Wow. What a day.  Coach Jay and I discussed three scenarios of a perfect day, great day, and good day.  The Olympic Trials qualifier is 2:19:00 or faster, which is 5:18.1 pace per mile. So we decided the best strategy was to go out a little faster at 5:15 pace, which is a 2:17:40 marathon.  A perfect day I run 5:15s until the last 10k and then race to a sub 2:17, a great day I hold on that pace and run 2:17, and a good day I fade but still run 2:18-2:19:00.  Two guys (who ended up placing 1 and 2) went out pretty fast and everyone else was jogging. I somehow was in the front of the “chase” pack from 1/4-1 mile because I didn’t want to run a six minute first mile.  After a 5:22 first mile, which is probably the most downhill on the course, the pack started rolling.  After a 5:12 2^nd mile the next two splits of 5:02 and 4:59 were a bit too quick, so I purposely let the back go after mile 4.  I was feeling great, but I knew that with over twenty miles left I was not about to go after a 2:11-2:12 marathon.  I caught one guy at around mile 5 and we worked together for about a mile or so before he faded.  After that, which I believe was during the 6^th mile; I was completely alone the rest of the race.  I caught two guys at the half-marathon point and one of them might have run with me for a minute.  Other than that, it was twenty miles of solo running and trying to catch anyone who fell off.