Notes
Rewind 366 days and Bucci, Shawn and I stood on the finishing line of the 119th Boston Marathon and said we'd be back next year and do it again with a sub 3. Fast forward to the starting line of the 120th and it was a sunny 67 and the wind was blowing in our faces from he east. Despite that we took off on pace as planned. Unlike last year from the 2nd wave, it felt a little more crowded due to our pace being some 20 seconds faster. That cleared by about mile 2 and it was smooth sailing.
Unfortunatly the train was beginning to come apart within 4-5 miles. Bucci felt bad and dropped by mile 7 soon after seeing Wrigs. This is about where we picked up Lauren. She had the same goal so we rolled on. Unfortunately Shawn wasn't having it on this day either so he dropped around mile 10 and I headed on with Lauren. Right about here I came across Kilkee. She looked like she was goofing off. Somewhere around this time I saw the GLRR tent of people. Around mile 15 Lauren ducked in a bathroom. A quarter mile further I did too. Soon after coming out I saw Nemo.
Feeling somewhat fresh at mile 16 I figured I'd give it a little effort, do some math, and see what's up and possible for the balance of the race. At this point sub 3 seemed out of the question but I'd carry on strong at get a good result. Unfortunately the headwind kept picking up and the effort felt 10-20 seconds slow. And with that I threw in the towel on any big result and ran conservatively the rest of the way in, get a solid BQ, and live to fight another day.
Mile 15. saw Bruce
Mile 17 saw the Bucci's.
Mile 18 saw Marc
Mile 18 saw Frank
Mile 19 saw the Cooks
Mile 19 saw Marli
Mile 20 saw MRC folks
Mile 21 in Newton/Boston saw Matt, I think.
Mile 22 saw Liane
Mile 23 saw Ryan
With a mile to go I looked at the time and realized I only needed an 8 minute mile to break 3:08. I had no interest in killing myself to break 3:07 and eased the pace till Boylston St where I picked it up a little for the finish.
Misc technical notes:
Weather about 67 at the start, peaking around 70 in Natick and cooled to upper 50s after going down the hill from Newton. Clear sky with wind from the east that picked up the entire race to about 15 and perhaps some gusts at 20. It felt warm and dry. The wind wicked the sweat from the body leaving runners looking salty. It was deceiving. You couldn't tell you were loosing water by noticing any sweat and you didn't have any sweat to help cool you. I treated it like a bike ride and focused on managing my hydration. Drank from every water table until after 22. Focused on getting the entire cup down. Had I drank to thirst I'd have been in trouble. If it wasn't Boston with so many water tables I'd probably have been in trouble too. Also had a gu before the start and one every 5-6 miles.
Great last two week diet leading in. Cut out beer. Counted calories. Lost a few lbs. Last three days had about 3 hammer tabs per day. Gained some water weight and think that helped. 2 nights out had lots of sushi and night before had chicken parm. Bagel w/ pbj and 1 pop tart for breakfast. Had two cups of coffee but didn't over do it. Was all caught up on sleep but didn't sleep great night before.
BIB NAME AGE M/F CITY ST CTRY CTZ
4295 Hancock, Chris 42 M Melrose MA USA
5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k
0:21:05 0:42:39 1:04:14 1:26:24 1:31:07 1:48:35 2:10:51 2:34:10 2:57:27
Finish: Pace Proj. Time Offl. Time Overall Gender Division
0:07:10 3:07:30 3:07:30 2455 2264 361
2455 / 27487 finished
2264 / 14877 men finished
AG
361 / 2036
8th Mens Masters Team
Half Splits: 1:31:07 // 1:36:23