Forums >Racing>Boston Information Q&A Course and Logistics
So for those of you who have run the Boston Marathon in the past can you give me some tips and tricks about it. I've heard that the worse thing about the course is that it is a suckers course. In other words it suckers you into to going out too fast at the start where it beats up your quads. Then later in the race when you are not feeling so great is when you start to hit the heartbreak hills. Yes I said hills. Have any of you that have run it know a good internet place that has a good description of the course or any tips for the course.
Also busing. I know they have a few different bus schedules and will recommend a bus for your start time and corale but do you usually get on an earlier bus or a later bus? I've heard the lines are pretty long for the porta potties and that they have started to crack down on free lancing porta potty creators (peeing in a bush)
My wife is going to watch. Any suggestions for her to have any chance of seeing me. I am going to carry my iPhone which has gps tracking so she has a 25% of knowing exactly where I am during the run.
I'm really starting to get excited about this race as my training is getting a little better. I say this as I am coming off a hard run yesterday and on my way out the door for 22 miler. I really hope I didn't just jinx myself. Anyway, any help is greatly appreciated as I want to enjoy this experience as much as possible.
2014 Goals: (Yeah I suck)
It is correct that a lot of runners start out too fast at Boston.
Between the excitement, the downhill start, and net downhill
first 6 miles (it's up and down, not just down), it can make for a
speedy first half. Many doing the first 5k at 10k-half marathon pace.
Trouble is many of the runners crash in the last 6 miles because of it.
I've seen this time and time again with many of the runners I know.
And they are good runners. The ones who have done well are the
ones that ran the course with even halves or negative splits. On race days in the past
I've studied not only the splits of running friends, but also elites. Those who do
well run the course with a slower first half, keeping those first miles at their marathon pace
or slower, avoiding that 10k-half marathon pace mistake at the beginning.
So, make a pace plan with a slightly slower pace in the first half as compared to the second, and stick to it.
Of course, this relies on picking a correct overall pace before you get there. If you pick an overall one that is too fast, it
won't matter what you do in the first half. Backing up a few places in the corrals to a slower paced one might help with
sticking to your plan. If you run by heart rate, then, in the first half, keep the HR below the heart rate you want to average for the race
I had no problem with porto-potties when I did it. No more of a wait than at
a regular race. They had them at the waiting field and near the starting line.
Bring something warm to wear while waiting in the field on the cold ground.
Good luck. I hope you have fun! It's an event like no other. A party.
--Jimmy
Also busing. I know they have a few different bus schedules and will recommend a bus for your start time and corale but do you usually get on an earlier bus or a later bus? I've heard the lines are pretty long for the porta potties and that they have started to crack down on free lancing porta potty creators (peeing in a bush) My wife is going to watch. Any suggestions for her to have any chance of seeing me. I am going to carry my iPhone which has gps tracking so she has a 25% of knowing exactly where I am during the run.
If you take a step or two back from the bush, she should have a pretty good view. But she shouldn't stand in front of you, unless you guys are into that sort of thing.
Happy to help. And I'm not even from Boston!
"I want you to pray as if everything depends on it, but I want you to prepare yourself as if everything depends on you."
-- Dick LeBeau
Oh roo roooo!
BCR, I'm sure you will get some useful info here but another resource for you would be to go to the Runner's World forums (I know, I know, they suck but they have ONE good thread.....). They have a section of the forum specifically on Boston and there is a long but VERY informative thread there. It is pinned at the top of the Boston forum section so you won't have to search to find it. I read it religiously last year and it did help make my first Boston less stressful. It's a lot of reading but a lot of good info from those who have run Boston numerous times and really have it down--I'm talking not so much the actual race, pacing, etc., but your questions about busses and so on.
http://mymarathonpace.com/Pacing_Spreadsheets.html This might also prove helpful for some of your pacing questions. You can download the trial version and then decide if it's useful enough to purchase.
Hope that helps! I am going this year also, but unless I get a hell of a lot faster, it will likely be my last time, now that the new standards are in place and I am a "Barely in Boston" kind of gal (qualifying by less than a minute).....that's OK, it SHOULD be for fast folks, and there are plenty of other marathons to run. Congrats on qualifying!
My wife and I did Boston in 2008 and had family members watching us. We thought it was a good idea for them to watch at several places along the Green Line. Bad idea. They saw us once, and then the train was too full to get on it. They eventually figured out to take a train outbound away from Boston and then stay on it when it turned around. By the time they did that, we were done with the race.
If you want your wife to see you, she will either need to camp out somewhere near the finish line, or she needs t o have a car. Do not use public transportation.
No Talent Drips
My advice, have her pick a street that intersects the course...and you look for her. Heckle street in Newton (mile 16 ish) has always been one of my favorite places to keep an eye out for "supporters".
My best advice on porta-johns is USE ONE BEFORE YOU GET ON THE BUS. That ride can be long.
I'm sure you'll get plenty of advice on course management. Just don't be alarmed by the walking dead you encounter over the last 5 miles.
Dei Gratia
Best Present Ever
Last year, I watched a number of friends. I was staying in Newton, and using the advice of folks here, watched from near the Newton fire station. I was up the hill partway on the right side of the course and had a great view of the runners as they came around the corner and started up the hill. There was a wide grassy area, vendors with food, enough spectators that it was festive but not so many that we were packed in as folks are near the end of the course. There were also portapotties for non-runners not far from there (right across from the fire station). I was out from before the first handcrack until my friends in corral 20 came through (so a long time) and it was a great place to be.
