Myron goes sub 3 in California!

I just finished the California International Marathon in 2:57:19. My previous best time was 3:16:30, so I am ecstatic with this result.After my fiery bike crash at the World Age Group Triathlon Championships in September, I took a couple of weeks off training to nurse my broken collarbone and spend some time thinking about my athletic goals. I gradually began running and cycling again and tried to start rehab on my shoulder.Unfortunately, my. collarbone has not healed well. The bone is displaced and is not "fusing", so I have not been able to swim or put any weight on it. I am heading back to the orthopaedic surgeon on Dec.21 and, if nothing has changed, will likely get a plate and pins put in to have it fixed properly.The surgeon did give me the ok to run, which doesn't seem to bother it too much. As a result, I decided to focus on that in order to keep a base of fitness in the lead up to Ironman France.The last eight weeks, the running and cycling has gone well. I averaged about 10-12 hours per week of training, mainly geared towards running but also incorporating more core work, leg weights and plyometrics. I am getting a much better feel for my training zones and threshholds. I did lots of interval work, tempo runs and hills, and gradually ramped my long runs up to a maximum distance of 39 kms. Surprisingly, I had few aches, pains or injuries. The last two weeks I did a good taper, reducing volume but maintaining intensity.This past week, I was feeling quite confident about the race. I felt healthy and strong. On Friday, a big storm hit Calgary and many flights got cancelled. I phoned the airline to check on my Saturday morning flight and, sure enough, it was cancelled. Two hours on hold and I was told that there was no way I could get to Sacramento until Sunday evening. I spent another two hours looking for alternate flights, with no luck. The airline suggested I come by the airport early Saturday and try to get on a standby flight.So, after three hours sleep, I got up at 3 am and made my way to the airport, arriving at 4:30 am. The first few flights were cancelled but I eventually got on a 9:15 am flight to LA. Upon arrival, I high tailed it to the other terminal, stood in line for 90 mins and then ran to the gate, arriving 20 seconds before they called my name for a standby seat. Had I not been there, the seat would have been given to others waiting. I was extremely fortunate to make it to Sacramento for the race.I had a nice spaghetti dinner and fell asleep at 8 pm. For a night owl, this was something. I slept like a rock and woke up at 3:45 am to get dressed, eat and catch the 5 am bus to the race start. It was quite cold for Sacramento (about 5 degrees celcius?). I lined up with the 3 hour pace runner and got ready for the day.The gun went off at 7 am and we took off. The announcer said there were 12000 people in the race. The first two miles were crowded as many "rookies" went faster than they should have. Eventually, things spread out a bit. I immediately felt great and the pace felt very comfortable. I tried to stick behind the 3 hour pacer but it was crowded, so I decided to move ahead of them. Once past this group, the runners thinned out. I got stuck for a while beside some guy wheezing and hooting as if he was going to keel over. I decided to leave him behind and moved up to a group of three runners and tucked in behind them.The first 10 miles seemed to go quickly and I felt amazingly strong. I was holding about a 6:41 per mile pace, putting about 10 seconds per mile "in the bank" ahead of my pace. I hit the halfway mark in 1:27:28, about 90 seconds faster than my race plan. I was a bit worried that I had gone out too fast, but I was feeling great and decided to go with it.Shortly after the half, we turned onto another road and straight into a decent head wind. This made the pace a bit harder to hold. I spotted a group of five people about 200 metres ahead and picked up the pace to bridge the gap. I tucked in for a "draft" and and ran with this group for about 5 miles, taking turns cutting the wind. Eventually, we turned into a more sheltered area and spread out.For the last ten miles, I dedicated each mile to someone special. This gave me something to focus on. I kept expecting to run out of gas, but I was holding about a 6:45 pace and still feeling pretty good. I had to dig down to hold on for the last four miles, but at this stage, I knew I was going to make my goal and was getting excited.We made the final turn and I finished strong, crossing the line in 2:57:19. When I did this race two years ago, I remember thinking as I crossed the line in 3:16:30 that I should enjoy this because it was likely the fastest I would ever run this. Who knew? I am very proud of this result and happy to join the sub-3 hour marathon "club".Thanks to everyone for your support and words of encouragement.