M-Sa - 17 total, easy, 2 off days
Su - Shires of Vermont Marathon, 3:12:00. What can I tell you, guys? Did the very hilly first half in 1:31:40, exactly as planned, doing the uphills mid to high 7s and letting gravity take me on the downhills, and then did a few 6:40 or so miles after the half and actually felt optimistic but around mile 16 exhaustion got the better of me. Tried to fight it but couldn't. Just wasn't prepared to sub-3 on this challenging of a course. Did some low 7s, then some high 7s, then some mid 8s, before finally picking up the pace for the last 3/4 mile. Somehow finished 8th overall, 3rd in my age group which earned me half a pint of pure Vermont maple syrup, which was cool. Though having done the Master Cleanse a few years back (Google it) I don't see myself ever consuming it.
Cyhawk, I got in touch with your friend Patrick who was also running. Very cool guy and we ran together for the first several miles before he pulled ahead, but I never had him out of my sight. Which sucked for him, since he was shooting for sub-3 too, only to do a 3:10 something.
It was a great race, though. Very challenging and well run. Lots of respect for the organizers and volunteers. And lots of food and a single beer at the finish were nice indeed.
Grazing the comments before posting, someone asked about drinking. Yes, I drink. Probably more than most of you, though I've cut back at times before big races. Didn't do it enough before Boston (or this race) and that couldn't have helped me any, but in the end you live your life. I'll always have Hartford! Someday my kids will be amazed that their old man ran a sub-3.
All that said, I still think I have one more sub-3 in me and I plan to try for it again in Chicago. Disciplined training, no "training marathons", and I'll take it easy on the food and drink. And the course is flat.
Best of luck to everyone, monsters and mortals alike, on your running exploits. It's been great having this community here for support. I'll still lurk around here but probably won't post again until I start training for Chicago at the end of June. But first, I'm running the Hatfield and McCoy Marathon in Williamson, West Virginia. Why? God knows.