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Comments: before the start met a guy (paul) who used to live in milwaukee... start talking and we're both going for sub3s... so decide we'll try running together... before i know it... bam... we were off and running...!!! in planning for the race... i broke it down into 4 segments... (1) miles 1-5, (2) miles 6-16, (3) miles 17-21, and (4) miles 22-26.2... after driving the course i fine tuned the plan a bit... the plan for miles 1 - 5 was to ease into it... keep it controlled... not to push on the downhills... and not to get sucked into a faster pace... keep the average pace in the mid 6:50s... [lose about 10-15 seconds from sub3 pace] the plan for miles 6 - 16 was to settle into a comfortable, yet strong pace... watch the hr... keep the miles between 6:42 and 6:48 (avg. of 6:45)... and start banking time... [pick up about 75-80 seconds] the plan for miles 17 - 21 was to stay strong through the hills... power up the hills... recover on the downhills and flats... lose some time here... but not too much... hope to get through at an average pace of 7:00 flat... [lose about 40 seconds] this should put me into the final 5.2 miles with about a 30 second cushion... the plan for the last 5.2 was to hope that I had something left in the legs... to take advantage of the downhills in miles 22, 23 and 24... and extend the cushion if possible... and then suck it up and hammer the last 2.2 miles with everything I've got... regardless, try to keep at pace and protect the cushion... (avg. of 6:52) except for the final few miles this race went almost exactly as scripted...!!! mile 1 was slow... as expected... but then settled into a comfortable pace for the next 4... took advantage of the downhills and kept the hr low... however there were some decent uphills in along the way to keep you honest... was amazed by how many strong runners there were... I guess this is to be expected though... in most races it seems like the masses thin out pretty quick... but it was solid until deep into the race... at about mile 3 I started getting a cramp in the outside of my left quad... which really was pissing me off... I largely ignored it... as it wasn't getting worse... and around mile 7 I seemed to stop noticing it... for most of the first 5 miles I mainly took in the sights... and just felt like I was ticking off free miles... mile 1 - 7:15 - 150 avg hr mile 2 - 6:51 - 158 mile 3 - 6:44 - 162 mile 4 - 6:48 - 162 mile 5 - 6:54 - 164 miles 1 - 5... avg hr = 159.2... planned pace = 6:55... actual pace = 6:54.4... [3 seconds under plan / 11 seconds over sub3 pace] throughout the race I focused in on trying to run tangents... the course snakes back and forth quite a bit... so its easy to tack on extra mileage if you're not paying attention... was hard to do through the first half with the large crowds all running near the same pace... I felt like I had it on autopilot though through most of miles 6 to 16... however the hr was steadily drifting up... which was concerning me a bit... i was pushing a decent pace for me... but the effort seemed okay, constant and sustainable... so I just went with it... starting back in corral 6 meant that paul and i had to pass a lot of people at the pace we were running... however he was a bit all over the place... would speed up and slow down... darting around people... not really focused on the turns ahead... I kept thinking that he was working a lot harder than he needed to be... but we generally kept tabs on each other... and ran together for most of the first 15 miles... a few times I backed it down a little to try to bring the hr down... but shortly thereafter would settle back into the previous pace... I wore my fuel belt (with accelerade and zymm, gels, shot bloks and ecaps) and kept with the nutrition and hydration plan pretty spot on... I saw my mother along mile 8... that was my first family sighting... with all the people lining the course it was hard to find any family or friends that you'd be looking for... really enjoyed making my way through the different cities... this stretch went through framingham, natick and wellesley... the "kiss me" girls of wellesley... and the infamous "scream tunnel" certainly lived up to its reputation... that was a lot of fun running along this stretch... I ran along the side and high fived the girls as I ran through... I thought paul was going to double back through... he really got a kick out of it... I lost paul at a water station around 15 miles... and never saw him again... then I finally hit the steep downhill at 15.5 leading into lower newton and knew the fun was about to begin... mile 6 - 6:47 - 165 mile 7 - 6:48 - 166 mile 8 - 6:46 - 167 mile 9 - 6:37 - 168 mile 10 - 6:46 - 169 mile 11 - 6:48 - 170 mile 12 - 6:38 - 168 mile 13 - 6:44 - 171 mile 14 - 6:42 - 171 mile 15 - 6:54 - 172 mile 16 - 6:46 - 169 miles 6 - 16... avg hr = 168.7... planned pace = 6:45... actual pace = 6:45.1... [1 second over plan / 78 seconds under sub3 pace... cumulative 67 seconds under pace] this is where the race really began for me... I studied this area more than any other... I knew what to expect... 