Quasi-short Shamrock Marathon report

Someone remind me to never, ever do that again.

Official finish: 3:49:34 gun time, 3:47:13 chip time, 694/3159 overall, 538/1883 men, 91/310 M40-44

Splits and brief comments...

7M: 59:47 (8:32 pace, think it was a tenth long)... Planned to hold 8:45s for the first 3, but the tailwind changed that. Ran myself out of the 3:50 pace group almost immediately, and felt good enough not to back off. All tailwind out to the turnaround at 5.7 miles. The turn seemed a bit far, because 1-5 were dead-on, but then 6 was at 6.1. A little slow in mile 7 to do a gel, throw away the gloves. Also let a cute runnergirl in obnoxious shamrock shorts take my pic when she saw me on her way out.

13.1M: 1:51:38 (8:29 sector pace)... Had to fight the headwind here, especially for the bridge over Rudee Inlet just before 10, and then a mile and a half on the Boardwalk. Luckily, the concrete surface didn't hurt my legs that badly. In the 13th mile it turned into more of a Z3 race, and I did subtly feel it.

18M: 2:34:59 (8:52 sector pace)... Second gel just after I crossed the mats at halfway, and a quick stop at 16 because I was well-hydrated. Just before 16 I gave the hashers a big "on-on!" and told them I'd be back in an hour. That's also the left turn onto Shore Drive, where there are no spectators, but tunes being blasted at a couple of points, signs with "Confucius say..." and leprechaun jokes, and most important, no headwind.

Finish: 3:47:13 (8:47 sector pace)... Turned into Fort Story... and the wind... at mile 19. These were the tough miles and the Garmin data show that I started to hit the wall in the 21st mile. Switched over to Honey Stinger chews for my nutrition. After the lighthouses at 21, we were done with the wind. BUT...walk breaks were still more frequent, and there was the extra few seconds to enjoy that beer from the hashers just before 23. Sometime after 23, I saw Shawnie on her way out... she wasn't a happy camper. :( Covered the watch up and pushed for whatever I had, and now looking back at the numbers it's a good thing I did. Didn't worry about how much I was slowing down, or how high my HR was getting... just got to the finish, where Holly and Keri were cheering.

After... I could barely move, but I knew I couldn't stop. According to Holly and Keri, I was having issues even forming coherent sentences. That really was all I had. Pretzels looked better than a banana in the chute, and I found my way into the tent for Yuengling and Irish stew. By the second beer, I had color beyond salt-tracking, and was coherent enough that nobody was worried about me passing out or falling asleep in the shower, so I went to get cleaned up so I could come back and see Shawn finish.

Shawn is working on me for Big Sur, and I know there's not much point in doing 21 miles and NOT doing a marathon, but other than that I think I'm pretty content to stick to the half.