Boston Marathon - RunMarathon

Not an A race this year, but still...it's Boston! I was hoping to go sub 3, but I've never done that before. Was 3:03:48 last year from Corral 6. Got held up a bit at the start then and this year (Corral 3) there was no problem getting up to speed. Felt good, but not great, for first half and started working around mile 15. There's a long, steep descent to mile 16 at Newton Lower Falls which gives you a chance to catch your breath before the 4 hill repeats in Newton. After Heartbreak, it's a fast downhill to Cleveland Circle and then mostly flat with some rollers along Beacon Street through Brookline, back onto Comm Ave through Kenmore Square and then the last mile to the finish on Boylston Street. There are definitely some modest inclines in the last few miles that will get your attention! Somehow, I forgot about those. Stuck with the plan of 2 Bloks and one SaltStick tab every 5 miles. Only took water from the aid stations - at about every other one. No water bottles this year - although there were some left on the Elite table when I came through. I thought about grabbing one but didn't.

As far as the race goes, I don't know what I could have done differently - other than grab a water bottle off of the elite table around the 5k mark (who else would they be for? There sure weren't any elites left behind me!). Last year it helped to run with a bottle (I picked one up around mile 9). You can just run right down the middle of the road through the aid stations that get a bit jammed up. Considering I wasn't really rested up for this race, I guess I could have run a bit slower at the beginning, but then I don't know if that really would have left enough in the tank to make up the difference later. I felt that I was careful at the start and didn't really try to push the pace until after Heartbreak. I wanted to keep the pace between 6:45 and 6:50 through 16 miles and was 6:53 (3-hour pace is 6:52). When I passed the half over 1:30, I knew it would be tough to negative split on the course. As expected, the hills of Newton took their toll - not only was I unable to keep the pace under 7:15 on each of the four miles containing the hills, but I was fading and was never able to get back to a sub-6:50 pace - even on the downhill section through BC after Heartbreak (mile 22: 6:56). Quads started to get noticeably sore in the last couple of miles. I first saw the Citgo sign (1 mile from the finish) at about mile 23. It looked like it was quite a ways off in the distance. That's also about the time things started to get tough. I had planned to wait until the top of Heartbreak to make a move and was hoping to run a 5-mile tempo run to the finish, but there was nothing there.

I was trying to keep things nice and loose through the last few miles, but I'm sure my form was all over the place. Still, I was passing a lot of people and keeping pace with most of the others coming through at that time.

Walk through the chutes, goodie lunch box (nice!), space blanket and medal. Shuffled over to get gear, changed and met up with my aunt and uncle who had made the trip up from New York City to watch the race. We waited for Henk to come through, then walked a mile or so to their hotel and got a ride back to our hotels near the start. Somehow, I ended up with a shin splint getting out of the car. Don't know how that happened. Hope it goes away soon (not that I'll be running for a while, but I do need to do some traveling tomorrow).


Oceanside 70.3 3 weeks out and Superseal Olympic last weekend. Probably not the smartest decision to race the oly, but the A race was Oceanside (and Coeur d'Alene in June), so I've been focusing more on swimbikerunning. This run was training for the Ironman (and to honor the event), so I can't really complain about not setting a new PR. Still, it was pretty close (within 34 seconds).


The Boston Marathon is the best race I have ever done. This was the 114th running and they're still tinkering with it to provide an excellent experience. The crowd support is amazing. Wellesley was a bit subdued this year (as compared to last year), but all along the course, there are spectators cheering you on. Once you make the turn at the Firehouse, the crowd is continuous for the last 8 miles. It's pretty amazing! It gets out of hand down on Beacon Street in Brookline and for the last couple of miles to the finish. There are times when the crowd's cheers become roars.