well. the first hour was in slightly slippy snow, then there was enough traffic that I could run on pavement. was in last for a while, the passed a couple of guys. stopped at mile 5 to pee, got passed by the guys. right around mile 8, I hit the wall really, really hard. Apparently one bowl of oatmeal does not do it before a race with an 11 AM start time. Ended up with a walk/run thing on the uphills, ran the flats and downhills. Caught the two guys shortly before mile 9.

Stopped at mile 9 for a slightly longer potty break and froze. Took an extended walk break around 10 as I just could not get it together, mentally or physically. Finally hit a nice downhill section and managed to increase my percentage of time running.

Was miserable for a while - managed to stay on my nutrition plan (1 shot blok/1 bite of cheese every 15 minutes), but really felt the peaks and valleys of when the sugar hit my system, so I was way underfed going into it.

After the 3 hour mark, my lungs really went to crap. I could run for about 7-8 minutes before I got really out of breath. So I forced it to about a run 10/walk 5 pattern, varying by terrain.

Started feeling a little better around mile 15 mentally, probably because I was getting close to the end. Passed three people before the end, that was nice.

Really felt good and cruised on the downhills, tolerated the flats, walked all the ups. This race ends with two really brutal hills at the end, and honestly, all that kept me moving was not wanting to DNF (a la Derry), and not knowing how far behind me those three guys were and not wanting to be last if I could help it. I had used my inhaler finally when my lungs got awful after the first of the last two hills.

Finished. My awesome husband (AdCo) was waiting outside freezing his butt off waiting for me. Took a few minutes before I could even remotely breathe.

Um, EAT A SECOND MEAL IN THE AM. huge lesson for me for Boston, with the wave 2 start time of 10:30. Also, run more hills. I think I run hills, but apparently I don't run enough of them. They were really just relentless.

Went inside, hobbled to bathroom, crammed food in me (oh, and RDs? can we have more gluten free options? I ended up drinking the broth from AdCo's soup and eating potato chips and orange slices).

Got a massage - that was great.


Lack of food, stupid asthmatic lungs in the cold, inability to haul giant fat *ss up hills for hours and hours.


tough, tough race, but great organization and volunteers, they stood out in the snow and wind for hours with smiles on their faces.