4 main hills in newton... located at 16.0, 17.7, 19.3 and 20.5... I knew how long they were... I knew what the grades were... I knew that I just needed to get up them and keep moving... I felt relatively strong through the first hill... but I could start to tell that the legs had 16+ miles on them already... however I settled back in pretty quick... and told myself that I was going to get the sub 3... was feeling confident about it... I believe it was right before the 2nd hill (deep in mile 17) that I saw my mom and stepdad... this was well timed... because this was leading into the shortest... but steepest avg grade of the newton hills... this helped get me up the hill... and I knew there were only 2 more left... the crowds were great through newton... and I was trying to feed off them as much as possible... however I was starting to feel the miles more and more... you get a pretty easy mile thrown in there at mile 19 before you have to tackle the last 2 hills.. i tried to push it pretty hard up the 3rd hill... but the pace wasn't quite where I wanted it to be... and I knew I had the infamous one yet to go... get to 20.5 and start making my way up heartbreak hill... this was harder than I was expecting... I saw quite a few people walking... and felt it myself... that i was really starting to struggle... apparently all of the uphills and downhills had really begun to take its toll on my legs... they were burning as I made my way up hbh... I was still enjoying the crowds... but paying closer and closer attention to the pace on my watch... which was now steadily going in the wrong direction... however... I put my head down and kept churning... got a lot of "go donkey"... and other comments on the race jersey the last half of the race... which was always good for a brief boost... I finally reached the top... I did actually smile... gave a little fist pump... and started doing some math... my legs were gone... whatever extra gear i felt that i had been saving through the first 16 was clearly gone now as well... i knew I lost more time through the hills than I had planned... and figured the cushion I had hoped for was gone... which meant I had to be right about on pace at the moment... the sub3 still seemed very real to me... but I knew I was going to be in for a rough final 5.2.. I had no idea yet how rough it would be though... mile 17 - 7:01 - 173 mile 18 - 7:03 - 173 mile 19 - 6:59 - 171 mile 20 - 7:07 - 171 mile 21 - 7:20 - 172 avg hr = 172.0... planned pace = 7:00... actual pace = 7:06.0... [30 seconds over plan / 70 seconds over sub3 pace ... cumulative 3 seconds over pace] after newton... I knew that I was going to struggle on any hills left in my way... and from driving the course I knew there were some nice little rollers and uphills still to contend with... therefore, I decided to bomb the downhills with everything I had... and try to pick up as much time as possible on them... it was clear fairly quickly though that I was going to struggle on the downhills as well... shortly after heart break hill you come across boston college... and I think this crew outdid the wellesley girls... however, they clearly appeared to have been aided by large amounts of alcohol... :) there was a guy running near me with a badger outfit on... and he was getting some pretty good grief for the spanking BC put on the badgers in the recent hockey national championships... I obviously thought that was completely uncalled for...!!! :) also, mile 22 is an easy mile for people to lose focus on... the graveyard mile... so I kept reminding myself that this is what I trained for... to stay strong... and that the sub3 was still in reach... early in mile 22 my left hammy started tightening up... so I shortened the stride a bit... but I pushed... and kept telling myself to "just find your stride... just find your stride..." hit mile 22 at 6:59... knew I was losing time... so I needed to push harder... I kept trying to drop the pace down... but I couldn't... my legs were on fire... my feet felt raw... I came down the hill at 22.5 into cleveland circle to turn onto beacon... and there was a great crowd there cheering everyone on... after I turned left onto beacon it was as if everything around me disappeared... I became oblivious to the crowds... and was focused solely on the watch... my legs felt like they were going to buckle underneath me... i had hoped the legs would hold up to the end... that clearly wasnt to be... I hit mile 23 at 6:58... that wasn't good enough... I knew I had to go faster... 