The Nick Bare Podcast - 045: My 2:39 Marathon Race Recap

Episode Date: December 18, 2023

In today's solo episode, I'm sharing a recap of my experience running the California International Marathon. I take you through how I prepared to achieve a PR of 2:39, in the days and moments leading up to the starting line. You will hear everything from how I fueled before and during the race to the course conditions and what was going through my head that ultimately led to an important epiphany. Enjoy! Save 10% at BPN Supps: https://bit.ly/nickbare10audio Follow for more:  IG: https://www.instagram.com/nickbarefitness/ YT: https://www.youtube.com/@nickbarefitness Topics: 00:00 Intro 1:56 Welcome 6:08 Splits 8:46 The days leading up to CIM 12:57 The morning of the race 19:58 Moments leading up to the start 21:54 Consuming water and electrolytes on course 24:23 The course profile 27:37 It’s going to be a good day 31:46 I wasn’t running the race for myself 34:09 The last few miles 37:14 It wasn’t just 12 weeks of prep 39:19 Recovery

And I also had this epiphany during the race where I heard all these people yelling go on more throughout the 26.2 miles. I saw the community show up. And as I was in the middle of that marathon, I quickly realized this race is not for me. I am running this race for all the people who have supported me and the brand over these last almost 12 years. All these people, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably one of them, have believed in me, have believed.

in this brand, believe in Go on More, have implemented Go on More into there and your life, and it has changed the trajectory of everything you might do on a daily basis, from your work, to your family, to your faith, to your health, wellness, performance. Achieving the goal of sub-245, yes, it's something that I want to accomplish, but it's not for me. It's for everyone else who shows the support of me and the brand, you know, that's shown the support of me and the brand over years and years and years. So I can't run this race for me. I have to run this race for everyone who believes in the mission and the mindset. Before we dive into today's episode, I want to thank you for tuning in and supporting the brand. Now, I have spent the last decade plus of my life building

bare performance nutrition, and we create effective supplements that you can trust to support your wellness, endurance, and performance goals. We offer high-quality, great-tasting weight protein powders, effective pre-workouts, superfoods, sleep support, electrolytes, and much more. So if you want to support the content that we produce and the message that I am sharing through my content and on this podcast, I would greatly appreciate it if you went to BPNSups.com and you can use code Nick Bear 10 to save 10% off your next order. So thank you guys. I appreciate you.

And let's dive into the show. Hello, everyone. And welcome back to the podcast. podcast. Today is an exciting episode. I'm here to announce and share with you that I just completed the California International Marathon a few days ago. And as you know, I've been training for this marathon for the past couple months with the goal of running a sub 245 marathon. My PR leading into this race was two hours, 48 minutes that I accomplished at the Buffalo New York Marathon about two years ago. And I am proud to announce that I crossed the finish line at CIM in two hours, 39 minutes, and 20 seconds.

So I demolished my goal of sub 245. and what I want to use this video or this podcast for is to break down race day discuss the days leading up to how I approached the taper, my carb up, my strategy for pacing, what the course looked and felt like, my nutrition protocols during the race that led me to. a successful outcome. But I am I'm over the moon. I am excited. I am jacked up. I am so proud

of that 23920 marathon because the work that went into achieve and accomplish it and as I've thought about that effort, that race, that performance,

what I'm most proud of is the disciplined execution that I put forth throughout that race. And we'll see that as I go over my splits here in a little bit. But I'm just really proud of that performance. I think when I cross the finish line, and we have a full YouTube video we're working on right now that we're going to release on January 1st of race day. But once I crossed the finish line,

and I was talking to the BPN team, I was talking to my wife, Steph. All I kept saying is I'm just so proud of that one. I'm just so proud of that one. Because historically, to give some background and context, historically when I run a race, my greatest weakness is going out too fast and too hot. And usually on the back half of a marathon or a race,

I'm feeling the effects of going out too fast and too hot in the beginning. This is one race where I ran so disciplined that I was able to maintain the same pace throughout the entire course. And the night before the race actually started, Ken Rydown texted me. And he texted me this long message wishing me, wishing me good luck.

and one of the things he threw in there was make sure you run a smart race and make sure you run disciplined throughout don't blow up don't blow up and throw away everything you've worked for these last couple months and during that whole 26.2 miles I kept thinking about

Ken's message I kept thinking about Jeff Cunningham and all the things he taught me throughout this prep and it paid off. I'm just so pumped with the outcome. Two hours, 39 minutes, 20 seconds. It is a 605 minute per mile pace. Now before we dive into anything, I want to go over splits.

