Florence Marathon

2.21.14 and 11th place. A PB so I can't grumble too much I suppose but it's no secret I was hoping for something a lot nearer 2.18. It's been 10 days now and I'm still not sure what to make of this race. I think I just dind't feel that good on the day. My aim was 5.18 miles and 16.24 5ks. A first mile of 5.36 panicked me a bit and Iused the downhill section after to get back on the pace and go through 5k in 16.12. I was on my own by now and the truth was that 2.18 pace just didn't feel as easy as it should. I had drifted to 5.20-5.25 miles and I felt that I'd be forcing myself to run 5.18s which at miles 5 or 6 of a marathon isn't ideal.I'm sure some will criticise me for never attacking 2.18, and it's true really that I didn't, but the marathon still holds some fear for me and I felt that if I had tried to, I'd have fallen apart in the 2nd half. London will be the time to gamble a bit more, and I will do then but here I wanted to run what felt right.

I reached halfway in 70.17, having passed the only other athlete I'll see in this race since the start and felt ok. I felt about the same in the 2nd half and would have got under 2.21 if it hadn't been for the strong breeze in my face from miles 20-24. I slipped to 5.30 miles along here but had been 5.18s before hand and sub 5.15s after and so I was still strong enough, which is a positive.

Perhaps running the whole thing solo made a difference - I definitely drifted off at times and if I'd had people to focus on I may have felt like I was in a race a bit more instead of a time-trial just judging my performance on my watch and how my legs felt.

Splits:

5k - 16.15

10k - 33.09 (16.54)

15k - 50.04 (16.54)

Halfway - 70.17

30k - 1.40.04 (16.39)

35k - 1.56.45 (16.41)

40k - 2.14.05 (17.19)

2.21.14