Notes
Ran the Athens, OH marathon yesterday and qualified for Boston! The official qualifying time to beat was 3:35:00. But with the extra 0:59 the BAA gives, my time had to be under 3:36. I ran 3:34:11 (official time).
Started out faster than I should have due to the first 2 miles being slightly downhill and going with the flow of the half-marathoners. My average pace to run a 3:35:00 marathon needed to be 8:12, but the first seven miles were under 8:00, and I didn’t back off too much until mile 18. My splits were 7:44, 7:40, 7:48, 7:48, 7:55, 7:58, 7:58, 8:06, 8:01, 8:01, 7:59, 7:57, 8:03, 8:03, 8:02, 8:07, 8:09, 8:20 (things started getting dicey here), 8:25, 8:28, 8:32, 8:26, 8:26, 8:36, 8:53, and 10:51 (final 1.2 miles).
The weather was a mixed blessing. The first three-four miles were run in a steady hard rain that soaked everything and fried the iPod shuffle. Then things let up and it was nice and cool, but a second downpour kicked in around mile 18, soaked everybody again, and added a few ounces to the shoes.