My A goal was to run 3:09:59. I really thought I could do it. My C goal would be to PR, which is anything better than 3:17. I thought for sure I would at least hit this. B goal would have been anything close to a 3:09. I should have added a 4th goal, BQ by more than 5 minutes, because I actually hit this one.
After mile 9 I felt very confident I was going to slam dunk this thing. I felt like a hundred bucks, thought I was staying under controll, saving enough for the Newton hills and the downhill finish. At this point, I'm one minute behind, which I liked, I was saving strenth and thought I would make it up later if I was still strong, and If I couldn't, it would mean I'm not over doing it. At about the halfway mark I knew I was about a minute and a half behind my goal tempo and I didn't feel like I would be able to make it up after the Newton Hills. I was still okay, thinking sub 3:15 was in reach. I did a lot of hill training so I thought I'd hit my paces through the Newton Hills and then throw down the hammer for the last 5 miles. My legs were feeling a little heavy, but I thought the uphill running would maybe put a little life in them with the change of terrain. Mile 14 and 15 I still lost a little time, 21 seconds over those two miles. Mile 16 should be the fastest mile of the course, it's downhill just before the Newton Hills start. I should have run a 6:49 but 7:11 was the best I could do. I started to get concerned because I couldn't have done this mile any faster without over doing it. I did well going up the first two Newton hills, still lost 23 seconds but the next mile concerned me most. Mile 19 is a reprieve before the last two hills, but It didn't work out for me. I lost 27 seconds on this mile. Should have been a 7:07 and I did 7:34. The last two hills I gave up even more especially up Heartbreak. I put up an 8:21 which should have been a 7:47. At this point I was almost 6 minutes off of my 3:09. I knew a PR was probably out of sight. My legs felt VERY VERY heavy. I was quite surprised. The Newton Hills kicked my but. I think I needed to respect this course a little more than I did. Being from a higher elevation and running hills that these flat head east coasters never dreamed of made me over confident.
Even with a PR possibly out of sight, I knew I'd still have a decent finish. Things did get a little worse on my way to mile 23. I had a sudden urge to "need a portapotty NOW" so I just veered to the edge of the road and cleaned out my shorts. Very messy, lost my gloves but didn't slow me down too much. I've been here before and it wasn't going to effect me. Got myselt kind of cleaned up, next mile went okay. Approaching mile 25 I filled my shorts again. Oh well, no problem for me, took care of it, poured several cup of water through my shorts and off I went. My shoes were soaking wet, so my feet were very heavy. I still pressed on, chasing a PR but I just couldn't pull out any fast miles. All in all, I'm happy with my 3:18:45. I was 6124th out of about 31.5K that finished.
Perfect day for a marathon, it got warm, but not too warm. It was certainly good for the crowd, and this race was as much about them as it was me. I heard reports that there were a million people lining the course. It sure looked like it based on what I saw in 2011. The cheering was incredibly loud, if fact, it actually annoyed me for a moment but then I felt bad for having that thought. The people of Boston and surrounding towns needed to get out and cheer, scream and yell, put last year behind them an show they have moved forward. I was quickly un-annoyed realizing that this was not about me, it's about what was taken from these people and their need to come out and take it back. I was honored to be in this race today.
1 7:43
2 7:14
3 7:09
4 7:06
5 7:20
6 7:20
7 7:15
8 7:25
9 7:18
10 7:24
11 7:30
12 7:18
13 7:29
14 7:19
15 7:36
16 7:11
17 7:43
18 7:50
19 7:34
20 7:56
21 8:21
22 7:14
23 8:25
24 7:53
25 8:15
26 8:08
26.2 1:44
Net Time3:18:45 Overall 6124/31931 In Gender5295/17575 (Male) In Division776/2919 (M45-49 Age Group)
Great little trip/vacation to Boston. I would love to do this every year but it is way too expensive. I don't know when I'll be back, It could be a long time, but you never know.
I almost forgot, while resting at athletes village, I looked over and saw I guy light up a cigarette. I had to check this out so I came over and set next to him. He's from Hamburg Germany, and he smokes and runs marathons. I didn't know such a breed existed, but I met one. He's my age and ran a 3:06 as his qualifying time. Maybe I'll talk up smoking if it will cut 10 minutes off my time.
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