If you take a step or two back from the bush, she should have a pretty good view. But she shouldn't stand in front of you, unless you guys are into that sort of thing. Happy to help. And I'm not even from Boston!
That was funny.
BCR, I'm sure you will get some useful info here but another resource for you would be to go to the Runner's World forums (I know, I know, they suck but they have ONE good thread.....). They have a section of the forum specifically on Boston and there is a long but VERY informative thread there. It is pinned at the top of the Boston forum section so you won't have to search to find it. I read it religiously last year and it did help make my first Boston less stressful. It's a lot of reading but a lot of good info from those who have run Boston numerous times and really have it down--I'm talking not so much the actual race, pacing, etc., but your questions about busses and so on. http://mymarathonpace.com/Pacing_Spreadsheets.html This might also prove helpful for some of your pacing questions. You can download the trial version and then decide if it's useful enough to purchase. Hope that helps! I am going this year also, but unless I get a hell of a lot faster, it will likely be my last time, now that the new standards are in place and I am a "Barely in Boston" kind of gal (qualifying by less than a minute).....that's OK, it SHOULD be for fast folks, and there are plenty of other marathons to run. Congrats on qualifying!
I will definatley check that out and I will check out all of the suggestion on location spots for viewing.
#artbydmcbride
Take a lawn and leaf bag, a newpaper (sunday even) and sports drink in a wide mouth bottle with you. During the wait in the field at the start, spread out the newspapers to sit on. When you finish the sports drink, put the lawn and leaf bag on (make a hole for your head to go through) and in the privacy of your leaf bag (Black preferably or any opaque color) pee into your empty wide mouth bottle.
you're welcome
Runners run
Ilene! Good advice though.
I was going to suggest the Runner’s World link (even with all the sniping at the rag’s lack of quality) as it’s one of their more useful pieces. I am glad to see someone mentioned it.
I’ll also second the strategy that calls for fairly even halves or negative splits. It’s easy to get swept up in the rush of the start and it’s downhill. While you can use the downhills to your advantage if you train to run downhills, the first part of the Boston course can shred your quads and then it hurts more when you crest the last Newton Hill and start going downhill again to the finish. I break the race into 4-mile segments and worry little about the folks who zip by in the opening miles and focus on where I want to be at each 4-mile segment.
My husband and son drive to the Alewife station and take the train to Wellesley Hills to see me and friends at half-way. We live in Western, MA so it’s easy for us to do it that way. I come out that morning on my running club’s charter bus. When I’ve stayed in Boston and taken the school busses in to the race, I tried getting out there fairly early---but I am a Nervous Nellie and wanted to get settled before the Athlete’s Village got too jammed. With the two waves now and your being in the first wave, I’d take the earlier busses from the Common. Back to spectating, my husband and son wait until I go by and then get back on the train and get off in Back Bay and usually make it back to mile 25 to cheer some more.
Sign up for the athlete alert system so your wife can get updates that way as well. It didn’t work last year so well (husband got all the alerts for Valerie Bertinelli his teenaged crush, but none for me until a day later---good thing I nailed my pace estimate)
A lot of my friends take the train out to Newton and get to the top of Heartbreak Hill. That might be a fun spot for your wife and still give her time to get back to see you at the finish.
I am running on the course for my last longs runs next month and the excitement does start creeping in. I confess that I am way more excited to be rid of this winter training more than anything. Good Luck, have fun more than anything else and run smart.
Good advice here!
I used Illeneforward's garbag bag trick last year. No matter what I always have to pee right before a race. I took my black lawn bag and wide mouthed bottle right into the starting corral and did my thing. No one noticed or, if they did, they didn't care. Tossed em in a trash can on the side of the corral and I was good to go.
Most importantly, don't get too freaked out by all the people passing you in the beginning. You will feel like the slowest guy out there as people zoom by on your right and left sides but hold on to your pacing plan and you will reel almost all of them back in when you hit the hills and beyond.
I don't agree with the car part of this advice: "If you want your wife to see you, she will either need to camp out somewhere near the finish line, or she needs t o have a car. Do not use public transportation."
Driving in and around Boston is hell on a good day. On Marathon Day, it's nearly impossible due to street closures. If she doesn't know the area, it'll be tough to figure out where to go and park. Depending on where you are staying, I think she'd be better of taking the T out to Beacon St in Brookline between mile 22 and 25. Yeah, the T will be crowded, but it's better than getting lost in her car or not finding parking.
After you finish, pick a meeting spot at least a few blocks away from the finish. The Copley T stop (which is right at the finish) will be closed.
The port-a-potties weren't bad at all last year.
I'd love to hear advice about the buses because that was tough for me last year.
Good luck!
Don't guilt your wife into driving or riding the T all over the Boston area just to see you run by for 30 seconds. Tell her to do something for herself that morning--sleep in, have a leisurely breakfast, go shopping or for a walk or to the hotel spa something and then find a spot on Boylston to see you finish. That will be a lot less stressful for both of you.
+26.2
Yeah, that's a grind for the spectator and a stressor for you when you can't find her where she said she'd be waiting.
Plus, if the 5 or 6 people who came to see you finish never saw you run by but only caught a glimpse of your bobbing hat, then couldn't understand why it took you 25 minutes to get your 20# drop bag and find them at the "Family Meeting Area Letters", had already shivered in the 45° downtown cold for 90 minutes, they'd be congratulating you for about 6 seconds before wanting to bolt to the T to get their tired, cold asses into the hotel hot tub, runner-be-damned.
Oh and don't talk about your pace to loved ones. Figure the time out yourself, then tell them what time you'll pass where they're waiting. It's not that hard to give a 10 or 15 minute range.