Notes
Weather was less than ideal. Overcast with no rain at the start. It rained some about an hour into the run. The winds were not too bad at the start, but as the race went on the winds (headwinds) got stronger and stronger.
I felt great for most of the race and I was easily clicking off splits anywhere between 5:45-5:50 from the start till around mile 18. I mostly ran with a group during the first half; however, there were sections where I'd find myself running alone. A group of guys would either pick up the pace and I chose not to go with them, or a group would fall back and I'd continue running my pace.
I was still feeling good when I got to the hills, but could tell that the legs started to get a little heavy. Mile splits from 18-20 miles were between 5:50-5:55. On Heartbreak Hill my legs didn't feel strong, but it also didn't feel weak. All I kept thinking about was that I needed to crest the hill and hopefully my legs would feel better on the downhill. They actually did and I was able to muster back some miles (22-24) between 5:45-5:50 pace. The last two miles were all about hanging on. I caught and passed about 8-10 runners over the last couple miles even though I was only running about 5:55ish pace.
Overall, I'm very pleased and happy with my race even if it wasn't a PR. Running a PR would have been very tough in the cold, wet and very windy conditions. My 2:33:13 was a 3-minute Boston PB!