I paced the 3:10 group @ Grandma's yesterday, a dandy of a marathon and one I recommend highly. For the 2nd year in a row, it was a warm one out there - last year started off foggy and got extremely warm and humid, while this year it was clear and warm the entire day (I'd guess 75 degrees, give or take a bit). There were some nice spots where you could run in the shade and catch a cooling headwind so there were some minor breaks from the warmth, but all in all a tough day.

Grandma's is a great race to pace - no major hills, up or down, wide open road so plenty of room for a large group without impeding others wanting to pass, good runners looking to BQ or set PR's so even at the faster paces you have some company. After working through the crowd a little, I got locked into pace probably better than any other marathon. My usual goal is to run 7:15 pace plus or minus a few seconds for 8-9 miles, and then start banking a few seconds (5-10 per mile) from there until 20 miles, hoping to build up a cushion of about a minute to 90 seconds. Then cut back to 7:15 for a mile or two, and then slow downby ~10 seconds to help some folks that are starting to struggle. It worked out great yesterday, with the exception of one mile downhill that we ran in just under 7:00, and one mile where I had stopped to reload my bottle and ran hard to get back to the front of the group...when I rejoined them, I was still running a little bit fast and that mile was also under 7:00. For anyone interested, my mile times are below:
1 - 7:25
2 - 7:14
3 - 7:14
4 - 7:19
5 - 7:14
6 - 7:15
7 - 7:15
8 - 7:19
9 - 7:16
10 - 6:57 Whoops! Caught up to group and kept running fast
11 - 7:09
12 - 7:10
13 - 7:11
14 - 7:01
15 - 7:06
16 - 7:11
17 - 7:15
18 - 7:12
19 - 7:02
20 - 7:19 We had our 60 seconds banked so took it easy before Lemon Drop Hill
21 - 7:13
22 - 7:14
23 - 7:26
24 - 7:21
25 - 7:18
26 - 7:24
26.2 - 1:31
1st half was 1:34:39, 2nd half was 1:34:51 - chip time was 3:09:30, which is exactly what I hope for every time I pace - 30 seconds under, no more no less!

I had a great group with me, including 5-6 people who ran with me here last year (repeat business is great) and a guy who had run with me at Grandma's AND Dallas last year, so my first threepeat. I also had Manny, the guy I finished right next to last year - he was less than a minute behind me this year so another great job. John M. was there again, helping pace and keep the group together and talking to folks as well - it was good to hear of the awesome improvement he's made in his running in the last year, and to meet his wife who ran the 5k on Fri night. I had some very strong women in my group, including one from Colorado who ran a 10 minute PR, finishing right beside me (I think she liked me since she never left my side!) and a Texan woman who was just itching to take off all day. Very impressive was a 60 year old gentleman loping along like it was just a stroll in the park for him...not sure how he finished but he was there for at least the first 18 miles or so and was running great. We picked up some struggling folks late in the race that ran in with me - I probably had 5-6 people beside me when I finished which was awesome, plus several more streaming in behind me within a minute or two. Some BQ's, some PR's, and a lot of well-run efforts! I'd planned to run back out on the course and finish up with the 4:00 group, but I had some blisters developing and didn't want to push my luck - last year I ran an extra 4-5 miles and was in a bad way afterwards, so I wanted to keep feeling good!

New PR for me - this was the furthest I ran with both the huge sign and the balloons. Normally I ditch the sign after 3 miles or so and just run with the balloons, but I had a CoolRunning friend, McTortle meeting me at 9 with cold Gatorade so I wanted to be easily spotted. It worked out great - the ice cold Gatorade was very helpful since I'm not an Ultima fan, and she gets a adult beverage of her choice from me next time we connect! I went 10 miles with it and once the first breath of headwind hit, I dropped that sign like it was a hot potato! One of these days I'll carry it the whole way - it's a good workout for my pipe cleaner arms (I foolishly flexed for the finisher photo - I'm sure I'll hear about that pathetic display of bicep ineptitude later! The photographer kinda giggled at me as he took my picture, so I'm assuming the camera didn't add 10 pounds to my guns!)

It was great seeing my teammates again, as always. I wish I had time to toss back a few beers with them afterwards but it was homeward bound for me to enjoy Dad's Day with my girls.

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