CIM - That sweet ain't so sweet without some bitter.

I returned from Moscow not necessarily disappointed with my marathon- but more unfulfilled. I knew I had more in me than a 2:39. 2015 has become my biggest running year ever, though I didn't get the opportunity to really show it in the marathon.

In the weeks after returning from Russia, I was basically focused on closing out the CARA season. I ran enough miles to do well in the final two races, and finished the season with a very pleasing 5th overall and 2nd 35-39 age group. The thoughts of CIM entered my mind back in September, as I found myself in the predicament of not hitting my goal in Moscow.

So why CIM? Well for starters, I ran it in 2011. The course has some sharp downs in the early going, followed by constant and steady rolling hills that last until 23 miles, then a flat final 5K. It certainly is not easy, but it is net downhill and can reward patient runners. However, it can be extremely evil for those that go out too fast or haven't trained for those hills! Add to this, Sacramento weather in early-December tends to be very favorable.

In recent years, CIM has become a playground for fast men and women trying to qualify for the Olympic Trials or Boston. For example: in this year's field of about 5600 people, 500 ran sub-3:05 (men's BQ), and in all 1,400 ran sub-3:35 (women's BQ). There were at least 30-40 men and 30-40 women trying for their OTQ. Those are huge percentages!!! The only other race in America that might come close to those numbers is Grandma's (even Boston doesn't do that well!!).

Most of all, this is a true runner's race ... It's a small, extremely well organize, competitive event with go gimmicks. Just fast runners looking for fast times.

I was on the fence until I ran Naperville in 1:14:07. I did it with a solid negative split and felt great about that race. That was a big surprise and a long overdue PR. On a comparable basis, Naperville's time was ironically similar to my SF10 @ 55:31. Per McMillan, both races predicted that I had a sub-236 in me. That gave me the confidence I needed to gut out a few bigger weeks of training and gun for CIM. It was risky considering I was attempting two fast marathons in roughly a two months, and I wasn't doing a typical ramp or even any hill work. I was concerned about my chances, as I mentioned in last week's post. Regardless, 2:35:59 became my "A" goal.

Unlike some prior marathon trips, this weekend was a strictly business trip. I didn't want to screw anything up. Everything revolved around the race. I was doing things by the book as much as possible. Including wearing compression socks on the flight and the days before, cleaning up my diet the week of the race, taking a few key days off, hydrating like mad, driving the course, and staying off my feet as much as possible on Saturday. I even tried beet juice! Disgusting... but I was willing to try it so I could give myself an edge.

A couple of other Chicago guys were also on the trip, as well as Dan McDowell and a few of his friends from Portland. Everyone was serious about their races. Dan's friend, Matt stayed with me for the night before the race. Conveniently, Matt and I had very similar race goals.

He and I thought we could go sub 2:36, though tackling it a little differently. He admittedly wanted to be more aggressive in the early going so he could keep his options open at the end. I preferred a mid-1:18's first half, then come back negative. Regardless, we decided that we'd start easier and hang through 10K together.

On marathon morning, it was raining on-and-off. Wind was calm, temps were chilly and would eventually make their way into the mid-50s. The rain eventually let up after about an hour of running. I really couldn't ask for much better. The only downside was having to run the race wet. My feet were squishing right from the beginning and I eventually did get some chafing from my sopping wet singlet. It certainly could've been worse though!

So as expected, this year's race was stacked with higher quality runners. Matt and I took off from the starting line, and we found ourselves easily with about 500 runners ahead of us at the 1/2 mile. It was as if we were in Boston with the number of runners around us, but from a much smaller field. Runners were pretty much falling all over one another until things thinned out.

We eased into things with low 6's for the first couple miles. We were somewhat frustrated as we had to weave our way around herds, including the women's OTQ-244 pack.

Wanting to shed the masses had us losing our patience. Add a sizable downhill in the third and fourth miles, and things got a little hot quicker than I wanted. We rolled 5:47 then 5:42 for those two miles. I cringed. This was not my plan!! It didn't seem to hurt, but I was truly afraid of what that might've done to my race. I didn't want that coming back to haunt me.

At about four miles, a few other guys finally assembled with us and a loose pack of 5-6 runners formed. As a group, we calmed down and dialed it back as the course became more rolling instead of down. We went back into the 5:50's. This early pace was still faster than I've ever attempted so early in a marathon. Importantly, the effort didn't feel unreasonable.

Miles 1-5: 29:41.9, 5:56.4 avg

Matt pulled away from me shortly after the 10K, and he continued to work with the other runners that were in our small pack. They gained distance on me on the downhills. On the ups, I recovered some that distance and yo-yoed them. In general I let myself run more comfortably in those rollers... pressing a little on the ups and recovering on the downs, as I typically do. We were still passing random runners, but those were becoming fewer and far between. With the exception of one other guy, the pack eventually pulled away. I was in the 5:50's for 6-10. Still a fast pace, but I started to concern myself less with the clock and worried more about the effort. Took my 1st Gu at about 7 miles.

