13, 2010 at 12:36:17:
In Reply to: Re: Probably slower than you posted by Monetta roberts on November 13, 2010 at 09:18:51:
I'll tell ya the whole dang story. My main focus was to do a sub 3 hour marathon. To do that you have to average 6:51 per mile. My plan was to do 6:59 per mile for the first 9 miles, 6:51 pace for miles 10-18 and 6:44 pace for the last 8.2. I was about 20 seconds ahead at mile 9. I was on the mark at mile 18. I was a little behind at mile 20. At mile 21 I could see the pace car about a half mile ahead which helped me push.
The course was out and back and we had a 10 mph headwind for the first 5 miles. Therefore, we had a tailwind for the last 5 miles. I was able to do a 40:47.59 for the last 10k with that tailwind. I passed the leader in the race at mile 24. At that time I was thinking, "I'm gonna win this damn race and still not break 3 hours, so I'm still gonna have to go to Huntsville to do Rocket City in 6 weeks to try to break 3 hours".
I rounded the final turn in the race behind the pace car and saw 2:59:00 on the clock. I ran like hell with the announcer saying "and the winner of the inaugural Running for the Bay Marathon is Victor Birch". The crowd was cheering and Anne was at the finish line screaming because she did not realize that I was actually winning, due to the number of half marathoners still finishing, until she heard the announcer. I crossed the finish line in tears at 2:59:36. I'll never forget it.