Shiprock Marathon, Shiprock, New Mexico

26.2 miles 2:50:14 PR at altitude.
7:00 am) 40's sunny slight head wind out of the east
2nd Place Overall
This race starts out with the first 3 miles climbing. I was breathing pretty hard by mile
3. I studied the profile so I knew it was going to go down after that. Mile 4 was my
fastest of the day. My pace was all over due to the nature of this course. I ran 19
miles with the eventual winner. We would jockey back and forth he would lead for a bit
then I would pass and take the lead. I felt a bit stronger than him on the ups and he
would pass on the downs. I felt pretty strong till mile 19. Then the wheels fell off.
He made a move and I couldn't respond at all. The last 10k I felt terrible even with
it being a very nice downhill grade. I struggled just to keep miles under 7:00 pace.
I hoped to run under 2:50 and just missed that goal. Still my fastest marathon above
5,000 ft. The awards were for only the overall winner and then straight to age group
so I got the age group award for 40-49. It's a beautiful handmade vase made by the
Navajo tribe. This was a pretty amazing experience running through the Navajo reservation.
The landscape was breath taking.

My splits:
1 6:46
2 6:46
3 6:24
4 5:53
5 6:05
6 6:24
7 6:14
8 6:16
9 6:20
10 6:28
11 6:48
12 6:41
13 6:22
14 6:41
15 6:10
16 6:20
17 6:16
18 6:50
19 6:31
20 6:34
21 6:31
22 6:35
23 6:44
24 6:49
25 6:40
26 6:25
27 .28 1:42 (6:04)

5/4/2014
Pretty sore today but managed a easy 3 mile shakeout run.

b/st5b/95
b/a14r/111