Notes
Boston Marathon. Almost 90º, hot, sunny, humid and hilly. Horrible conditions for this race. At 10am it was already 80º and I broke a sweat just standing in the coral. I didn't want to go out too fast, so I think I did a pretty good job at maintaining a good pace throughout the first half. Around mile 7 or so, my left ankle began to hurt, then around 11 miles my arch on my right foot hurt slightly. It didn't bother me too much after awhile, as dehydration set in and stole the spotlight from any aches and pains. At the halfway point, my legs began to start cramping, particularly my calves. It got to the point where if I did a sudden move that was different than my stride, it would cramp up, so it was getting difficult to run. I stopped 5 times during this race, starting at mile 20. I had to stop and stretch my calves, it worked. I stopped again at the start of heartbreak hill, just so I could focus on taking my last gu and getting down some water before starting up it. I stopped a few more times after heartbreak hill because my legs were too cramped up, so I had to stop and stretch them. Throughout the race, I poured as much water on me as I could. I could drench my head with 2 cups of water and within a mile my head would be nearly dry.
Going into it and knowing how hot it was going to be, I knew my goal of 2:40 was out the door. So the new goal was to at least be around the ballpark of my qualifying placement. Overall it was a tough race. I spoke with several people shooting for sub 2:40 who ended up waaaay slower than me, up in the 3:20's. They went out too fast. Considering how poor my training went leading up and all the injuries I had, I'm ok. I was seeded 464th from my BQ of 2:41:56 and wound up 398th and 15 minutes slower than my BQ time.