03/21/10 Los Angeles Marathon

I finally got around to doing the math for my LA Marathon split. This was the wrong race to aim for a negative split because there was no marker at all for the 13.1 mile halfway point, so I simply guessed (randomly picked) a spot that seemed about one tenth of a mile after the 13th mile marker. According to my completely unscientific approximation at that point, my first split was 1:44:37, which is EXACTLY an even split for a 3:29:14 finish time. Of course, if I guessed wrong, perhaps my first half was 1:44:38 and my second half was 1:44:36...? Who knows.
In case anyone is interested, here are my mile splits.
1) 7:42 (faster than I wanted)
2) 7:23 (woops, too fast again)
3) 7:22 (downhill, sorry!)
4) 8:10
5) 8:42 (uphill - the "Music Center Mountain")
6) 7:32
7) 7:52
8) 8:02
9) 8:01 (finally settled into the pace I wanted for first half)
10) 8:03
11) 8:12 (if I had a nickel for every SRLA kid that passed me at "Red Bull" speed...)
12) 8:02
13) 8:30 (uphill, and I used this as a "rest mile" to get ready to speed up the 2nd half)
14) 7:58
15) 7:54
16) 8:05 (trying to speed up, but I think planet Earth must be slowing down or something)
17) 8:05
18) 8:12 (my plan was to get the 2nd half pace around 7:45, but things not going as planned)
19) 7:59 (okay, getting warmer...)
20) 8:01 (oh for Pete's sake... Who the hell is Pete anyway? Peter Piper? Peter Pan?)
21) 8:28 (uphill, grrr... completely lost my sense of humor, everything is now anti-funny)
22) 8:13 (I've stopped caring and just want it to be over. Hello wall!)
23) 7:54 (and now that I couldn't care less, I'm obviously relaxed and running faster!)
24) 7:52 (then I got through the wall and started passing people, including some SRLA kids!)
25) 7:41 (I told myself that everyone else's legs hurt too, so stop being such a diva)
26) 7:36 (once I could see the finish line, I was really able to push hard despite the pain)
I didn't feel tired at all. In fact, I remember that my mouth was completely closed and I was breathing through my nose for the last five miles - that's something I'm usually able to do when I run at a comfortable "fresh" pace. The problem seemed to be that my quads really started to hurt at the halfway point - not cramps or anything, just heavy and sore, like they were bruised from being beaten with a hammer. I'm pleased that I was able to increase the pace, despite the pain, during the last four miles, but in reality it's not too impressive considering those miles were all downhill. I think I wasn't ready for any uphill at all. As you can see, even the slightest incline really affected my pace. But I'm glad to be back under 3:30 and hoping to get even faster this year! I think my 30th marathon will be San Diego Rock 'n Roll on June 6th.