Notes
The Boston Marathon... wow this was a fun experience, I'm appreciating it more and more now that I'm back home looking back on it. It was amazing how nearly everyone in the community seemed welcoming to the runners, from the time I finished to the time I got to the hotel I think at least 200 people said "congratulations" or something along the lines to me.
So to the race.. I definitely wasn't expecting the first 5ish miles to be quite that steep downhill, it was a test to not just start running close to 5:20's at the start. Around mile 2 I started asking some of the people around me what their race goals were. There was a group of guys from Greater Boston TC who said they were aiming for a 2:29, I said that was what I was aiming for too and that I'd hang with them for a while. Nearly immediately after that exchange they dropped me so I found some new friends. It was nice having groups, as sometimes the spectators would be giving out bottled water so one person would grab one and then we'd all pass it around until it was empty. I stayed with those guys for only maybe 3 miles, around mile 6 I dropped them and started bridging the gap up to the next group where the previously mentioned GBTC guys were. Caught up to them around mile 8 then their pack seemed to break up pretty quickly. Ended up being just two GBTC guys and me, their names were Manny and David I later discovered. Our little pack of 3 clicked off miles between 5:30 and 5:40 for about the next 8 miles, occasionally we would pick up another guy or two but usually they'd drop off pretty quick. We went through halfway at 1:13:26 and all 3 of us were still feeling confident in a 2:29 finishing time. Just before mile 16 I asked Manny and David what their plan for the hills and thereafter were. They basically said they needed to survive the hills hopefully running 5:50s then get back to 5:30s after that, I agreed that was about what we should do.
At this point in the race I was still feeling like a million bucks. Definitely a little on the warm side, but I wasn't feeling dehydrated or having any leg issues. There were water stops every mile and I took water and occasionally gatorade too at every one, along with pouring water over my head and back of my neck. I knew the hills were going to be hard and I was mentally preparing to start battling.
Shortly after the conversation with Manny and David I dropped them both on the first Newton hill. I was really surprised with how quickly they disappeared, and there were very few people in sight ahead of me. The next 5 miles of up and down the hills was hard, but I was adjusting my pace going up hills and my legs were still feeling relatively good, every now and then I was passing a random runner who was dying hard. Heartbreak hill at 21 was a bitch, that's where my first >6 minute mile was. But after heartbreak I was able to run a 5:45 quite nicely and was just gonna try to keep it there the rest of the way for a guaranteed sub-2:30.
One mile later though I was beginning to feel the effects of the heat and the hills. I was having terrible thoughts of it being Des Moines marathon pt. 2 where I ran my last 10k in over 45 minutes. At mile 23 everything below the waist was starting to hurt. The bottom of my feet, my ankles, my calves, my quads, my hammys, my glutes, everything. I was looking at my watch constantly to make sure I was keeping my pace at least somewhere sub-7. This is where the crowd was probably the biggest help to me. I was kind of in no-man's land with very few people near me, but the crowd support the last 5 miles was insane. All those people cheering made me feel like I had to keep going. With about 1.5 miles to go my hammys felt like they were about to cramp up bad, so I stopped for about 3 seconds to give them a quick stretch. As soon as I stopped to stretch the spectators got even louder trying to get me to keep going, it was awesome.
The last mile seemed to go by really fast. On the little up hill just before Boylston St my hammys felt like they were on the verge on cramping up again, I was doing my best to keep my legs straight so they wouldn't cramp. Then as soon as I made the left turn on Boylston St all I could focus on was that blue and yellow finish line, running the last 300 meters to the finish was awesome, I was able to kick a little bit even though my legs were nearly non-functional at that point in the race.
I finished in 2:31:37 and 68th place overall which was a few minutes off my goal, but given the conditions and course I am happy with how I ran overall. Even in the last 5 miles when I was dying hard I was passed by less than 5 people, everyone was having a rough day. I ran into David after the race and he ended up running 2:34:00, I never found out how Manny finished.
This experience makes me hungry to go back and take another shot at Boston. Those last 5 miles after Heartbreak Hill would be so much fun to run when you're feeling good and still clicking off fast miles. I want to experience that, so I'll be back