California International Marathon (CIM) Race Report

December 6th (Saturday): Big breakfast with the family in Kate's apartment. Greg made a huge breakfast. Banana pancakes, bacon, and eggs with mushrooms and onions. Packed up the bags and headed over to Sacramento for the expo. 3 miles through Sacramento before entering the expo. Picked up my number and walked around to check everything out. Purchased a pullover. Attended the elite meeting (which was intense, but cool - the realness of the race set in just about there).

Fuel up!

 

To the hotel to shower and change up for dinner. Out to dinner with everyone. Chicken parmesan and lots of water. Bed at a decent hour and prepped all the gear for the next day.

December 7th (Sunday): 4am wakeup. A small breakfast of oatmeal and Gatorade. Eaten with the wooden stirrers for your coffee. Sorta like chopsticks. Dominic drove me down as close as we could to the start line. Dropped me off at an intersection and I jogged in the 2+ miles to the starting line. Inside the elite tent. Reeked of sweaty people, but that's normal. Some strides in the parking lot and ready for the race.

Off the line smart and worked myself into a group of 15 or so people by the 2nd or 3rd mile. There was a 2:15 pace group and a 2:18 pace group. So you will see how the splits went and how it blew up in my face by mile 21.

Mile 1: 5:15
Mile 2: 5:19
Mile 3: 5:04 (slightly downhill and caught up with the pace group)
Mile 4: 5:07
Mile 5: 5:19 (26:06)
Mile 6: 5:11
Mile 7: 5:17
Mile 8: 5:15
Mile 9: 5:13 
Mile 10: 5:08 (52:12 - even splits for the 1st and 2nd 5 miles - 26:06 x2)
Mile 11: 5:14
Mile 12: 5:13
Mile 13: 5:13

68:26 through 1/2 marathon - feeling smooth and ahead of pace - keep it together and you got it

Mile 14: 5:16
Mile 15: 5:22 (78:32 - 3rd 5 miles @ 26:20)
Mile 16: 5:13
Mile 17: 5:14
Mile 18: 5:17 (during this mile - I was thinking "You got this Eric!")
Mile 19: 5:23
Mile 20: 5:30 (1:45:13 - 4th 5 miles @ 26:41)
Mile 21: 5:32
Mile 22: 5:54 (Ahh! it's over and my legs are shutting down hardcore)
Mile 23: 5:59
Mile 24: 6:14 (I think I stopped for a few seconds on this one - wasn't sure I was gonna make it)
Mile 25: 6:16
Mile 26: 6:15
Mile 26.2: 81 seconds

Finish time: 2:22:46 - missed hitting a PR by 26 seconds, but was through 20 miles much quicker  (almost . I loved every minute of it and know a couple factors I need to focus on the next cycle.
 

Mexican food at night with my Kate, Erin, Dom, Greg and Karen to celebrate all the hard work. It was an awesome day and amazing trip to California. I cannot complain about anything and I am excited for the next one!