Always my weakest leg, the run has been a challenge at best and misery at worst. I knew my only chance for success this time was to be extremely smart, which is partly why my expectations remained low. It’s very easy to plan to race smart, but another thing to actually do it. Today, though, experience did all the talking in my head. I knew in my bones that if I raised my effort before mile 7 at the earliest, I was done for. So there was the goal: hold back for eight miles. The course started with a couple of big climbs, but then settled out for a double loop of a parkway a few miles long. The head games started immediately as folks I dropped on the bike started passing me and the mile markers for the second loop appeared while I was still only on the first. 7 miles done? No, actually just 4. Keep holding back. Eventually the second loop came, and I was tempted to step it up, but it wasn’t yet time. I knew exactly how much I had in the tank, which almost never happens. But this time I knew it with full certainty, and there was never any doubt in my mind that I had to wait. Water, Gatorade and my on-board gels kept me fueled. At one point I tried a banana from an aid station but it was fully green and hard as wood. I spat it out and ran on. Finally, finally it appeared: mile 8. Time to go. I dug in gently and allowed my heart rate to rise and my breathing to follow it, and set my next milestone: mile 10. The job now was to maintain this effort to mile 10, and then I’d have just a 5k left. With the added effort came added fatigue; every step was now pulling more out of me. I kept pace to mile 10, and then the math started. I knew I could break 2 hours if I managed to keep it up. I was sure I’d be within a minute of that mark, if I didn’t slow down. I found the hills again on the way out of the parkway, but what goes up comes down and the averages kept me on target. With 7 minutes to go I thought I’d never make it. With 5 to go, I was sure I had it. With 3 to go, it was lost again. At the finish it was finally revealed: I would be only 53 seconds past my target. The equivalent of putting on my socks a little faster.
