Boston Marathon - Run

Planning on just having a good time and not shooting for any finishing time in particular, and instead I ended up with PR! Since I hadn't been really following my training schedule like I should have and the fact that my legs were feeling dead the whole week leading up to the race, I figured anything under 3:30 would be just fine with me. First mile started with a 6:59, which I thought was already too fast but getting swept up with the crowd kinda made it hard to slow down at all. After 6 miles, I was already running under 6:50's and still felt great, so I thought what the hell, I'd see how long I can keep this up. By the mid-point, I clocked in a couple of 6:30's and still felt great. Somehow, the chip mat missed me at the halfway point, but I think when I glanced at my watch it was 1:28:30, and I thought that I might have a shot at breaking 3 hours, a long-term goal that I hadn't had any intention of making today. I lost a little bit of time on Heartbreak, but I wasn't going to kill myself trying to hold a 6:50 pace going uphill. The last 4 miles hurt pretty bad as my shoes just don't have the cushioning they used to (~500 miles on them - I need a new pair). The last 2 miles were utter torture and then only thing that kept me going was the desire to break 3 hours. That final stretch to the finish, although exhilirating, seemed like it took forever. My hands started tingling which really started to make me worry. Once I crossed the finish, I immediately was reduced to a shuffle and started shivering (probably from dehydration). A few times I really wanted to sit in one of those wheelchairs volunteers were offering me, but I was afraid that my muscles would just lock up if I stopped moving. After much water, a powerbar, and some Mountain Dew, I felt much, much better.

If I had trained better? Hell, gone for a sub-2:50! I think the whole idea of running a marathon at a sub 7-minute pace had been more of a mental thing for me than anything else. I think if I get to run in NYC this November, I'll have to really bear down and see if I can do a sub-2:50!

Awesome, awesome race. Any marathoner needs to experience this race at some point in their life. I'd say every year for the rest of your life, if you can manage it =)