Unusually Favorable - Eastern States 2012 Results

Overall Time:  2:20:03
Pace per mile: 7 minutes, 0.2 seconds
Overall place:  38/443
Age group finish:  22/81 (male 39 and under)
Splits (5-mile):  33:24, 35:00, 36:08, 35:32

It's amazing what a little favorable weather and a little extra confidence can do.

I stormed out of the gate hard and kept the pedal down as much as I could.  There was no reason not to; even with the similar start to last year, I knew I wasn't going to hit the same wall that I did before.  I finished 5 miles well under 34 minutes knowing all this banked time would be important later in the race.

The next 5 was even and steady.  The goal for the rest of the race was to maintain a sub-7 for as long as I could and I was confident I could hold it through most of the race.  It was only after 14 that I started to feel the weight bear down on my legs, but once I hit 17 I was able to find the final surge and push hard to the very end.

There were a few places - namely the start and finish areas - where I could have shaved time.  They're really just minor details.  I set a personal best by over one minute (2:21:13) and beat my best time for this course by over 5 minutes.  I'd say that this was a huge success.

With less than 8 weeks to go I stand at a great position for the elusive 3:04:59 time at Sugarloaf.  I need to continue to be at that position, however, to make it.