Forums >Racing>2019 Boston Marathon Thread
So, I watched two local news broadcasts and they both seemed to suggest the rain may miss us completely - there will be a band of rain overnight that'll end around 9am and then another band will move through in the afternoon. Go figure - it'll likely be warm and muggy rather than cold and rainy!
Have a good night's sleep and an even better race tomorrow, everyone!
My blog is JT Running DC. It's awesome. Guide to Washington DC Area Running Routes. Guide to the New York City Marathon. Guide to the Boston Marathon. Guide to Running Gear. Guide to Running Clothes.
good luck tomorrow everyone!! get some sleep!
get some sleep!
Ugh I wish. Body is on West Coast time.
Dave
How did it go for everybody? Tough race for me. I found the conditions difficult... too humid. Anybody know how high the dew point was?
5k- 18:55 (2018) 10K- 39:04 (2017) Marathon- 3:00:10 (2018)
I had an okay day - 3:34:4x. Missed my goal (sub-3:28) by quite a bit but considering the conditions, it wasn't a bad race... I'm having a hard time finding weather readings for Newton, which is where I think it felt hottest for this Wave 3er. I would say it was just under 70 degrees then but felt warmer because there wasn't any shade. I would guess dew points were high and the humidity was in the 70s maybe... I was sweating a few miles into the race, which I knew wasn't a good sign. I took 2 salt tablets in addition to the gels I take, which are heavy on electrolytes. By the half, I was putting water on my head for relief. That's also about when I started seeing walkers. I gave up a lot of time in Newton - 7:59 pace going in and 8:08 coming out. I rallied in Brookline but thought I was going to pass out just after Mile 25. After the race, I noticed I had a wicked sunburn... Full race report to come.
Congratulations everyone! Baboon, how was your Boston experience? I know you worked so hard for this and hope it was everything you expected.
delicate flower
Nice race, Julia! I look forward to your full report.
It certainly was, conditions aside. I tried my best to look around and soak it in, but by the time I got to Boylston Street, I just wanted to be done. I was shooting for 3:05 and ran 3:15, but I'm cool with that. My race went the same way many, many other peoples' did....good for 16 miles, survival mode the last 10. I requalified for next year and will be there again, assuming a 4:25 cushion with the new standards will be enough.
Leading into this race, I had a backup plan to run New Jersey in two weeks if Boston conditions were lousy. But screw that. 3:15 at Boston is just fine by me!
<3
(oops double post)
I had the same kind of day everyone else did. Started to feel fatigued already just going into the hills, then it was hanging on for dear life till the finish. Which I thought would never come, and I legitimately questioned whether I’d make it.
But all things considered, I did not have too bad a day. I felt like I was trained for 3:20, but by the start of the race I knew it was not going to be that kind of a day, so set my sights on 3:23. That would have been PR and NYCMQ. On track for that with rock steady pace through 16, till Boston happened. I did not check my pace once in the final 5-6 miles, because I didn’t want to know and just wanted to get through it. So I did not have the slightest idea what my finish time would be - I felt like I was running 10:00 pace in those final miles. But turns out it was actually 8:00-8:20, so in the end I was pretty glad to finish at 3:26:16 with a 5 min positive split. I guess a good indication of what kind of day it was for everyone: my quaifying time was 3:23:39 giving me bib #13799, yet that finish time placed me at 8141.
MTA: did not even BQ, as I needed a 3:25. But I wasn’t planning to run that damn thing again next year anyway.
I ran a PR yesterday through 26.2 miles, but I had to go and run an extra third of a mile.
Also, marathonfoto got some good pics of me. Why did they have to go and do that?
They got a bunch of pics of me in the late miles looking like death warmed over. Not sure I’d want any of those as keepsakes.
There are 8 pictures of me on their site, but 6 of them are actually of different people. So yeah.
I think I was sweating fairly hard already by mile 4 or so. I knew there was always a chance of rain which would have completely changed things, so I just kept at my goal of 3 hrs... with a 3:00:10 already under my belt, there was little else to go for.
I could feel things fairly definitively slipping away by mile 8 or so. I came through the half in about 1:28:40, and perhaps if the weather had suddenly shifted to a crisp 50s I would have had a chance, but it just wore me down. Still, there were a few moments even pretty late in the race when the weather seemed to change slightly or I had just dumped 5 cups of water on my head where I felt strong. I even made one last gasp attempt at my 3:00 coming off of Heartbreak... I needed 6:40s I think, but I think sun only came out stronger, and eventually I settled into upper7s, with a dab at the 8s near the end as well (3:07)
I ran the race without a top, and I wound up getting pretty sunburned. I have many things that hurt me this morning, but the sunburn is the only one that doesn't bother me... it's a reminder of how difficult the conditions actually were.
Separately I wanted to post for anybody reading this in the future, getting dropped off at the lot in Hopkinton to take a bus to Athlete's Village wound up being a disaster. Don't know if it was weather related , but there was I'd estimate a 45min-1hr delay on 495 just for parking traffic (the guy at the information booth at the expo said to allow maybe 5-10 minutes extra). In the end I decided to exit the car on the highway and run the mile+ to the parking lot. That too was looking dicey though, as the roads leaving there were jammed as well, so I ran into another runner along the way who said he was going to run to the starting line and knew the way, so I followed him and saw some other people doing that too. There were some nice male "porta-potty" options along the way as well. In the end I wound up getting to the start at 9:45, but I wound up running/walking over 3 miles. Otherwise I would have not have made my wave, and I'm not entirely confident I'd have made wave 2 even.
Hip Redux
I dropped off in Hopkinton around 8am the last two years and there wasn't much of a delay at all. Definitely not an hour, have to wonder if the storm was part of it.
My anticipated arrival time was originally about 8:40 (I didn't want to wait around in the rain/mud of Athlete's Village forever). I figured as long as I got on a bus by 9:20 I'd be OK. So maybe the delays just happen later. Has anybody tried to be dropped off for a later wave?
Congrats to everyone on surviving a tough day! I was on track for 3:20 through half, but when the clouds disappeared and the sun came out in Newton, I really felt the heat and humidity (I come from Canada - I hadn't even done a long run without a jacket on this year!) and slowed down to a painful 3:31 finish. By far my worst positive split in a marathon.
I also got dropped off in Hopkinton for the first time - I was grateful I avoided the storm downtown, but it ended up being a bit stressful. I had planned to be dropped at the shuttle lot for around 8:45 (Wave 2), but ended up arriving after 9:30 due to traffic for the last couple of miles on the highway. I was able to get right onto a bus, and by the time we made it to the school (super close, but have to drive a long way due to closures), I went straight to loading the corrals. I had just enough time to pop into the porta-potties, change my shoes and remove my layers, and make it to my corral for the 2 minute warning. Definitely tighter than I would have liked!
-Jess