Crushing it at the Chevron Houston Marathon

Nick Polanowski (MM16057) – Well, I came to Houston, TX and did what I set out to do…I absolutely CRUSHED it.
Ran a Boston Qualifying Time & PR’d my previous best finishing time by 15min.
Official Finish Time of the Chevron Houston Marathon – 3:15:25
David Crocker, THIS ONE WAS FOR YOU!!! 💙
Two amazing nights sleep leading up to and just some good relaxation & low stress with my legs up .
The start was a chilly 43 degrees with a steady 10mph breeze. But this wasn’t anything I hadn’t already been training in; as it’s been much colder temps back home in St Louis.
The gun sounded off at 7:01 and the jam packed race field of 33k runners were off…🏃‍♂️
I found the 3:25 pace group to start off with as i knew this would give me a good indicator of how everything was feeling. Legs had been feeling great during the previous months training but as the colder temps came on, the lungs were having a harder time keeping up with the legs, so I figured I would just take my bodies temp and see how it was going to respond to the start.
2 miles in I knew today was going to be a good day, maybe even a GREAT day. I picked up the pace and mentally refocused my sights on catching up to the 3:20 pacers. Well, that didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it would actually as the field was still pretty tight. I think I saw the bright yellow shirts and hats first and then the 3:20 flags as I came up on there left around mile 5-6. This group was great. The pacers were very much calling out paces and just leisurely talking to the runners around them. I listened in and took it all in but refrained from chatting it up as I was feeling really good, so I wanted to keep that momentum going.
I stuck with this group for another 5 miles or so. It wasn’t until around mile 11 that I decided to go ahead and pick up the pace and push on as I was feeling light on my feet and lungs were keeping up. So I began to slowly pull away looking for my wife between mile 12-13 as this is where she was going to be. I heard my name being called out and turned to see the biggest grin you could have ever imagined. I threw her my water water and said I didn’t need the other one. At this point I still had 2 Huma Gels and it was time to discard any extra weight and Go-After what I came down here to do.
Remember…Goals & Expectations & these were beginning to fall into place, but there was still half a race left to go.
Time to Dig & Dig I did.
I remember looking at my Garmin Fenix 6 & it reading 18.99 miles and knew at this moment I had this. I was -2:37 under my pace goal and still had ALOT left in the tank. So, it was time to find another gear and motor on.
Now, at the beginning I started off with a guy wearing annorange shirt and we ran together for probably the first 7-8 miles and he decided to push on. We nodded and he went on to run his race. Somewhere in the back of my head I knew I would see him again. And that is exactly what happened, around mile 21 I saw that orange shirt and recognized that stride. He was maintaining and I was coming on strong. The race within the race pushed me. I felt fast & light on my feet as I reeled him in. At 24.5 miles I caught him. We never exchanged glances, but ran side by side, stride in stride together to mile 25. I knew if I wanted to finish ahead of him I needed to dig just a little deeper and make him be the one doing the chasing. To my amazement, as I pushed the pace he actually fell back far enough I could no longer hear his breathing and eventually the sound of his feet were no longer there.
Now, it’s 25.84 on the Garmin and I know I’ve not only ran then 3:20 finish I wanted but I was darn well pushing a 3:15. I knew I still had something left. So as we entered back into the jam packed streets lined with spectators the atmosphere was ELECTRIC & all the motivation I needed. I kept an eye out on my right as I knew where Amy was going to be and finally saw her. She had this look of amazement and astonishment!
All I could do was flash her the biggest smile I had with a couple fist pumps. I knew I had this as I could see that arch where I was going to finish in 3hrs15min.
All I can say is: What a Race!
Houston, you sure know how to put on a race!