3.2 to go... I knew I had to post a strong next mile... i had to set myself up for the final push... and then maybe... just maybe I would be able to catch lightning in a bottle the last 2.2... I wasn't giving up yet... but I hurt soo much... my hamstring continued to tighten... and my stride got progressively shorter... "turnover... turnover... turnover..." I kept telling myself... "as fast as I can... just keep the legs moving..." mile 24 comes in at 6:55... and it was all I had... i just couldnt go any faster... and i'm frustrated because i feel like i'm still in striking distance for the sub3... but i cant get the legs to go fast enough... there is a downhill continuing into the start of mile 25... and I surge with everything I have... the pain in my legs is beyond anything i've ever felt... i've hit the wall before in races... but this felt different... this felt worse... but I'm too close to quit now... so i keep pushing... i have to find a way to go low these next 2 miles... i want this soo bad... i want the sub 3... there has to be something in me... something i can summon... something to allow me to push harder... to go faster... I can just feel my legs pounding with each step... my toes jamming into the front of my shoes... all of a sudden I feel the toenail on the middle toe of my right foot rip straight back... and i can feel it now standing up... stuck in my sock... with every step my shoe presses it down into my toe where the nail used to be... it hurts... but the pain seems insignificant compared to the pain my legs... i've never lost a toenail before during a race... (plenty have died and eventually fallen off through training...) but i lost 4 in the last 5 miles of this race...!!! the one that ripped back... and 3 others that busted off at the base of each nail... one of which pushed backwards up and through the skin... that was a mess...!!! and yes i do have pictures to prove it...!!! "just ignore the pain..." i try one last ditch effort at surging a few times... trying to find that next gear... and i just cant get the legs to respond... i just can't hold anything... shortly into mile 25... staring at the pace on my watch... I begrudgingly accept the fact that the sub 3 is not to be... but I tell myself that there is no way i'm f'ing going to let up... that there is no way in hell I'm going to walk... and now I continue just staring at my watch... still oblivious to my surroundings... counting down the distance left... thinking that I just need to get to the finish... and do so without bleeding too much time away... any way possible... just get there... and I try to breaking it down into manageable amounts... just focusing there... the next .2... push to the lamp post... just keep the legs turning... apparently over the last 2 miles I ran right past many family members... head down... and never noticed... I just wanted to get to the finish... the course had taken its toll on me... I had planned on going out and pushing... and attacking the course as best i could... i had everything planned out in detail... and had executed the plan almost flawlessly... well now it was clearly the course's turn to attack back... to show why its earned the respect of every runner that's ever toed the line in hopkinton... to remind me why its been revered for the past 114 years... because now every little hill here felt like a mountain... every mile felt like three... and every stride felt painfully forced... mile 25 is 7:17... i'm fading fast... but somewhat amazed that i'm not losing more time... 1.2 to go... a lot of self talk going on... "I've trained so hard for this... this is the boston frickin' marathon... you can do this... finish this thing strong... pain is temporary... quitting it forever...!!!" keep pushing... early in mile 26 I take a step and my entire left hamstring completely seizes up... you have to be f'ing kidding me...!!! I grab for my hamstring... dont stop... dont you dare f'ing stop... i try to rub it while I'm pseudo "limp running..." kind of running with my right leg... and bouncing off the ball of the foot with my left... hoping that it will loosen it up... I'm too close now to let up... I continue this odd running style until I hit a small downhill under an overpass or walkway... i attempt slamming down hard on my left leg on each step of the downhill... and it eventually loosens up enough on the downhill so that I can bend my leg enough to keep running somewhat normally again... however, now I'm trying to be cautious not to have it lock up again... i can feel it twinging with each step... ready to do so again... I feel like I'm almost running with my feet barely coming off the ground... feels like my ankles are doing the work... instead of my legs... just trying to move one in