Now what I have pulled up right now in front of me, is the data that CIM provided through the tracker. And their data provided race splits for every 5K interval. So after the first 5K, I had a 608 minute per mile pace. The next 5K was a 603 minute per mile pace, and then 605, 605, 605, 605, 6.5, 605, 6.5, 6.5. 605, 605 minute per mile paces for those remaining 5K intervals. I fell into a really strong rhythm that just felt right.

And I was able to hold that up until the finish line, which gave me a average pace of obviously 605 minute per mile. Now to go over my individual mile splits that I have that I pulled from my Garmin data, I was wearing the Garmin Epex watch for that race, I'll go over those mile splits briefly before we dive into all things around CIM. I'll start with mile one. 602, 611, 601, 602, 558, 558, 604, 606, 609, 602, 602, 605, 605, 601, 605, 605, 604, 606, 602, 602, 605, 604, 606, 602, 607, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 602, 602, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 604, 6 605, 604, mile 26, 559, and that last 0.2, 543 pace.

I just full send, full cent those last couple of miles to make sure I got under two hours and 40 minutes. So those are my splits, as you can see and hear, very consistent. throughout the entire race. And that execution, like I said, is what I'm so just jazzed up and proud of. Now, let's take it back a few days before we get into race day. Let's talk about CIM itself traveling to. Now, the race was Sunday, December 3rd, and it was a 7 a.m. start time.

we left Tennessee on the Friday before. So just two days before the race. And it was a long travel day, which I was kind of nervous about with my body just kind of sitting and getting stiff and cramping. So we ended up flying from Tennessee to Dallas. we had a layover in Dallas and Dallas to Sacramento, California.

It's a long travel day. Two long flights, some time in between. And then obviously there's a time difference between Central Standard Time and Pacific Standard Time. So long day, but I did take with me my Thera gun that I used throughout the travel day.

I was walking a lot being in the airport, traveling to and from, and then just some light stretching that I was doing throughout that day. And I ended up running four miles in the morning

that Friday morning before we left for the airport. So did my four mile run, was focusing on carbohydrate intake, electrolyte intake, water consumption throughout that travel day. Got to Sacramento,

the night of, of the first, December 1st, and then I had all of Saturday, December 2nd, to get primed and prepped for race day. Now, the way I approached my carb up for CIM is that I used the back half of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but mainly the first half of Saturday,

to get in all the carbs I wanted to top all. of muscle and liver glycogen. This is one mistake that a lot of people actually make when they approach a carb up for a race event or competition. They actually end up carbing up too late. Now, the rule of thumb that I like to use is that it takes about 24 hours from the time you consume your carbohydrates, digest,

and assimilate them into a stored form of glycogen. That's why the back half, meaning the second part of the day in Thursday, I started ramping up carbohydrate intake. Friday was a big carbohydrate intake day. The first half of Saturday was heavy in carbs. and then the second half of Saturday, still consuming carbs, but lighter. I wanted to allow my digestive system to kind of relax and chill for a little bit going into race day on Sunday.

Now on Friday, which is my bigger carbohydrate intake day, I would say I consumed about 650 grams of carbohydrates. And the first half of Saturday, I probably had, maybe 350 to 400 grams of carbohydrates, just in the first half of Saturday. I was constantly monitoring my water consumption and then I sipped on electrolytes throughout all of Friday, all of Saturday

to maintain proper hydration levels going into race day on Sunday. Now, this race is unique. CIM. There was about, I believe, 9,600 runners at a California International Marathon and a lot of fast runners because it was the last Olympic qualifying race of the year. So there are a lot of people there putting out some big efforts, a lot of fast runners who were attempting and wanting to qualify for the Olympic time trials. Big field, fast runners.

And this is a point-to-point race. So that means that you start at one starting point, and you go from that point to another point to get to the finish line. There's no loops. It's not out and back, point to point. Now, this is my first point-to-point marathon that I've ever done. So we had to be shuttled to the starting line. This is the way that the Boston Marathon is set up as well.

You have to get shuttled to the starting line, which made for an interesting morning come Sunday being race day. So I woke up at 3 a.m. on Sunday. I woke up at 3 a.m. And my first goal of the day Sunday was to go to the bathroom. If you have ever run a race or you've done a competition that's in the morning, you know that if you have a successful bowel movement, you are starting the day off on the right foot.

