rfmaioral, you cannot beat yourself up about not having gone a little harder earlier. Honestly, you had a great race even though you struggled on the back half. Had you gone even a little harder earlier, there is a real chance that the struggle the last 7k would have been more significant.
The one thing that I will say about gels is that I always try to force that last one down. After bonking in NYC in 2014, I will never take the chance of doing it again. Obviously, the fact that your stomach was churning played a role - I just threw my last gel to the side because I was totally disinterested in it, not because I didn't think my stomach could handle it - but in the absence that concern, I would never forego a planned gel again.
Interesting to see our splits side by side - we were more than 2 seconds apart at the 20k, 30k and 42k, but definitely got to those points in slightly different ways. I guess that should not be surprising given we had identical goal and had nearly identical final times, but it is still interesting to see on paper).
1-5 -- 17:41 - (17:34)
6-10 -- 17:25 (35:06) (35:24)
11-15 -- 18:04 (53:10) - (53:03)
16-20 -- 17:39 (1h10:49) - (1:10:49 - we sure got there in different ways)
Half - 1h14.36 - (1:14:42)
21-25 --17:38 (1h28:27) (1:28:37)
26-30 -- 17.44 (1h46:11) (1:46:10)
31-35 -- 17.41( 2h03:52) (2:04:03)
36-40 -- 18.27 (2h22:19) (2:22:33)
40 to finish -- 8.22 (2h30:41)(2:30:43)
I enjoyed watching your journey over this thread. Sorry that we both missed our goal, but I am glad you got that nicely sized PR and are happy with your outcome.