front of the other as quickly as I possibly can... finally turn right onto the small incline that goes up Hereford... it feels like mt everest... I'm still pushing as hard as I can... "do something special... do something special..." but my legs feel like they are about to explode... finally make the left onto Boylston... i'm so close... scan the crowd for my family... apparently they were right next to me but I didn't notice... I can see the finish in the distance... stay strong... stay strong... I hit mile 26 at 7:29... that finish line cant come soon enough... I'm staring at my watch for what I know is about to happen... a couple strides past the 26 mile mark I look at the time on my watch as it turns to 3:00:00... I look up to the finish line... and then down at my feet... shake my head... and think... "damn... I was close..." now thats its gone... i try to just take in the crowds for the last .2... take it strong to the line... and be happy with what i've accomplished... final time = 3:01:30... 6:56 avg pace... almost an 11 minute PR... (per my garmin it was 26.4 @ a 6:52 pace... guess i should have set my alarm clock for a few minutes earlier this past week...) mile 22 - 6:59 - 172 mile 23 - 6:58 - 173 mile 24 - 6:55 - 173 mile 25 - 7:17 - 173 mile 26 - 7:29 - 173 avg hr = 172.9... planned pace = 6:52... actual pace = 6:54.4... [90 seconds over plan...!!!] What would you do differently?: not sure.. i pretty much obsessed over every detail of this race... and executed it about as well as i could... the legs just didnt have enough left the last few miles...  Post race
Warm down: i crossed the finish line and grabbed onto one of the volunteers... had 3 different people walk me around for a while... i was really hurting... finally made my way to get my stuff and over to the massage area... i thought it was cruel that you had to go down a flight and a half of stairs to get down to the massage room...!!! while in the massage area a guy comes up to me... "hey, you're the donkey... i felt like i was chasing your carrot the entire race..." which i thought was pretty funny (there's a carrot on the back of my jersey)... finally meet up with my family... lots of hugs and congratulations... hung out for a while... ate a little and had 3 sam adams... wow, did they taste good...!!! later that day saw alec and his family... and got to congratulate him... also, finally met up with lisa and bjorn, as well as tracy and juice... hobbled the freedom trail the next day and then back to milwaukee late on tuesday... What limited your ability to perform faster: not sure.. just need to get stronger and faster... more hills i guess... may add some more strength training into the plan as well... Event comments: what can i say... its the boston marathon... this was the race i've always dreamt of running... and until recent a race i never thought i'd see the starting line of... more less make an effort at going sub-3... the atmosphere the entire weekend was unbelieveable... the support from friends leading up to the race was amazing and appreciated... the support of friends and family out at the race made it all the more special... and without a doubt i left everything i had out there on the miles between hopkinton and boston... so therefore i'm very proud of what i accomplished... and very happy with my time... also, i'm incredibly thankful to all of my wonderful friends and family... for all of their tremendous support, love and encouragement... be it whispering in my ear... or yelling in my face... there are a lot of ups and downs in training and preparing for a race like this... and its certainly not something i could have done on my own... THANK YOU...!!! so now the obvious question... will i be back...?!? hmmm... i think so...!!! ;) [pics... (1) by the sign at the starting line when out driving the course... (2) the family that came out for the race at the cheers bar... (3) feeling pretty good out on the course... (4) trying to finish strong... and (5) ready to celebrate post race with the family - sporting the signs that becky and the kids made... note: i decided not to post the picture of my toes... but would be happy to share them with anyone that wants to see them... just ask schmize... :) ] Profile Album Last updated: 2009-10-19 12:00 AM
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United States
Boston Athletic Association
50F / 10C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 1503/23126
Age Group = M18-39
Age Group Rank = 1054/4738
this was the "A" of all "A" races for me... for those that know me... and those of you that managed to get through my lakefront marathon race report... you know how important this race was for me...!!! qualifying for boston was a dream come true... and come race day I really wanted to go out and do something special...
