Good for you, Shan. Now THAT's what we're talking about! And brave of you to tackle such a tough course for your first trail race. But, maybe if you didn't know a lot about the course then ignorance was bliss... Personally, I think any course that you have to repeat loops on is a drag. But you did it well and had a kick at the end. Thanks!

Beaten in Boston by Wonder Woman (cross posted from the masters forum) This is long, sorry. Just hit page down and say "well done" or something. Summary: 3:30:38 PR BQ Fashion: Blue Race Ready Shorts over compression shorts, salmon "will run for Beer" T shirt Nutrition: I ate 3/4 of a bagel and a banana at 5:30, and 1/3 of a bagel and a banana at 8-8:30. I was having trouble choking the bagels down due to nerves, I guess. I was ready for this and ate a crank (like gu, but 150 cal and with electrolytes) and a couple of ecaps about 10 minutes before the start. During the race, I had a crank and 2 ecaps every 6 miles. Prior to this race, I had run six marathons. My PR was still my second race, in Chicago (3:31:15), and I was wondering if I could come close to that time again. In the four more recent races, intellectually I knew I was going out too fast, but I had been unable to correct that. In Boston, I believe going out too fast -- i.e., "taking advantage" of the early downhills -- is sure to come back and haunt when you get to the Newton hills. So this year, I made a concerted effort to run even splits the whole race. My goal was to break 3:30, so I needed 8's every mile. Since I figured the number was easy to multiply and compare at the mile markers I opted to forego a pace band. This worked for the most part, but I have to tell you that multiplying by 8 when you get up to 17 and beyond gets more and more difficult. I started out even slower, as planned, at about 8:10 for the 1st two miles. In the second mile, I found myself a bit uncomfortable and decided to take a short break in the woods. I figured I could make it up and a little extra effort to get back on track wouldn't use up too much of my strength. Last year I had that even effort pace band which does take advantage of the early hills, and by mile 10 I decided to dial it back and just enjoy the race. That was fine (I ran 3:38 last year), but this year when I got to 10 I started thinking about it. I decided to keep up the pace; I was feeling pretty good, and made it through Wellesley, high fiving as many of those energetic undergrads I could (didn't stop for any kisses though ). The miles were disappearing behind me, and by 16 I was still on track, maybe a minute ahead. But the Newton hills were to come. I knew there were four hills, each with some downhill after, so I started counting them down. While I did lose a bit on each hill, for the first three I recovered to be on pace with the ensuing downhill. I was still on track at mile 20, the base of Heartbreak. Heartbreak finishes at the 21 mile marker, so that mile was about 30 seconds slow. I should say that at the base of Heartbreak, mile marker 20, were the boomer/master crowd. I saw perchcreek, The Pro From Dover, abelaisle as I passed by -- there may have been more there but I didn't see them. Craig (TPFD) shouted, "how's it going?" and I gave a big thumbs up. Last year, you may remember, he was kind enough to run me in from 20. I wasn't nearly as strong then as I was this year, that's for sure. The thumbs up was genuine and I don't think I have ever felt that good that late in a race. perchcreek took a picture there (thanks, Steve!) So the key to this race is to crest Heartbreak with enough energy to take advantage of the final five miles into Boston. I found most of those miles pretty easy and did a couple around 7:50-8:00. I did have some slower miles - 24 and 26 were about 8:15. I am not sure what that was all about -- maybe they were flatter and I was running out of gas. At the Citgo sign, just after mile 25, I looked for dawndaughter1 and PDR's cousins, but was unable to find them. They said they saw me pass with a determined look on my face. You can see all my miles, of course, in the log -- here. (Note the logged miles are from the garmin so I added a few seconds to those paces in the paragraph above). When I turned from Hereford to Boyleston, man that finish line looked far away. I looked at my garmin and wondered how far it really was. I think the total elapsed said 3:27 something, and breaking 3:30 was going to be close if the distance was short enough. But afterwards I found it's about 650 meters, and the sub-3:30 goal wasn't possible at that point. But I didn't know this at the time and surged a bit, finishing with the 3:30:38 I mentioned above. The wind I was worried about all week turned out not to be much of an issue to people coming in around my time and later. I think it was stronger earlier and affected those with times under around 3:15 worse. Also we had a crowd around us when we were running which made a good wind break. Why the title? For much of the race I was running by a young lady dressed as wonder woman. I saw her at the finish and asked her time -- she ran 3:29 something. A little embarrassing, but I guess it's ok to be slower than a super-hero. I did beat Bill Rogers, though Before and after the race were boomer / masters get-togethers which were really fun. rtravers (from KR), had a party and a whole bunch of people showed up, and after the race about 15 of us met at a Cambridge brew-pub. Mmm, grease and protein -- really needed that. Later a few people were free and came over to our place to pound some more beers. If you're still here you have almost as much stamina as I did during the race Thanks for reading!

Great report, Lou. You sure do look relaxed at mile 20! Training pays off.

What did you do differently that made the last miles easier this year? Usually past 20 is a struggle for me.

Full race report for Glass City posted out in the main forum here: http://www.runningahead.com/forums/post/7e5edb3baad343a0ba43fd365b70e9a8

Frederick races this weekend for me http://www.runningahead.com/groups/2000/Forum/Post/357aacdff5954fcaa6288fd4009808ec#focus

Awesome report Pam!!! Again I'm sorry I didn't see you at the finish to congratulate you!!! Guys please forgive me for copy and pasting this... http://www.runningahead.com/groups/2000/Forum/Post/f9b325b667574258ba8bde0374d0299e#focus i'm exhausted and need to go to bed!! Thank you all for your unending support in my journey... it has been one hell of a ride!