Today I failed. Nate and I paced the 3:15 group for the Austin Marathon. We nailed the first mile split and ended up being hot on pace until around mile 24 when my wheels started falling off. I’ve yet to run the enirety of the Austin Marathon. I’ve run it three times officially now. Today wasn’t the day, and that just happens sometimes. It was cold and windy for the entire race. The temperatures were fine, but wind is my running kryptonite. The wind took the wind out of my sail. I let my head to go a dark place and I failed to pull myself out of it. My left glute flared up early and moved to my hip in the late miles. There’s something wrong in that muscle group, so I’m just going to lay low and give it the time it needs to heal.

Austin’s a hard course. One day I’ll beat it.

I failed to hit a 3:14:30. Instead I came in at 3:16:40. I failed my team and crew. I hold myself to some standards. “Fail” isn’t a bad word in my book. It’s an opportunity to reflect and learn. One of the reasons I love this sport is because I’m always learning.

This was my 11th marathon and the one that I was most anxious about. It’s one thing to be responsible for the outcome of your own race, but it’s another thing to have others relying on you to hit a specific time.