And that's what I was most nervous about, to be honest. I was more nervous about going to the bathroom at 3 a.m. then attempting to run a sub 245 marathon of the course of 26.2 miles. We woke up at 3M in our hotel. We were staying downtown Sacramento, made my coffee. We had a nice little coffee maker,

an espresso in the hotel room. And within that first couple of tips of coffee, boom, magic happened. So I knew it was going to be a really, really good day. So I instantly linked up with my coach, Jeff Cunningham, as well as Jordan and Ian, because they were filming and were creating a video, a big video out of this race to wrap up the sub 245 marathon prep series on YouTube.

Linked up with those guys around 345, and by 4 a.m., I had my first meal. and my first meal was a cinnamon raisin bagel that we picked up at this really cool grocery store in Sacramento. It was the Sacramento Natural Co-op grocery store. It reminded me of a Whole Foods. It was stacked. They had really good options. We went there Saturday morning, the day before the race, and that's where I got a lot of the foods that I ate throughout Saturday. you know pre-cooked

grilled chicken breast rice bagels bread bananas honey all the things that I was going to need for Saturday and Sunday so my breakfast 4 a.m. Race day of morning

that cinnamon raisin bagel that we got at the co-op a banana probably two tablespoons of honey and then two scoops of BPN's G1M Sport in about 20 ounces of water. I also added a scoop of electrolytes to the G1M sport as well because I wanted to start

loading up on my sodium intake and electrolytes at that point in the day. So I had a lot of carbs already three hours out from the marathon starting. And the reason I ate so early, usually I won't eat. that early. Usually I would eat maybe two hours before a race starts. But I had to be at the Expo Center by 4.30 a.m. because I was getting on a bus to be shuttled to the starting line. So I ate that meal with a G1M Sport and Electrolites. 4 a.m. I jogged down, which was probably three quarters of a mile, to the Expo Center where we all loaded up on buses. It was run very well inefficiently.

It took about 30 minutes to get on the buses, get everyone on, loaded up, and then we took off. Now, what I had with me on the bus was a shaker bottle with about 16 ounces of water, 12 to 16 ounces of water, and one more scoop of electrolytes, which was 500 milligrams of sodium, BPN's electrolytes. And I just sipped on that from 5 a.m. until the race started at 7am, just small sips throughout. And the bus ride was about 30 minutes

from the Expo Center to the starting line. We arrived, unloaded. They had water stations set up. They had porter pottys everywhere. Energy was really high. There was a lot of people rolling in, buses, like so many buses. And I just, I found a quiet space.

and I just started doing some light stretching, jogging, getting warmed up, just getting in the zone. So I went to the bathroom a few times, I was probably nervous, or I was nervous, I was getting nervous, and just, you know, in that zone. So I peed like four times from the time we got to the starting line at 5.30 a.m. until 7, which felt like forever. Like that hour and a half just felt so long. and at 6 a.m. An hour before the race started, I ate a BPN go bar. So an additional 36 grams of carbohydrates. And I felt really good at this point.

I knew I had plenty of carbs the days leading up to that moment. I knew I had a lot of carbs in me already. I probably had close to 200 grams of carbs in my body between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. But I didn't feel heavy. I felt very light, very primed, just ready to rock and roll, ready to go. And as it got closer to 7 a.m., we started moving into our corrals. And the crows were based off your projected finish time. And for me, when I tow the line of a race, when I say I'm dialed in, I am dialed in

on another level. My mind is just thinking and focused on one thing. I just have to get myself in that mental state. A lot of other people, to each their own, but taking pictures, they're having fun, they're laughing, they're like bouncing around. That just doesn't work for me. I personally have to get dialed in,

focused on the objective and the mission and be very intentional with every second leading up to when that gun goes off. And I start that race. That's just how I get before a race. So we're moving into our crowds. Everyone's lining up. It was perfect weather. It was brisk.

The sun was out. It wasn't cloudy. I was shaking at the starting line. Probably a mixture of just being a little cold, but also being nervous. and just hungry and ready. So I was shaking and shivering a little bit. And I was carrying on my body five BPN go gels. So that was my fueling plan and strategy for CIM.

