Longer version:
First I need to thank Robin and Val for the organization of the Saturday dinner and Sunday Bagel Bash. I really enjoyed both events although it always feels weird to say "Hi, I'm Eric" to a DRSer and anticipating his/her amused reaction :)
I haven't gone to a lot of encounters, but as always it felt good to be there.
The expo: I spent a lot of time there with Melita and Ed Wong but managed to leave without spending a single $. Weird! They were out of what I liked. Of course going to an expo the day before the race is not the best thing to do if you want to give your maximum on race day. Sunday night I had heavy legs and I was not curious to see howI would feel on Monday morning. (That was not so bad)
Race plan: I'll spare you the litany of my winter semi-injuries, but the announced headwind, the crowd and my delicate hamstrings indicated that going for a PR would be a bit presumptuous (PR is anything under 3h10). So I decided to start the race smooth and relax but with my options fully opened. This actually should be called "not having a real race plan", but anything between 3h05 and 3h15 would be okay for me. Race day: Ed and I took the bus at 8:00am. This saved us a few hours of wait in Hopkinton, but we had to use our elbows to find a spot under one of those huge tents. Despite arriving at 9:00am the wait was way too long. Anyway, the start time eventually arrived and I lined up in my corral (#5). Bang we're off. While slowly shuffling toward the starting line, I say hi to Alejandro through the ESPN camera. It took me 2:00 before reaching the chip mat, and the first mile is really slow (9:00 sharp). Idem for the second mile that I run in 7:35.
If I had shot for a PR, I could have probably be faster here, but zig and zag proved to be a bit dangerous as two runners collided and one of them ended up lying on the ground with a herd of 13000 runners behind him. Scary. So after 2 miles I'm about 2.5 minutes late compared to the ideal pace for 3h10. It does not bother me at all at that time as I'm just enjoying the moment. I don't feel my recent injuries and I just run relaxed, high-fiving kids on the side of the road.
George Reid flies by me en route toward a great final time. Then it's time for Wellesley College. No comment.... I'll be back next year! Half-time comes in 1h36:30 and I start to think that maybe I could do a sub- 3h10. But unfortunately that's too late. Even though I still feel quite good, the lack of high mileage weeks takes its toll and I'm fading a bit (just a few seconds/mile). I say hi to a couple of French guys who look stuck on Heartbreak hill and then it's time for the downhill stretch to the finish line. Somehow I know I won't make itunder 3h10 and even if it's downhill, my splits are not that fast (7:22 instead of the ideal 7:08 for mile 23, must have been sleeping there!). I cruise to the finish line in 3h12:38 chip time. Thanks to the slow start I still manage a negative split race (1h36:30 + 1h36:08). (That's an artificial neg. splits imho) What a great course and what a fantastic crowd support. Going faster would have meant spending a lot of energy weaving between runners and focusing on my run right from the beginning. Still I was close to a full effort and I still feel it today! My only regret is that even with a low corral, it was a bit too crowded to fully race that course.