I headed into the Austin Marathon today knowing it was going to be a tough day. I’m coming off of a two-marathon weekend, I’ve had a hectic week behind the scenes, and the course is far from easy. But I did what I always do — I went out and ran as fast as I could.

My gameplan was the same as it always is. Go out, try to keep the heart rate between 170 and 172 and keep on rolling. I know not to worry too much about my time, because I’ll max it out if I run my race correctly. I was concerned about how strong I’d be. My legs felt a little heavy, which I expected. I ran two marathons last weekend, and the last time I came off a double, I had the same problem from about mile 2 (Arizona Rock ‘N Roll, January 17) and I struggled through a long, painful run.

The course looks very challenging on the profile view. Some quick stuff early, but then a long, slow death from miles 6 through 18. Afterwards, it’s a big, gradual downhill finish. In a way, it reminded me of Boston. You have those four hills in Boston late that will chew you up, but if you can make it through, you can fly the last five miles. With that 12-mile stretch in Austin, though, I wasn’t expecting an easy day.

I felt kind of OK early, moving at a fairly good pace through those first few miles that had some uphill. My legs didn’t feel like they had any spring, but they were turning fairly well. I think my pace early on was averaging somewhere around 7:10/mile. Coming down the fast part of the course early into mile 6, I was moving quicker and staying within my heart rate target. I don’t remember my miles, but I remember one at 6:36 that I was happy about.

By the 6-mile mark, my pace for the race was about 7:01 and I was feeling fairly well. But I knew the long uphill was coming. Well, mile 7 was a breeze, probably something in the 7:10 range, and I started getting (gasp!) a little bit of confidence. I ran a few miles in that 7:15 range and then I consistently start turning miles right around 7:30 through the bulk of that uphill stretch.

All day long when you’re running, you can kind of guess where you’re going to finish, and the way my pace was slipping, but the way I was taking the downhills, I really though I had a chance to push for a 3:06 or so. It looked like I was going to come out of 18 at about a 3:08 pace, but I figured I’d turn it on.

Well, something happened. I’m not sure what, but I totally ran out of gas by about 19. In that first downhill mile, when I thought I’d run in the 6:40s, I went 7:05 (I think). Right when we crossed the 20-mile mark, I could feel that I was totally out of gas. I couldn’t pound the legs hard enough to get my heart rate up to 170. I started ticking off miles at 7:47, 7:51 and another 7:47. I knew I was slipping, but I didn’t know how far. That 3:10 was disappearing pretty quick and I was doing the math and thinking I was going to get my third 3:13 out of nine races this year.

A tiny bit past 25, I turned it on and went for broke. I hate doing that, because that means maybe I left something out on the course earlier, but I was really stiff and I think I would have really struggled if I tried to push it harder earlier in the 20s. There was nothing there. But for that last mile, I got my ticker going past 180 and picked off quite a few people. I hit the finish strong, which is fun, but also an indicator that maybe I left a little bit out there.

Whatever the case, I went 3:12:38. I’m totally content with this run individually, because it was a tough course and I’m not 100 percent right now. And now that I’m 35, it’s a Boston qualifier! Not the sub-3:10 I like to run, but I’m content with how I’m doing. And of course, I’ll get another shot next week in Pasadena!

I don’t have to run fast to be competitive, and the Surf City Marathon was a perfect example of that. I was the official pacer for the 3:30 group for second straight year, and my goal was simple. I wanted to come closer to 3:30:00 without going over than I did last year. Last year, I went 3:29:54.

When pacing, I run by pace, not by heart rate. I keep an eye on my Garmin and do my best to keep my average and current pace right on the money depending on how long I think I’m going to run with the tangents. 26.2 miles required an 8:00 pace, 26.3 needed 7:59, 26.4 needed 7:57 and 26.5 needed 7:55. I planned on getting rolling at about 7:59 or so per mile and then adjusting based on how straight my lines were.

I explained my strategy to my group before the start of the race. I told them I was going to attempt to run as even as possible. There’s one decent downhill that I would take advantage of and we’d run about a 7:35, but on the way back up the hill, I told them we’d be a little bit slower. Aside from that, I’d be shooting for miles right around 8:00 and I promised them if they stuck with me, I’d get them to the line at the right time. I told them about my 3:29:54 from last year, and they seemed relieved.

But then a friend of mine who was running with was was talking to me about my run in the Diamond Valley Lake Marathon the day before. My group looked a little panicked when they heard that I was responsible for pacing them even though I had run a marathon the day before, but I told them not to worry. This was my fifth double, and the slowest I’d done in any of the second-day races was a 3:21 in Mobile this year, but the 22-degree temps (11 with wind chill) probably had a little something to do with it.

I told them I was so sure I’d run a good race, that if I did, they owed a visit to operationjack.com, but if I didn’t, they could go curse about me to everybody! And then, we were off.

I was a tiny bit slow out of the gate, but I’m not worried about five seconds after one mile. A marathon is a long, long race. I got heckled in the second mile, which surprised me. Some guy was flying buy, yelling that the 3:30 pacer was going too fast and killing his people. The funny thing was, I was actually slow. I don’t normally get mouthy on the race course, but I told him what my time was when I paced last year, and that I was pretty sure I’d be just fine.

