I ran the Chicago Marathon last year. I won't give the exact time I finished in, but I ran in the 2:57-2:59 range. I had a lot of bad races in the year leading up to it, but this one was a massive success for me. Today, I'm not sure how it happened.
In a lot of workouts, I struggled hitting 6:40-6:50 pace during long runs. I averaged 60 mpw a week and really bombed a 10K race in August and crash and burned in a half marathon a month earlier which was really demoralizing. My two 22 mile long runs were hit or miss. Even my 1K repeats were pretty terrible on track. I was thinking I could run 3:05 and kind of planned for that.
But in Chicago I was rattling off 6:50 miles like it was nothing. I was literally smiling at mile 15 not believing what I was seeing on my watch.
At mile 20 I was kind of stunned I didn't hit the wall but terrified at mile 21-23 that it would come crashing down. I just kept feeling better as the race went on with my last 1.2 miles at 6:30 pace, completing a negative split.
I guess this is kind of a serious post. But how much does adrenaline play into those longer races? I almost feel like some luck was involved. Has anyone had this type of experience?