as soon as the lakefront marathon ended my training turned towards boston... for the past 6 months i have been focused on this race only... with the help of scott (schmize)... who has coached me the past 6 months... i really ramped up the training and intensity... not only physically... but mentally i prepared myself as well... i studied every race report i could find... looking at pacing strategies... and gaining tips and course knowledge... i studied course maps and elevation charts... i got pointers from schmize, joe (jszat) and other friends who had run the course... i watched countless course videos on youtube... having never set foot on the course... i felt like i knew it before going out... i knew that i would need to pace myself about 2 minutes under my goal time... because the course runs long (difficult to run the tangents with the crowds and all the curves)... i knew where to hold back... where to push... i knew where to let the crowds pull me... and where not to lose focus... i have a tendency to get a little tense leading up to big races... i really tried hard to keep the nerves at bay leading up to this one... also, the week prior to the race i even set my alarm clock to 6:52am each morning... because that is the pace i would need hit in boston for a 3 hour marathon... some nights, if i was feeling optimistic, i would set it for 6:50am... ;) anyway... i arrived in boston ready...
leading up to the race i was having an issue with some inflammation in my left knee... so i ended up bringing an ice machine out to boston that pumps ice water around your knee... i would hook it up to my knee every night when i slept for the week leading up to the race... and every time i was back in our hotel room during our trip... must have worked because the knee did not bother me at all during the run...
brief trip overview...
we (my wife, kids and I) arrived in boston on friday... met my mom and stepdad for dinner after we landed with some of their friends in newton... after dinner we made our way over to the course and drove some of the hills while making our way back to boston... stayed at the hilton back bay... right next to the expo center... and pretty close to the finish line...
saturday morning i got up and met my friend alec (who was staying at the same hotel) and we went out and drove the entire course... shortly after we returned the family and i made our way over to the expo... spent a while there... and certainly spent our share of $$$ on goodies... back to the hotel to take the kids swimming... and then later that night met up at legal seafoods in the wharf with the rest of my family that came into town for the race... which also included my brother and his girlfriend, as well as my step sister and her boyfriend... it was awesome having so much family out there...
on sunday i got up in the morning and ran... trying to wake the legs up for the following day... hit the expo again... and then off to church with my mom, wife and kids... there was a church by the finish line that had a special marathon mass that included a blessing of the athletes... my mother gets very nervous when i race so i thought it would put her at ease a bit... afterwards, met up with the rest of the family and pam (pjgrande)... grabbed lunch (more seafood) and then took the trolley around boston... walked around and saw some sights... later in the day i ditched the family at the cheers bar and made my way back to the hotel to ice the knee... get my race stuff together... and relax a bit... didnt have dinner reservations... so called down to the hotel restaurant... and they opened up a private dining room for the 10 of us... had a great pasta buffet set up... and the room also had couches and a big hd tv... which was important because the pitt hockey playoff game was on... and some of the family are huge penguin hockey fans... so a fun and relaxing evening the night prior to the race... after dinner and one glass of wine... i finally left the festivities and made my way back to the room to finish getting the race stuff pulled together... not sure why i expected anything different... but could not fall asleep that evening... tried going to bed at 9:30pm... and did not fall asleep until after 1am... thats a long time to stare at the ceiling when you know you have to be up at 5am for the most important race you've ever run...
wake up monday morning after 3-4 hours of sleep... eat, shower, dress and then met alec down in the lobby to walk a mile or so to where we had to pick up the shuttle buses to athletes village... got there early so that the lines for the buses werent too bad... after a long ride we rolled into athletes village around 8am... awesome...!!! you could just feel it once you arrived... the energy was incredible... and the realization of what we were about to embark upon sank in... look around for some friends - lisa (lrunfit), pam and marianne (mav)... dont see them so alec and i settle in on the grass... relax... and get our stuff together... finally get called to start making my way to starting corrals... which is about 3/4 of a mile from athletes village... drop off my drop bag... and shed my extra clothes along the way (they collect them up for the local shelters)... while walking to the corrals 2 f16s fly overhead... very cool... that always gives me chills...
so... i learned a new technique for a last minute prerace bathroom break so gave it a try (only really works for guys)... wear a large black garbage bag over you and then bring a gatorade bottle... you become like a walking porta-potty... and have to admit - it works great... threw away the evidence... and then jumped into corral 6... mav tracked me down when i was waiting for the start... so it was great to finally meet her... and she gave me some words of encouragement before the race...
not much in the warm-up dept... shuffled a little on the way to the start... decided i would treat the first few miles as a warmup...