Boston Prep 16 Miler - RunOther

I was a little worried going in... Should I wear the heavier jacket, should I wear the yak trax. I wore the lighter jacket and no yak trax. I was happy with both choices. Mile 1 I thought I was doing pretty well. Until my watch beeped for the 10 minute mark BEFORE it had beeped for the mile 1 mark. I kept thinking the mile 1 beep would come shortly. That 20 seconds was long and soooo discouraging. I was pretty upset at that first mile. I tried to shake it off. Th splits got better. I wanted to keep my average at 9:30 - that was my goal going in, so I felt better once I got the overall average back there. I was reminded for the first few miles how hard this course is. It can beat you down. I had forgotten my iPod so I was a little lonely and bored. Tried to find people to talk to, but was not successful. So I kept plugging along. Water stops were only at mile 3, 6,9 and 12, and I never felt like stopping to walk. So i was a little off my normal routine. I tried walking after mile 4, I was trading leads with these 2 older gentleman and they were calming, but then I stopped to walk and it took me over 2 miles until I saw them again. So again, more discouragement and I only walked up really steep hills and through age stations from there out. I honestly dont think that hurt my time though. Started to feel really good miles 6-9, then the killer hills hit. I had my 9:30 pace average at that point (actually, it was slightly lower, maybe 9:28), and knew I'd lose a little. By the time I finished climbing, I was at a 9:40 pace average. So I knew I had to make up 10 seconds in just under 4 miles. I thought that was possible so I really started to push. I was really tired, but the end is flat so I really let it go to see if I could meet my goal. I was happy as the seconds started ticking away and I finally saw 9:29 as my average pace at the very end. There was no mat at the starting line - my official time was 2:32:14 but going sub2:32 was my goal and I feel like I made it as it took me 25 seconds to cross the start line. So overall, I am happy with my performance. I'm glad I reached my goal. But I did get bored and lonely through the race. And leading up to it - I really didn't feel like racing. And I'm glad it's over. That said, looking at the results - I will admit it is very hard to see a 62 out of 87 im my age group and 451 out of 608. Because as I was trying to push through, specifically at mile 15, I was thinking how much I was really running well and I was putting out very good effort and how well prepared I was. I did stay focused the entire time and really pushed. It's hard to know your best is that far behind so many others. But I'm still proud as I sit here 8 hours later and my legs are still killing me.

Wear my iPod. Maybe I wouldn't have felt so lonely.

Grabbed some food and moved right to the car. I was freezing and didn't know anyone - so I hit the road as fast as I could. Once I got home about 35 minutes later, I did a good long stretch, probably 30 minutes. Felt good and really started to warm up inside through stretching and breathing.


Is ability a reason? At some point I just have to admit running doesn't come easy to me. :-)


I still love this race. I think it's stupid hard. But I love it just the same. That said right now I'm thinking 3 years might be enought. We'll see.