GR opens his blog post with a Pre quote:
“Some people race to see who's the fastest. I race to see who has the most guts."
He then goes on to reason that because he trained on downhills and because it was in the 80s a couple days in Colorado he was well prepared to race well at Boston in hot weather.
GR then mentions that he thought perhaps he should have gone out faster, and since (he had a rough last 20 miles) that it just wasn’t his day in that cramps slowed him down.
GR writes about his positive split: “I have working theories as to what went wrong” Really? I wonder.
Did he actually believe that he was going to run a sub 2:10 and that going out at faster than this pace was his best strategy? Did he think he could place in the top 3? We’re talking about an Ivy League grad who studied physics, got a high GPA, and has run cross country and track at the DI level (and, mind you, performed a lot better than most). His mom was an Olympian and he missed Footlocker in hs running by one place.
The guy is a talent, but if he is truly this delusional in his racing tactics he is wasting his ability. I think that is why people are giving him a hard time. Perhaps he should focus more on another one of Pre’s quotes:
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift."
Sometimes "your best" means learning how to pace yourself at the start of a marathon in hot conditions. The real marathon racing that takes guts is in the last 20 miles and not the first 6.