I ended up having a go gel at mile four, mile eight, mile 12, mile 17, and mile 21. Now, before I forget to talk about this, I do want to mention, usually during marathons, or the few that I've done before, you know, this one, I never consumed enough water and electrolytes on course. I think the main reason was that I would get nervous that it would slow me down. and I was so worried about just hitting paces and hitting times. Now, when we took off, when the gun went off and we all started running, I fell into my groove, my rhythm very quickly.

And I also realized there were a lot of fast runners on that course that day. And everyone's just moving. And as we took off, the first few miles in, I could tell that I was sweating more than I wanted to or expected to be. It did get pretty warm. Nothing unbearable, but it got warm. And I could feel beads of sweat coming off my hair down my back. I could see beads of sweat on my arms.

And I knew that if I was sweating already a few miles in, that could have had dramatic negative effects to my performance. performance and the outcome of that day. So I made the decision I would be willing to sacrifice some time running to make sure I stay on top of hydration and electrolyte consumption on course. So probably every two miles, sometimes every mile, I grabbed a cup at the aid stations and I pinched the ends and I was drinking electrolytes on course the entire day. and I ended up not cramping up at all,

didn't balk, nothing got tight or seized up. That was the reason I was able to hold that pace the entire way through. So one change to this race that I will implement moving forward is drink the electrolytes on course. Consume your gels,

have a plan of when you're going to consume your gels in your nutrition, and consume water and electrolytes on course. So let's get into in the race itself. This was a fun one. This was a really fun one because there were so many fast runners. Now, CIM is known, historically known as a fast course. A lot of people, PR, on that course.

And I always heard that it was fast and flat. I'll tell you right now, those first 15 months, miles or not flat by any means. Now, it was probably a net downhill after all, but the first 13 to 15 miles were all rolling hills. It was up and down, up and down, up and down. Nothing crazy, nothing that taxed me significantly or slowed me down at all,

but it was definitely rolling hills for those first 13 to 15 miles. and the one point or the one thing that I started getting nervous about on that course in those first 13 to 15 miles is that those downhills, because you're climbing up and you're climbing down, those downhills, they do pound your quads pretty hard. And I remember Jeff telling me about that when we first started this prep. And he acknowledged that me running on all these hills in middle 10, Tennessee around the Nashville area was going to be of great benefit come race day in CIM, which I 100% believe was a great contributing factor to my success at CIM is that I ran on a lot of

hills, rolling hills, ups and downs here in Tennessee, and that trained my quads to be able to handle the pounding of the pavement as you are running down some of these, these smaller downhills in Sacramento. Because if you're not trained to handle that, when you're running downhill at significant speeds, that pounding your quads can blow up your quads. It can blow up your quads to a point where they just, they got nothing left. There's nothing left in the tank. So it is, it is smart to look ahead at the race that you're doing, study the quads to study the

course profile and then plan accordingly of how you might need to adjust your training to better situate yourself come race day. If there are hills, practice running up and down some hills. Add in some more strength training to get your legs stronger to be able to handle some of those ups and downs. A lot of people think that the ups are the hard part when sometimes the day, down is actually the hard part because of just the beating that your quads get over and over and over again. You can either blow your quads out or they start cramping because they're not

used to that stimulus and just being overworked at those levels. Now, like I said, I fell into a really good groove and I was sitting around a 605 minute per mile pace, got to the halfway point, felt very, very strong. And here's how you know I felt so strong. Like I mentioned, before a race starts, I am dialed in. Like, don't try to talk to me. Don't engage with me. I am thinking about the next 26.2 miles.

And I'm just focused on that. I have to get dialed in. And then throughout the course as well, I'm usually in that same headspace and mindset. I end up seeing the BPN team and Steph at Mile Marker 15. And Steph's always cheering for me on the course. She's cheering for me. She's rooting for me.

She's giving me and providing me words of encouragement. And I usually just keep head straight, dialed in, focus. But I hear it. I acknowledge it and I appreciate it. But at CIM, Mile Marker 15, I hear Steph cheering for me. and I was feeling so good that I threw up the rock on sign

I threw it up and I held it as I was passing her and the BPN team and she said that as soon as I did that she knew I was feeling good she's like if he is throwing that sign up right now 15 miles into a marathon holding a 6.05 pace

he knows it's going to be a good day He knows exactly what the outcome is going to look like in a few more miles. And that's what my head was. At Mile Marker 15, I felt so strong. I felt so good. I was staying on top of my nutrition strategy. I was staying on top of my hydration and electrolyte consumption. I wasn't going too hot on certain miles and too slow on others.