Miles 6-10: 29:34.1, 5:54.8 avg

After 10 miles, we entered an area called San Juan hills. There's a series of long rollers over a 3 mile stretch until the half. Matt and his pack were nearly out of sight by now. I continued to use a guy near me as a guide post. We weren't running with one another, as much as we were constantly checking one another. I stayed strong on the ups, and he was stronger on the downs. When it was flat, we were even or he was two stepping me. I let him do the work.

Interestingly, people kept cheering "McFarland" for this guy. It turns out he is Galvin Gonzalez... He wasn't portrayed in the movie "Mcfarland", but his team was three time CA-XC champs in the 1990's and he actually won the individual champ two years in a row. The movie was a great, feel-good story that came out earlier in 2015. Anyhow, he and I kept up our back and forth going for nearly 15 miles. (He initially joined that pack back at 4 or 5 miles, and stayed with me until about 19 miles).

Took my second Gu at about 13 miles.

I went through the split at about 1:17:38. All I could think was, "Holy shit, this is fast!!" I've never tried anything this aggressive before and it was significantly more so some than my target. I wasn't sure if it was stupid, suicidal, or warranted given the effort.

Was it easy up until then? No. But it wasn't crushing. I certainly felt like I was working and my legs were definitely tired as I went through the half. I was locked in though and that effort was glued to me. Everything was telling me to just keep running hard and stay with this guy.

After 13, McFarland and I started to slowly eat other runners. Mile 14 was a 5:49. We were clearly pulling the trigger a bit. Mile 15 had a climb.

Miles 11-15: 29:29.0, 5:53.8

A fire was then lit. I decided to commit to a new race plan. I became significantly more aggressive. McFarland was no longer two stepping me. I started to drive. We were gaining on Matt. Ups and downs alike, it all became pressing. Mile 16: 5:45, 17: 5:41. These were risky and blistering miles. It was net down in here, but still chalk full of rollers. My legs actually appreciated the up more than the down! Quads and glutes were getting tired. It was not longer easy as we were approaching 20mi. Regardless, we hammered. I took my final Gu at about 18 miles. 16-19 were all in the 5:40's.

We caught Matt, briefly ran with him, and then I pulled away from both him and McFarland at the same time.

Miles 16-20: 28:59.0, 5:47.8 avg

I knew those miles were expensive. But I also knew that soon enough, the course would flatten out and I'd be allowed to relax from those rollers. It couldn't get flat soon enough though! I had 10K to go. I couldn't help but think about how I felt in Moscow during the final 8-10K. How quickly things changed for me there. I tried to tell myself that it was a completely different race and different conditions. I didn't want an excuse to hit the wall... But I knew that ridiculous 5:40 shit couldn't continue.

I ran though 20 miles in 1:57:44. I simply realized that if I held 6's for the final 10K, then I'd run right around 2:35 flat. (doing the math, that's actually an accurate assumption).

Mile 21- 5:56. I felt somewhat relieved. I was happy to see some self control now that I was alone. I was still passing guys, but there weren't many left within reach of me. I passed the third placed woman. I had no one to work with now... Just myself.

Mile 22- 6:02.9. This was the beginning of a nasty hill/bridge that crossed over a river that stretched into the 23rd mile. The climb felt like it took forever. It became a huge mental hurdle. I just wanted to get across it, because I knew the course was supposed to level out after that.

Mile 23- 6:11.6. Fuck. It had the bridge though, so I was ok giving a little back. My legs were getting really heavy at that point. Quads were on fire. Passed the marker and it said "2:15:5X". 3.2 miles to go. The real battle was to begin now. I knew I needed to do that in under 20 minutes. That's all I cared. What pace was that? 6:10? I had trouble thinking about it.

Mile 24- 6:07.7. Well now that was a relief! Better than 23, but still fugly as far as I was concerned. I looked at the street numbers... it was 50th something street... then 40th something. I had to go to 9th, I think. That was a looong way away. No more sub-6's, and they're hurting at a rapidly increasing rate!! I was in quick sand. My legs were done. I passed one guy that was total road kill. I did everything to convince myself that I wasn't going to be that guy. I nearly passed another guy, only to have him promptly drop me and pick it up. I couldn't believe where that came from. I wanted to do that! I questioned my sanity. I questioned everything about the last several months of my life. The maps would suggest the course was leveling out at this point. All I could see was a mountain of concrete in front of me.

