Congrats Cy! It was cool hanging out with you for a little bit on Sunday. Those splits look quite good with what was going around, and what was going around were serious meltdowns. To echo Phil a bit, hardly anyone I was tracking ran a good time compared to what they are capable of.
Congrats Cy! It was cool hanging out with you for a little bit on Sunday.
Those splits look quite good with what was going around, and what was going around were serious meltdowns. To echo Phil a bit, hardly anyone I was tracking ran a good time compared to what they are capable of.
Yeah. I wasn't the only one, that's for sure. It was actually quite surprising to see that many people really struggling, given the assumed quality of the field.
I saw your time, and you had told us what you were going for on Sunday, did you revise your goal on race day, or did you go for it and suffered like the most of us? Can't wait for your RR!
Great meeting with you too, Jay. Hopefully we can do that again, sometime.
eric - first of all, congrats. boston is not an easy course to pace or plan for in my limited experience. i will add some things: i agree with you about the net downhill that does not seem so obvious in the first part of the race. i remembered a lot of up and down in those first miles. i know overall it is net down, but it was not so clear to me in places. you also cannot get into a good groove with so many others around you running about the same pace (duh). again, it made it kind of frustrating. and forget about trying to run the tangents. about the hills, they just come at a bad time and place. i always knew they were coming and never got too comfortable the first 18 miles or so. when they did arrive, i was not happy but was mentally ready for them. i do think regular hill work is useful in more ways than one. overall, you did a great job by just hanging tough and staying within yourself. i think you will easily be able to improve on this course should you choose to do so. and the weather is one component that does matter too. enjoy your recovery!
eric - first of all, congrats. boston is not an easy course to pace or plan for in my limited experience.
i will add some things: i agree with you about the net downhill that does not seem so obvious in the first part of the race. i remembered a lot of up and down in those first miles. i know overall it is net down, but it was not so clear to me in places. you also cannot get into a good groove with so many others around you running about the same pace (duh). again, it made it kind of frustrating. and forget about trying to run the tangents.
about the hills, they just come at a bad time and place. i always knew they were coming and never got too comfortable the first 18 miles or so. when they did arrive, i was not happy but was mentally ready for them. i do think regular hill work is useful in more ways than one.
overall, you did a great job by just hanging tough and staying within yourself. i think you will easily be able to improve on this course should you choose to do so. and the weather is one component that does matter too. enjoy your recovery!
Thanks, Ric.
I really appreciate everyone's comments on my race. Your opinions, insights and shared experiences help put into perspective what I went through.
Toronto PMed me on our missed meeting on race morning, and he mentioned that this edition of the marathon had the second-lowest requalifying rate!
You did extremely well. And really, I don't think you should feel so bad about taking a few walk breaks. It was a tough day, a very long distance, and a hard course. In the end you got through it and still had a really strong finishing time; strong enough to get invited back next year! That is great! So from where I sit you had a great day, even if it wasn't quite what you envisioned. Congrats.
PRs:
5k - 22:53 (May 2015)
10k - 50:00 (unofficial; part of 20k race, March 2015); 50:33 (official; July 2016)
HM - 1:48:40 (Apr. 2015)
Warm&fuzzy
Great RR. And, 3:14x on a bad day? I don't know much about racing (or anything), but that is more impressive than 3:05:00 when everything is right.
Runner with a riding problem.
Thank you. I still can't consider that a good day, because of the way I felt, but I analysed the numbers a bit, and one statistic makes me feel pretty good:
M45-49: 521/2552 = 20.4%
79.6 % of the people in my AG, all BQers, did worse than me that day.
It was actually 3:18:01.
3:14:48 was my qualifying time, run in Sept. 2015.
I don't know much about racing either, believe me.
uʍop ǝpᴉsdn sǝʇᴉɹʍ ʇI
Living in a warm weather area, I can't relate to your training, but I get it. The temp on race day may have well have been 120. I imaging anything over 50 is hot for you. Dang, that is still a smoking' fast time so well done to you, especially in that heat. Nice RR and believe me, I was feeling your pain.
Seven Deadly Shins
I think you did very well, with only 3 minutes and change off your BQ time. Your AG stats prove that.
Sorry about missing you at the buses - Next time maybe!
The temperature did not feel oppressive at all, actually. It was warm, but not humid. It probably made my body work a little extra to keep cool though, and it might have contributed to some additional dehydration.
Thanks. It seems like most of my RRs are pain and suffering oriented.
I think you did very well, with only 3 minutes and change off your BQ time. Your AG stats prove that. Sorry about missing you at the buses - Next time maybe!
Thanks. Yep, if there is a next time, we'll just need to plan a little more in advance
Eric - Huge congrats. Sounds rough at the end, but considering how the heat affected every single runner there, you held it together amazingly well and turned in a super impressive time. I hope you're glad you made the trip, even if you are not into the crowds so much. I have to believe as a hobby-jogger you will never experience anything like it; this is something you will carry with you the rest of your life.
Dave
You are very right, Dave. I now understand why people were advising me to register and that I would not regret it. I will do the same now.
I might even do one more Boston one day. It might not be a PR course, but I'm sure I can manage my race much better than I did this year. And I wouldn't mind living the whole experience again
Are we there, yet?
I might even do one more Boston one day. It might not be a PR course...
I don't know how it got that reputation, but I've set 2 PBs there including my all time best and there have been American and world records set on that course.
2024 Races:
03/09 - Livingston Oval Ultra 6-Hour, 22.88 miles
05/11 - D3 50K 05/25 - What the Duck 12-Hour
06/17 - 6 Days in the Dome 12-Hour.
race obsessed
I have heard multiple people I know set PBs there also.
My only thought about the event (not the course) is that depending on your wave/ corral placement it might be difficult to run much faster due to the insane runner density.
I was slated to run a solid 25 sec per mile faster than my BQ time. And though I didn't have it for the race (not a clue why yet) I found it tough to stay even 10 sec per mile faster just because the amount of weaving that I had to do. Which in turn adds distance...