Runner’s High in the Last Four Miles of Shamrock Marathon

It’s been several weeks since I ran the Shamrock Marathon along the beaches of Virginia Beach, and I’ve replayed every mile in my head countless times. I’ve wanted to clearly identify what worked so well to achieve such a great result. I hope that for future marathons, I can replicate what I did in this one, because something went very right—I managed to break my marathon PR after 13 years by 1 minute and 46 seconds. It was a race executed with a solid strategy. Not because I had planned it that way, but because of how I responded to critical decisions in unexpected situations during the marathon. The plan I had in mind was something I called “10, 10, and 10.” The first 10 referred to running the first 10 miles a little slower than my marathon pace (8:40 min/mile). The second 10 miles would be a bit faster (8:30 min/mile), and the final 10K would be run with whatever reserves I had left. Since that 8:40 pace for my first 10 miles matched perfectly with the 3-hour-and-50-minute pacer gr...