Vermont city marathon

VCM- I made the decision early in the winter that I would chase this race again this year. Last years race was a combination of things, not fully trained and not fully health. Going into the race this year I was trained (best training block to date and health). I felt really good about where my fitness was at, and had a pretty solid plan.

Race day - woke up around 540am and immidiately got a drink and back to hydrating. Ate some breakfast, rolled out and tried to keep off my feet. A little after 7 I drove down to the start, got in a light warm up then to the line with Macknight. Was greeted by a crew of Albany people that come out to watch! It was awesome!

I was able to see a few people before the start and found Jim, Joe and Dan at the line and tucked in with them. Off the line I was right with Jim and we cruised together for a good portion of the course. Jim was looking for sub 2:50 and I was thinking 245, we decided to work together and stay under control. We locked into a rythem pretty quickly and we're just clipping away. After the turn around on the highway we began to separate a little, I wanted to try and get up with Joe around 10m or so. The next couple miles I moved thru some crowds but never really dropped the pace down. My main concern was to continue to get fluids in, I was trying to get 2 cups per water stop. Once back into town I was able to catch Joanna (formerly from Albany) we chatted for a min and noticed we were shooting for the same time and trying to get with the same group. We were able to cruise together for 8-9m , once I knew we had 10m left I began to get a head of steam and started working to close the gap with the group infront of us. At this point my legs felt refreshed and I was thinking just one mile at a time start to lock in. Somewhere between 19-20 I felt some real tightness in my quads and calfs, I'm still questioning the split decision I made but saw an opportune place to get a quick stretch and keep moving. It's hard to say weather the cramping would have gotten better had I left it alone or not. The next mile I was trying to get back on pace and back into the groove of things, coming up on 22 you have a short steep down hill then a little pop up to the bike path. This seemed to be the final dagger, my legs immediately locked up once I got on the bike path. I tried to walk it off and keep jogging to finish up but they continued to get tighter. The final straw was around 23m I was trying to fight thru and keep moving, I started to feel a lot of stain near my achilles I have dealt with those injuries before and have no desire to do that again. I finally pulled the plug and knew I wasn't finishing, it was a long 3m walk back but it gave me time to think and clear my head before seeing anyone. I was not happy about dropping but was happy the way everything was going till that point. 

Seems me and the spring marathon still have something's to workout. 

Splits:
1 - 6:23
2 - 6:12   (12:36)
3/4 - 12:24 (25:00)

5 - 6:12   (31:13)
6 - 6:23   (37:36)
7 - 6:19   (43:55)
8- 6:22    (50:18)
9 - 6:28   (56:46)
10 - 6:08 (1:02:55)
11 - 6:25 (1:09:21)
12 - 6:23 (1:15:44)
13 - 6:23 (1:22:08)
14 - 6:32 (1:28:40)
15 - 6:23 (1:35:03)
16 - 6:49 (1:41:53)
17 - 6:25 (1:48:15)
18 - 6:17 (1:54:36)
19 - 6:35 (2:01:11)
20 - 7:25 (2:08:36)
21 - 6:49 (2:15:26)
22 - 6:53 (2:22:19)

As for what's next: I am going to enjoy my 2 weeks recovery before getting back to running. I think there are some small things that I need to add to my routine over the summer months, but nothing major. The main focus will shift to some shorter stuff for a little before coming full swing to prepare for Hartford.