It wasn't the slinky effect. I fell into this groove, 6.05 pace, and I could just hold that consistently. And 15 miles in, realizing I had 11.2 miles left, which is and was for a regular day of this marathon prep, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, this whole prep, I had 11 mile runs. When I saw a step in the crew at Mile Marker 15, I was thinking, I just have another Monday morning run left to finish this marathon. Yes, at a faster pace, but that's all I got left. I got a Monday morning run left to finish this race. And from there, things just kept feeling good.

And I kept just moving forward. and I kept thinking that I was going to hit this wall and after I finished a good mile, that next mile, I'm like, it's, it's coming. It's got to be coming here soon. Like, when am I going to start fighting? I knew at some point I was going to have to start fighting, but I didn't know when. So I tell myself, all right, get the mile marker 16. Focus on that mile you're in.

All right, you're out of it. Get the mile marker 17. Focus on the mile you're in. All right, you're out of it. get the mile 18, so on and so forth. I was always just focused on the mile that I was in and hitting 605 minute-mile paces. That's all you can really do in a race and a marathon.

Focus on the mile that you're in. Because as soon as you start thinking about two, three, four, five miles ahead of where you're at, you lose focus on the mile that you need to be in at that moment in time. And I also had this, this epiphany during the race where I heard all of these people yelling

go on more throughout the 26.2 miles. People were chanting going more, people wearing BPN gear. There's people on course wearing the BPN varsity endurance hat, the red BPNCLE, Go on More hat. Just like go on more and BPN gear everywhere. And I saw the community show up

in such massive force and effort. And as I was in the middle of that marathon, I quickly realized this race is not for me. I'm not running this race. I can't run this race for me. I am running this race for all the people who have supported me and the brand over these last almost 12 years since I got started.

all these people, if you're listening to this podcast, you're probably one of them, have believed in me, have believed in this brand, believe in Go on More, have implemented Go on More into there and your life, and it has changed the trajectory of everything you might do on a daily basis. From your work, to your family, to your faith, to your health, wellness, performance. it is so powerful. And I quickly realized in the middle of that race as I was just hearing all of this support

that achieving the goal of sub 245 yes, it's something that I want to accomplish but it's not for me. It's for everyone else who shows the support of me and the brand and who has shown the support of me and the brand over years and years and years. So I can't run this race for me.

I have to run this race for everyone who believes in the mission and the mindset. And that for me was just like flipping another switch. It was like a turbo booster I flipped in my body. And that was about halfway through. And I stayed on pace. And I didn't really start feeling the pain until mile marker 22, 23.

I got to 22, 23, feeling strong. Feeling very strong, actually. and I knew those last couple miles were going to be a big push. I saw Jeff Cunningham, my coach, at around mile 22, 23, and he was jacked up. He was so jacked up. And he looked at me and he said, Nick, if you hold this pace, you will run sub 240.

That's all I had to hear. That's all I had to hear. And from there, it was just full send. Don't hold anything back. Let it rip. It was painful. Those were three to four tough miles. But those are the miles that got me across the finish line to run a sub 240 marathon.

Two hours, 39 minutes, 20 seconds. And what was so beautiful is that the BPN team, had a cheer squad at mile marker 25 because they were the go one more mile one mile left and I knew they were going to be there so I kept just like thinking I got to get to the BPN team at mile marker 25 I was so looking forward to that and I got to those guys and they were chanting they were screaming and from there I just I just let it rip I went into extra overdrive and just turned it on. As I turned the corner,

you turn the corner, it's probably another 150 feet to the finish line. I see the finish line, and I see the clock. I knew it wasn't my official time just because your official time starts when you cross over the pad

at the starting line. So I couldn't really tell, but the clock said, like two hours, 39 minutes, 40 seconds. And I just went as hard and fast as possible to get across that finish line, be the four of the clock read

two hours, 40 minutes. And we did it. We got across. It was a full sprint at that point. Everything I had left to get across the finish line and make it happen. And I was so happy.

I was so proud. of the outcome. It was such a good race. It was such a good day. And I'm just still in all of the performance. And I look back at all the years of training to get to this point. You know, it wasn't just the 12, 13 weeks of prep

that allowed me to run a sub 240 marathon. It was the years and years and years of compounding effort and consistent and consistency and training that allowed me to this point. My first marathon, 2018, 3 hours, 57 minutes. My second marathon the year after, 4 hours, 15 minutes. Sub 3, that was a dream at one point. And I worked.

