Notes
Boston Marathon 2019. Finally get to cross this race off of my bucket list. I didn't have a ton of time to log yesterday and I also wanted to really let it sink in. This was an 8 minute PR and I finally felt like I ran a marathon up to my ability level. It was very much a bittersweet moment yesterday when I finished the race to know I had finally gotten it right. Anyways, I'll go through the whole day for future reference.
Buses and athlete's village: Met up with Ethan and Chris at 6:15 to drop our bags off then Ethan and I headed to the buses. When I got breakfast at the hotel, I saw that a line of storms was about to roll in and right around 7:00AM they hit. Luckily we were on the bus, so we stayed dry. Finally made it out to the athlete's village around 7:40AM and we found a spot in the tent. Just chilled, used the bathroom, got a bagel. Around 9:00AM I changed out of my throw away outfit. Ethan and I ran into Bruce around 9:20AM and we all headed down the start line together.
Start line: I have never felt more elite in a race in my life. Knowing everyone around you in wave 1/corral 1 is a good runner is weird. Also there were cameras on us, a fly over after the national anthem and what felt like the whole town of Hopkinton out to cheer you on. Then they have the elites walk by you and it was just overall a sweet experience. Elites took off at 10AM and we took off shortly after that at 10:02.
Race: From looking at the course map, I knew the first 4 miles were pretty much all downhill but the first mile was really downhill. I purposely held back a ton given the hills and the fact that it was still incredibly humid from the rain. From there I was able to settle into a rhythm and ended up hooking up with the guy named Nate. We pretty much ran 5:55-6:00 from miles 3-10 before he had to pull off to poop. From there, I was just solo, just rolling with the hills. I took at GU at mile 7 and was making sure to take water or Gatorade every other mile or so. The next highlight came at the Wellesley scream tunnel at 12.5 miles. I could hear it coming from a half mile away and then it was just crazy loud going through it. It definitely lived up to the hype. Got to halfway in 77:35 feeling strong and took another GU at mile 14. From there I hooked up with a guy who used to run for Stevenson high school and we hit the big downhill at mile 16 together. But I knew this was when the real challenge began. Got up the first hill no problem and then it was awesome to see Josh at mile 17. 2nd hill was really tough but got through that. Going up the 3rd hill, I dropped my guy from Stevenson (I could tell he was hurting and fading, so I decided to take my race into my own hands). Saw my parents and Kaylie right before heartbreak where I quickly downed my last GU. Heartbreak was challenging but I got to the top feeling strong still so I knew that I could still get a good time. Started really rolling on the downhill after that and to my surprise, Bruce comes rolling by me as I am running 5:45s. I couldn't believe it but he had a great run! Anyways, right after mile 22 was when things started to get tough. I could feel my legs starting to get crampy and knew I just had to fight now. Was holding strong until right around a mile to go. My groin had started to cramp a little bit but then it just locked up. I knew I just had to finish now. But with a half mile to go, I went through the little dip under the elevated road and coming up the other side my groin loosened up. I started hauling again and when I rounded the corner onto Boylston, I knew I was going to be close to 2:35:00 and I really wanted to break it, so I legitimately started kicking with everything I had left. Had 5 guys lined up in front of me and was able to get all 5! That last 600 meters is kind of a blur but I just remember the sea of people on both sides of the street. It was amazing! Was so excited when I crossed the line and saw 2:34:30 on my watch. After two bummer Chicago's, it felt incredible to finally get a marathon right!
Post race: Got my medal, blanket, bananas, Cliff Bar, etc. and went to get my stuff and met up with my parents and Kaylie. My phone was blowing up at the this point with all the congratulatory texts. Such an awesome day! Really enjoyed every moment of it (of course, it helps when you run good).
Splits from my watch: 6:08-5:50-5:54-5:56-6:01-5:57-6:01-5:50-5:49-5:57-5:53-5:49-5:51-5:46-5:56-5:47-5:53-5:56-5:47-5:56-6:00 (heartbreak)-5:43-5:49-5:48-5:54-6:08 (groin cramp)-1:10 (.2) Half splits were 77:35-76:55
Splits from website:
Places Place Overall Place Gender Place Division
189 175 154
Split Time Split Time min/mile miles/h
5K 00:18:27 18:27 05:57 10.11
10K 00:37:04 18:38 06:00 10.01
15K 00:55:21 18:17 05:53 10.20
20K 01:13:38 18:18 05:54 10.20
HALF 01:17:35 03:58 05:48 10.35
25K 01:31:43 14:09 05:50 10.29
30K 01:50:00 18:17 05:54 10.20
20 Miles 01:57:57 07:58 05:52 10.25
21 Miles 02:03:58 06:01 06:01 9.99
35K 02:08:13 04:16 05:42 10.53
40K 02:26:17 18:04 05:49 10.33
25.2 Miles 02:28:29 02:13 06:25 9.37 (groin cramp leading up into and right after)
Finish Net 02:34:30 06:01 05:54 10.17