Race Report – Boston Marathon

My time was 3:31:59. I placed 8,222 out of 24,338 entrants. That puts me exactly at the 33rd percentile, or the top 1/3 of the finishers. In my age group I was in the 43rd percentile. I remain disappointed over missing my goal, but I am very, very satisfied with my journey, of getting to this point, of enjoying the crap out of the day, of running with arguably some of the best runners in the world, of spending a weekend in Boston with my wife, of shaving off about 13 minutes from last year’s time and finally…..of being able to say I am a two-time finisher of the most prestigious marathon in the world.

My entire marathon day went basically as planned, from prep to strategy. I simply missed my target by 3 minutes. Once I got off the bus at the athlete’s village I walked straight over to the house that was offered to me by my friend. I was in the comfort of a stranger’s home, literally 100 yards from the start line. How cool was that? I was warm and had my own bathroom. Since before a race like this I am usually hydrating like crazy, a personal bathroom is a Godsend. With about 10 minutes to go before the start, I stripped off my first layer of clothing and headed to the start line. As I stood in the corral and I met an older lady who was a volunteer holding the start line rope for our corral. She was very gracious and was, despite being a long time resident of Hopkinton,  a first time volunteer. She was loving it and told me that she will now volunteer every year. She took my name down so she could look me up later in the day. She wished me good luck as we took off.

My strategy was simple: keep it in my shorts, try to run a faster second half than a first half, save something for the hills of miles 16 to 20.5 and then give it everything I had to finish. And that is essentially what I did. My goal was a 7:57 pace or better. At the 10k mark, I was right at 7:57. I was good with that. I had maintained self-control since the beginning of this race is downhill and I most certainly could have gone faster. But I wanted to save the quads for the dirty work coming. At the half marathon mark my pace was 8:02. This was about where I wanted to be. I knew that my second half would have to be a pace of 7:52 to equate to a 7:57 for the entire race. My quads felt good and my body was responding. All systems were go.

This year I ran with no music. I wanted to hear and catch everything in this glorious race. I am glad I opted to not have music. I enjoyed the experience tremendously. My most memorable moment was the Wesley College girls scream at mile 12. The reputation of this mile is well-known: virtually all the students (female) stand along the route screaming and they hold up signs soliciting the runners for kisses. They are quite creative in their posters and many of the runners do stop for a quick peck on the cheek. I had stopped last year but this year I did not. I did however, note that I could hear the screaming from literally about 1/2 mile away. It was incredibly loud. The entire scene is simply hard to explain unless you experience it. A great tradition in a race that is overwhelmingly supported by a ton of people.

As I got near mile 15 I knew what was coming and I was very prepared and excited to get down to the real business of the Boston marathon. I was determined to take these hills but not to attack them. I really felt like I owed this section of the race something since during last year’s event, this area sapped me of what little strength I had left. I was very determined to beat the hills this year. Quite frankly I am proud of miles 16 to 20.5. My overall pace at mile 18.6 was 8:01. I had improved on my half marathon time so I was indeed going faster. I came out the other side of the hills feeling reasonably good. Sure it took something out of me, it has to. But my times between mile 16 and 21 were fairly consistent, 2 of the miles were  a hair over 8:00, 1 was 7:55 and the other two were 8:15 and 8:35 (my slowest mile of the day, last hill, heartbreak hill). But I bounced back nicely and miles 22 and 23 were paced at an average of 7:51, right about where I thought I needed to be. But miles 24 and 25 were at 8:02 and I knew then I was running out of gas. I knew to hit a finish of 7:57 I had to be in the low 7:50′s or even in the 7:40′s for the finish but I just could not make my legs go any faster. Mile 26 was at 8:29, just not much left in me at that point.

My strategy was sound. The weather was perfect. I even had a tailwind. I just failed to perfectly execute. I performed well, just not the ultimate performance that would have gotten me the time I really wanted.

But this event is damn fun. Really, really fun. I finished upright and proud. No medical tent this year! And Diane and I did exactly what we did the year before. We had a great dinner at the Atlantic Fish Company. I ate and drank whatever I wanted.

The  race is now two weeks behind me. For the first 10 days after the race I did not do anything. No running, no swimming, no biking. I had two In-n-Out meals, a chocolate shake, some fries. I hit Baskin Robbins a couple of times. Hot fudge sundaes. I have tried to sleep in. But alas, I have grown restless and to some degree, guilty over the eating pleasures. I seek out the next challenge. I have not made up my mind exactly what it will be but I am now back on the bike, back to swimming and doing some light running.

To all of you I thank from the bottom of my heart. It makes a huge difference and I really appreciate it. I am sure that I will have the opportunity to run Boston again, I really want to. I for sure will not run it this upcoming year since I have other races in mind to do. But I will be back, it is too good to pass up.

Tally for the Day: 26.2 miles, running

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