I got my time down to 3 hours, 24 minutes. And I kept working. I got it down to two hours and 56 minutes. I kept working. I got down to two hours and 48 minutes and I kept working. We got it down to two hours and 39 minutes after we kept working. Compound and consistency works when you are intentional with the effort that you are putting forth. It works.

I am an example of that through business, through training, through training, right? And when I cross that finish line, that's what I was thinking about. Yes, the 12 to 13 weeks of prep that we did was significant, it was meaningful, it was necessary. But it's the years and years and years of training and work that allowed me to get to this point. You have to be willing and able to endure the process. And the process, it's what is going to produce the fruit of the labor. Now let's talk about recovery. This is something I found extremely interesting.

You know, when I ran the Buffalo New York Marathon, that's where I did my two hour and 48 minute marathon, I finished that race tired and sore and fatigued, but nothing too crazier taxed. I was able to walk to get food afterwards, get on a plane, get home. It felt pretty solid. And I always think back to my first marathon

where I finished that marathon and could barely get in the truck afterwards, could barely get out of bed the next morning. I mean, I was done for. I was demolished. And over years, after you apply a stimulus, a volume and intensity to your body over extended periods of time, the body adapts. You adapt, your mind, your emotions, your physical state, they adapt to a stimulus over a long extended period of time. Get stronger. It gets more efficient. Your body's ability. to recover becomes more efficient.

Well, I finished this race and felt fine. We went for lunch afterwards, got on a plane a few hours later, flew home because we wanted to get back to Charlie. Steph's mom was watching Charlie back here in Tennessee. We woke up the next morning. Central nervous system was taxed a little bit, obviously. Legs, a little sore, feet tender and sore as expected. but I would say maybe 75% recovered as opposed to after my first marathon where I was like 10 to 11% recovered.

But that's just an adaptation that you can expect to experience over time as you apply a stimulus, the body adapts. now as I'm starting to gradually get back into training, I mean, it's only been five days. At the time of this recording, five days since I finished the marathon. And two days after the race was done, I started strength training again. I'm starting to add more strength training back into my programming again now that the marathon is finished. And I'm moving back into this hybrid athlete training model of splitting time, pretty

equally between running cardiovascular conditioning and strength training, bodybuilding, hypertrophy. So two days after the race, started strength training again. Yesterday was my first run back, which was four days after the marathon, nice, easy, five-mile run. Today I did a nice easy five-mile run, and I'll do that for a few days. I allow my body to truly recover and just feel ready to attack, higher mileage and longer runs in the next couple weeks. But I'm a big fan of just maintaining momentum, maintaining movement.

When the body is moving, it stays lubricated. It promotes active recovery, whether that's a walk or jog or moving some weights, moving your body, focused on good, high quality nutrition, maintaining proper hydration levels, good sleep, all of those things are going to help actively promote recovery. I'm not a fan of just finishing a big event, going on a bender, drinking a bunch of alcohol, eating crappy food,

going out for all three meals the day for three weeks straight, not touching your weight, not moving your body, you're running or walking. Yes, you will recover, but you're going to just destroy so much of the progress. you made in the weeks and months leading up to this competition. You see that happen in the bodybuilding space all the time, but you also see it in the endurance space as well.

So I have to get back on track, maintain movement, promote active recovery, and keep moving forward. But what a fun weekend in Sacramento. What a fun weekend. The energy was high. The race is so well put together. 40th anniversary of the California International Marathon there in Sacramento. And I came home with a lot of pride from that performance.

Not just the time that I achieved, but the way in which that I achieved it with the consistency of pacing and feeling strong across the finish line and maintaining such strong. strong nutrition strategy, hydration strategy, and really leaning into this last three to four miles, where I had to suffer well. Embrace and welcome the suffering, suffer well, and finish strong.

So that's going to wrap up the sub 245, or should I say the sub 240 marathon prep series for the podcast, and the YouTube video will be going live January 1st, 2024 that Jordan and Ian are working on as we speak. It's going to be a great video. Always have really good shots of Coach Jeff Cunningham just going absolutely wild and losing his mind over all of his athletes

that performed very well at CIM. But I just want to say thank you. Thank you guys for all the support, all the love throughout this prep. and it was a good one. It was a strong one. Again, like I said, it's one that I am very proud of. So thank you guys. We'll see you in the next episode.

And as always, go one more.