I was a little off here and there on my early miles, but I settled into a routine. It looked like we were going to be running 26.4 miles, so I tried to keep my average pace at about 7:57. I got it there by about mile 8 and held it. I got a good feel for the effort I needed to run the right pace and locked into a zone. We hit the half in 1:45:03 and I jokingly told the group we’d make up the three seconds.

The more we kept rolling, the more it actually started to look like I was going to run about 26.35 miles. I figured I was probably going to be 20 seconds fast, but I didn’t change anything up. Less than a second per mile probably isn’t all that bad. I’m competitive with myself, so I’d rather be one second fast than 20, but there was no sense slowing people down if they were locked into a groove.

I started to fatigue a little bit over the final two miles, but the sun came out, and let’s be realistic … I was pretty close to the completion of my second marathon of the weekend. I tried to start motivating people, telling them to stick with me and they’d be in the 3:20s. Of course, it’s tougher to hit a pace when the sun’s peaking and you’re near the end of 26.2 all-out miles.

I ended up crossing the finish line in 3:29:39. I was a little bummed, because it was too fast for what I wanted to do. I really wanted to be in the 3:29:50s, but I expect a lot out of myself. I know that there’s really nothing wrong than being fast by less than one second per mile over the course of a marathon. Individually, I was pretty happy about my heart rate. Last year, I averaged 161 when I paced. This year, 153. I’ve suspected from my morning runs that I’m getting into better shape, but it’s going to be tough to see results because I’m not going to be fresh until next year.

Anyways, I had a lot of fun out there on the course today. For starters, it’s very rewarding to help people achieve their goals. Lots of people thanked me afterwards, and that was pretty cool. Also, I saw a lot of people I knew over the course of the race — probably at least two dozen yelled hellos. At one point, somebody running with me asked, “Is there anybody you don’t know?” It was a fun day. Good or bad, aren’t they all?

If you want to see my splits, they’re here.

Eight down, 52 to go. I can do this! Next up, Austin!

Imagine a day with perfect conditions for racing. Clear skies, no precipitation, absence of wind and great course conditions with solid footing. Take the exact opposite of that and you have the 2010 Diamond Valley Lake Marathon. 3:28:01 after the start of the race, I crossed the finish line after experiencing the worst race-day weather of any of my 35 (to-date) marathons.

The forecast was for rain, and the forecast was accurate. I hid under a tent that was just to the side of the start line until the beginning of the race and I took off from there. Within the first mile, I was getting whipped by the wind and the rain was stinging as it hit me. I knew it would be a long day, but the race report would be fun to write.

About 22 of the 26 miles of this race are run on a dirt fire road. We were on that path within about 1/2 mile and it was very muddy. I was cautious early, trying to get used to footing. It was slippery in parts, my feet sunk into the mud for a fair amount and there were dozens of big puddles I had no choice but to run through.

I fell into a rhythm after a couple of miles and knew it wasn’t going to be a fast day. This was my third time running this race and I never run a quick time. The course isn’t a killer, but it’s just not quick. In perfect weather, I ran a 3:17 two years ago and a 3:24 last year. Both times, I ran the Carlsbad Marathon faster the next day, so that’s probably a good indicator that I can’t really compare a performance on this course to a regular road course. It’s not a trail run, but it’s still not ideal for a blazing time.

At about six miles in, we cross over a long road — I think it’s a dam — and there was a fierce headwind that made me feel like I was on a treadmill. I was running and running and going nowhere. I had been running 7:30 miles in the mud, but with this wind, I turned an 8:37 mile on a flat road.

From there, the elements didn’t get any better. The rain was off-and-on the entire race. Sometimes it was a sprinkle, sometimes it was a heavy downpour. The course was a run around a large lake and after we got past that dam and wrapped around the lake, the wind alternated between crosswind and headwind for about 10 miles.

I hit the 1/2 in 1:41 and just hoped to match my 3:24 from last year. I knew I had no shot at a time I’d like. At about 17, it started to rain pretty hard. It was a little dark out and I started to cross over a dam on the other side of the lake. That’s when the hail started pelting me. I started thinking of Rocky IV when Rocky is training in Siberia. I was thinking that if Rocky would have been training for a marathon, this is the kind of run he would have had. It was straight-up miserable. Nothing fun about it. I went as hard as I could across that second dam, because I was afraid I was a lightning target.

I made a wrong turn at about 20 that cost me about 30 seconds, but I figured out quick enough that I was back on the right track and I kept plodding through the quicksand. Well, it was just mud, but it felt like quicksand. I could feel the strain in my hamstrings, because I had to pull with more effort for each step.

I ran out of gas and faded and realized the 3:24 wasn’t going to happen. A friend of mine, Jeff Cate, caught up with me and we ran the final two miles together. He was using it as a training run, and he looked really strong. I think he’s going to run in the mid-2:50s in Los Angeles March 21, although he thinks he’s only at right around 2:59 or 3:00. We finally finished and he forced me to finish in front of him.

I went 3:28:01 and he went 3:28:02. He probably could have gone 3:27 flat if he wouldn’t have stuck with me. My time was good for fifth overall, second in my age group. When I found out the guy who won last year in 2:42 was only able to run 3:03 to repeat as champion, I felt a little better about my time.

All-in-all, an extremely difficult today. But I know it was a great workout, I really beat myself up and in about a year, I’ll look back on it fondly. No sooner than a year though!