Running Down the Dream: Bass Pro Second Half

The first half of the race flew by, and everyone seemed to be in high spirits starting the back half. I vacillated between wanting to push the pace to help Casey possibly PR, and wanting to slow down. We were pretty chatty through about 16, but as we left the Southern Hills area around 17 we all seemed to get quieter. As we passed the mile 18 sign, Jacqui told me and Casey that she'd made it her goal to stay with us through 18 so she'd done it. She seemed to be feeling strong, and we encouraged her that she could keep staying with us.

Through the entire race, there was variation on who was pushing and who was coasting amongst the 3 of us, but it became more apparent who felt good and who didn't at various times in the final 8 miles. One huge perk of running with a pack is that different people go through rough patches at different times, so when you're in a strong stretch you get to pull someone else along, which can increase energy by helping someone, and when you're in a rough patch you can latch on.

The three of us passed mile 20 side-by-side, along with our lead female cyclist. I felt average for mile 20 - not super strong but not bonking. I knew a friend was spectating on the course around mile 20.5 and that Jon and Albani were at mile 22, so thinking about that helped break up the miles as they started to get harder. Casey fell back slightly off of Jacqui and I at mile 21, but it wasn't noticeable initially because like I said, we all had patches where we were kind of hanging on. We also got slightly separated when one person was grabbing water or taking a gel.

Jacqui grabbed a cup from an aid station around mile 22 and I didn't, so I pulled a few steps into the lead at that point. My initial reaction was "it's time to go" but based on how meh I felt, I thought it was too soon to really start pushing it. In hindsight, maybe I should have tried to take a more dominating lead at that point, but I didn't and soon she was back by my side. Coincidentally, we passed Jon when I had a slight lead, so he told me that I was winning - but he also saw shortly after when Jacqui pulled back up beside me. We continued side-by-side past mile 23, where she mentioned that she'd made it her goal to stay with me until mile 23, but her legs were really feeling it. I said something like, "Of course, it's mile 23, but you've got this!" While my legs were also certainly feeling it, her comment gave me some hope.

My small lead after an aid station

Around mile 23.5, we went through a short tunnel that was muddy. I've slipped in that specific tunnel before and well as in similar tunnels in the Springfield trail systems, so I was pretty tentative going through and Jacqui gapped me. Had I felt better, that wouldn't have been a big deal and a few uptempo steps would have closed the gap, but with my lack of reserves, I couldn't manage to pull back up with her. I knew I really needed to hang on to have a chance, but my legs weren't responsive when I tried to surge.

We passed my favorite aid station, by OMRR, at mile 24 where I trailed by ~5 seconds. I kept reminding myself of the fast finish I'd done on the end of the course the week before - "You did 6:25s then, you can do it again now!" I wasn't looking at my watch, but it was clear that I was not doing enough to stay in contention for the win. Jacqui gradually pulled away from me. I kept reminding myself that anything can happen at the end of a marathon, and stayed as strong and focused as I could. The closer the finish got, the more I resigned myself to second though. I looked back on one of the many turns to see if Casey was coming up on me, but I couldn't see her, so it seemed I was pretty secure in my position.

Final stretch

I weaved through several half runners in the final half mile and smiled coming down the final stretch. I had looked at my watch enough during the race to feel confident that I was going to get the age 41 state record, but I was sad there wasn't a finishing clock to capture that! I got blocked by a couple of half runners on the final narrow turn right before the line - I now feel bad but I yelled "marathoner coming through" as I tried to barrel between them; the turn was narrow and they were walking 2 abreast (note to everyone: don't let that race come down to the final 20 meters, there isn't room for that!).

Non-clock shot

I crossed the line and congratulated Jacqui, and soon after we congratulated Casey, who came in at about 2:56. Her last-minute bib wasn't picked up by any of the course mats, so race officials had to manually input her time. They added her after I told them she was missing from the awards list when I picked up my award. For awhile they had her as 2 seconds behind me - I'd told the race officials "about 2 minutes" and think they misunderstood. Regretfully, we were unable to finish holding hands and tie in 2:59, neither of us was able to win, and we both had to run all out! But, after reading what Jacqui wrote about us on social media, it was very hard to be disappointed that she won. She was also the best of us on that day, no doubt.