Notes
This 2009 Boston Marathon has to go down as my best marathon ever, considering I was 11 minutes off my PR 10 years ago on a much easier course, (St George) and my fastest Boston by 5 minutes that I did 16-17 years ago! This was the first time that I felt I raced to my full potential in the marathon.
The temperature was ideal for me - mid 40's. The headwind was there (10-15 MPH) the entire race and with stretches that had gusts my guess about 25 MPH, particularly on the Newton hills and mile 22.
I drank the 5 hour energy 15 minutes prior to the race and took 2 caffeine tabs right before the start and carried Cytomax with me. I had 3 Gu's as well. Dave had my second Cytomax for me at heartbreak hill.
There are so many people in this race that you just have to run whatever speed your corral does for the first few miles until you can get a bit of space. Of course the faster your bib number the less this is a factor and the slower, the more of a factor. First mile 7:19 which was 23 seconds slower than last year. Next 2 were at 6:50, a bit fast but put me at 7:00 flat for 3 miles, exactly the same as last year.
By mile 4 I started to feel bad, like my legs just wouldn't move. This continued until mile 7. I started to have negative thoughts about if I can finish this race without blowing up. But I went into myself as in a meditative state and didn't think I was doing a marathon. I said to myself, just run hard and whatever happens, happens. So I didn't get fixated on pace or time. At this point it all became a mental thing with me. I decided right then and there that I refused to back off and not worry about if I'll crash, and the amazing thing is I was able to keep mostly even splits. I finished off my bottle at mile 4, took my first GU at 10 in Natick. My legs didn't feel like they had that spring so I was using my arms even on the small hills to get up then and that really worked great. I went through the half 32 seconds faster than 2008. Second GU was at mile 13. I grabbed an other one from an aid station but I never wound up using it.
Right at the fire station I heard someone shot my name. I looked over and my heart sank as Reno had to drop. I have to give him credit for giving it a shot as he blew out his back a few days before the race and it didn't decide until the morning if he could go. He's a mentally tough guy so I know he will bounce back from this. Right as I turned the corner at the fire station I became emotionally overwhelmed about coach and broke down with tears for a few seconds. At this point I turned this around and became inspired as I already decided at the start to the dedicate this race for Eleni who had problems right before her marathons and couldn't run so now I added Reno to the mix. Something Susan said yesterday struck a chord with me. She said, "if Reno can't run, you have to carry the banner for us. And I did take that on board as the four of us are very close.
Last year I lost a lot of time on the hills, but today I was strong. This was because of the hills workouts with Reno really paid off. Thanks coach. :)
Even though I had cramps in my gluts, my hamstrings held up nicely. My only real worry was the right calf which started to get sore at 9 miles, but it didn't get worse until mile 24.5, but not enough to hamper my running.
On Heartbreak Hill I was starting to dehydrate, but I knew Dave was going to be there with my bottle of Cytomax. I went over the hill and didn't see him and I thought I was going to have to stop and drink at the aid stations, when I heard Dave calling my name. I ran back 20 meters to grab my drink. But it was worth it as I needed it badly. I drank this from 21 to 23 miles and started focusing on a strong finish. The crowds as always here in Boston are amazing. They can literally lift a runners soul to keep moving to the finish line. At mile 25 I gave it all and did the last 1.4 miles at 6:50 pace.
Mike and Barry had great races. Barry wasn't even sure he would race a few weeks ago due to an injury, but he managed to finish without doing any damage and Mike had one of best marathons ever. After preaching to him for 3 years about the dangers of going out too fast, he finally listened. :)
Cumulative Splits:
5k: 21:42 10k: 43:21 15k: 1:05:14 20k: 1:27:49 Half: 1:32:14 25k: 1:49:20 30k: 2:11:19 35k: 2:33:32 40k: 2:55;39, last 1.4: 9.33 (6:50 pace).
Individual 5K/mile splits:
5K - 21:42 (7:00), 10K - 21:39 (6:59), 15K - 21:53 (7:03), 20K - 22:15 (7:10), 25K - 21:51 (7:02), 30K - 21:59 (7:05), 35K - 22:13 (7:10), 40K - 22:07 (7:08), last 1.2 - 9:33 (6;50).
1947th place out of 22849
Ages 50 - 54 77th out of 1838