My aerobic engine was well prepared with all of the swimming and biking I have been doing. My legs were fatigued early as I did not have a lot of running mileage leading up to this event. The weather was warm, but it felt pretty good to me. If you ever get a chance to do "Boston", the starting corals are amazing. You are surrounded by so many great runners (not me of course), and it is so inspiring. My friend Pat, my cousin Cory, and I all started off together and we took it out pretty conservatively. Cory (in his wisdom) felt the temperature was hotter than we expected, and as we cruised downhill in mile 1, I am gald he held us back. I had never seen this course before, so it was quite an experience to see the beautiful countryside, but what really stood out was the sheer number of spectators along the course. After 1 mile, both Cory and I were looking for water/gatorade, but the first station was about 2 miles into the course. It was jammed with people and was quite the free for all to get replenished, but this was one stop I wasn't going to miss. I was armed with 5 GU's, Endurolyte (sodium & electrolytes mostly), and knew I'd be packing a ton of fluids at EVERY stop. The miles clipped by very quickly, in spite of the fact we were going at a pretty comfortable pace. I kept tabs on my heart rate, and I kept away from being anerobic until the very end of the race. My HR averaged 158 BPM for this marathon, but I did crank it up to 183 in the last mile. Along the course, I ran with the "Barefoot Guy", named Ken-Bob Saxton. We ran up Hearbreak Hill together, and cousin Cory took a photo of us. Too bad he didn't get his feet in the picture! It is amazing, you must put in running miles to run this kind of distance, but I assure you, it is such a mental game as well. The crowds really pump a guy up. I have never smiled so much during a race in my life. When my legs felt tired, the loud crowd picked me up. The series of hills at M17, inclding Heartbreak actually felt better to work them, than it was to keep doing the downhills, which were very hard on the quads. Both Cory & I handled the hills without any difficulty at all. We started to look foward to them. Cory never put his famous "tunes" on during the race, we were having too much fun talking the whole way. From M20 on, the course rolls, but has a lot of downhill. We pass hundreds and hundreds of runners all day. I told Cory at the half way point of the run that we would be passing people like crazy today. It was prophetic, as we picked off runners by the droves every mile from M20 to the finish. The crowds got bigger as the finish line approached, and I had renewed energy. I ran a hard M26 in honor of my Aunt Millie (Cory's mom) who dies recently. She was one of the kindest people I have ever known, and just thinking of her motivated me to push hard and do M26 in 7:25. The finish line was beautiful, and my cousin and I celebrated.

Not a thing. My cousin Cory & I stopped and took pictures along the way, and got some great photos when our families met up with us at Boston College on the course. I kissed a girl at Wellesley College, and sang the YMCA song when it was blasting along the course.

Lots and lots of walking afterward. Never sat down, and took an ice bath a couple of hours after the race. My son Erik brought in a truckload of ice from the hotel to see if I could take it, duh, of course I could and did!

The only thing that went wrong today was we waited for our friend Pat, and unfortunetely, he got pulled off the course at Mile 18 due to dehydration. I am hoping and praying that Pat will get back up on the HORSE again, and not give up on marathons. Even though I know he was VERY disappointed, his attitude for the rest of the trip was incredible, and he truly didn't let the incident ruin an otherwise terrific trip for everyone. He is an inspiration to all of us.


I came into the race trying to really enjoy the event. Even if I had tried my hardest, this was not a PR day. The weather was too warm, the course VERY challenging and unfamiliar, just not the day to PR. Was the most memorable races ever, way more than my marathon PR race at OC last year.


Boston is marathon Mecca. It is loaded with great runners from all over the world. It is one of the greatest American sporting events, and I am proud, and honored, to have been able to participate in this wonderful race, in such a historic and fantastic city. I can't help but wonder if I will ever return to this event. With all the lore and mystic of Boston, it definetely lived up to it's reputation. I guess I'll just go and have a "Sam Adams" to ponder this for a while longer.