Congratulations! I enjoyed following this discussion, and what a way to put it to bed 😉

The 19 second margin is awesome. Nothing feels as satisfying as having to dig dig dig to just barely reach an ambitious goal. Perfect!

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

Congrats on running a really well executed debut marathon.

Many runners are thrown by a slow start and are tempted to regain "lost" time too quickly. Sounds like you ran a mature, patient and controlled race and avoided that trap.

Even if you were to lose 2 minutes in the first 2 km of a particularly crowded marathon, you only have to claw back 3 seconds/km over the rest of race to finish on schedule.

Marathon times sound so much quicker when they start with a 2.

Follow your plan and trust it. If feel good on the day make the most of it.

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Andrew Garwood
http://www.2xu.com
http://www.newtonrunning.com
http://www.ascendsport.com.au

Congratulations, good job and many thanks for proving me wrong!!!

Have fun in Boston (if that's possible LOL)

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Nothing like setting a goal and accomplishing it, congrats.

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Let food be thy medicine...

No matter what happened I was hitting one of my goals in this race, so I was gonna be happy no matter what, but....

If I had been at 3:00:04, being that close and just missing would have stung a bit.

100% on digging and getting to it.

The fact that I could dig at mile 26 and that I got that time is sooooooooo satisfying.

Awesome, well done! Congrats and some time off are both in order! (seriously, don't be too exuberant especially about running workouts, post-marathon speedwork has consistently been a prime source of injury for me)

Sounds like you have some aptitude for the distance and you crushed it in terms of splits and pacing. Things work out for some people this way and others never can nail the marathon distance and always wind up with a tough last X miles that give them a big positive split. Good luck if you go for Boston in 2025 -- 20 minute buffer on the qualifying time should be plenty :)

That's thread-worthy in itself. Those times when we've just hit or missed a race goal by the barest of margins.

Well done!

Case in point CJ Albertson Two Cities Marathon today. From his Strava.....


Hamstring felt good. Everything felt good. Idk what I was doing at the end. | Run | Strava