Why the fuck did I push so hard?! I wanted to quit. This was becoming excruciating. My legs didn't want to continue. This was not Berlin. This was not SF10. It wasn't Naperville. Those were works of art. I closed them like a thoroughbred champ. This was drunken mess... Stumbling all over... I only hoped I could get through it before I did something stupid, like convince myself it was OK to walk. I wanted to walk.

Mile 25-6:14.4. Indeed it was ugly! Fuck you though, one mile to go!

Miles 21-25: 30:33.0, 6:06.6 avg with three ugly miles

Ugh. Please don't slow down any more! I put in surges to keep myself going, but each one was short lived. There were a few guys 100M in front of me. I couldn't close them. That game was over. I just threw my lifeline at them and hoped they could tow me in. I was only minutes away. I could deal with minutes of pain. It felt like an eternity.

I just had to hang on. I'd PR if I just hung on. I'd be damned if I was going to hammer the way I did, only to trash the end of this thing.

Mile 26- 6:16.1

Just get to the goddamned finish line!!!!

Left hand turn onto 9th street, then again in front of the capitol building. I saw the clock ticking 2:35:4X. I just leaned in all I could without falling over.

I crossed the finish line and wanted collapse. Holy Jesus, 2:35:52. I did it. Holy shit, I did it!! It wasn't pretty, and I threw everything I had at those first 22 miles... Only to fight like never before in those final-four.

It wasn't a total death march since I was still running an OK pace, nor a failure because I simply wouldn't give up. I certainly wanted to though!! To my feeble credit at the end, I paid attention to the clock and said this is what I need to do to keep that aggressive "A" goal of sub 2:36. And I did it.

Wow!!! I was fried. It hurt A LOT! More than any marathon in the last few years.

Matt finished about 15 seconds behind me. McFarland was another minute+ back.

Just looking at the 1:17:38 out and 1:18:14 back... or 2:35:52 = 5:56.7 pace... it doesn't look that exciting, volatile, or even bad. It was only about a half minute positive split. Not quite the conservative race I was thinking and certainly every single one of those fast miles came back to haunt me at the end. I can't give a single complaint about the results though. I decided mid-race to toss my original negative split goal, and I swung for the fences. Between 3 and 22, every single mile was decidedly sub-6. I ran those 20 in 1:57:28; a 5:52.4 average!! I got it in my head that I was going to crush those miles. They were stupid fast, but I had to give it shot.

I think I'm actually more impressed with myself for those 20 miles than the overall marathon.

On the flip side, 23-26.2 were some of my slower and more painful marathon miles in a long time... Whatever. I don't give a shit, so long as I PRd and gutted out that sub 2:36 goal. The end became a calculated crash landing. Had I truly busted and run 2:26:27, I would have a completely different view on life.

Could've I run faster? I don't know. Maybe if I didn't press so hard in the middle. Frankly, after such a huge season, I don't care. The job got done. I PRd by 33 seconds. Before the race, I would've flipped out if someone told me that I'd PR by 33 seconds.

And as for anyone counting... that McMillan calculator is absolutelyfugginaccurate... The 55:31 and the 1:14:07 predicted a 2:35:5X. I ran it.

What now? My year is over. Thank God too! I'm cashed. I'm fried. I'm sore. I've raced more than I ever have before, put in a shit ton of miles, and had four big PRs this year (including a fractional 5K PR). I'm done. Through today, I have 2,905 miles. I suppose I'll gut out what I can over the next 3+ weeks to cross 3,000 miles. Why not.

2016 will be a new year and different goals. For the moment, I'd just like to relish these large accomplishments and recollect myself.

(Raising my hands, dropping the mic, and limping away).

Split recap:

1- 6:12.3

2- 6:02.6

3- 5:47.2

4- 5:42.4

5- 5:57.5 (29:41.9, 5:56.4 avg)

6- 5:52.9

7- 5:52.1

8- 5:58.8

9- 5:59.3

10- 5:51.1 (59:16, 29:34.1, 5:54.8 avg)

11- 5:55.2

12- 5:57.6

13- 5:53.6

14- 5:49.0

15- 5:53.9 (1:28:45, 29:29.0, 5:53.8 avg)

16- 5:45.1

17- 5:41.8

18- 5:46.3

19- 5:48.2

20- 5:57.0 (1:57:44, 28:59.0, 5:47.8 avg)

21- 5:56.2

22- 6:02.9

23- 6:11.6

24- 6:07.7

25- 6:14.4 (2:28:17, 30:33.0, 6:06.6 avg)

26- 6:16.1

.2- 1:18.8 (5:59.8 pace)

Out- 1:17:38 (5:55.3 avg)

Back- 1:18:14 (5:58.0 avg)

Total- 2:35:52 (5:56.7 avg)