hi folks,

this is cross-posted to drs and tri-drs. my apologies to those who get two copies. it is kind of long and rambling. back home, and back from a nomail weekend in boston. short version: 26.2 miles for ruth, joep, dave. first sub 3 hr since 1982. i'm happy.

long version:

training has gone well this year. i felt i was physically ready to run under 3 hours. the mental part, staying focused during the latter stages of the run when it hurts, i wasn't so sure about.

drove to boston saturday with some friends from ottawa. arrived in time to check in at the hostel, then go to the drs encounter. fun time talking to peter, rich and liz, jeff, val, etc. did the friendship run sunday morning with more of the ottawa contingent (i think that there were over 60 people from this area racing boston, plus cheering crew), race packet pickup and expo browsing, but didn't spot any appealing deals.

nike had a booth with a neat gimmick: a computer program to which you could give several recent race distance and times, and an expected / hoped for time at boston. the program would calculate splits for your expected time and also a time based on your recent races. the splits were adjusted for the hills on the course. the nike people printed out a couple of copies, cut one copy into just your expected time splits and gave you a bracelet that you could insert the slpits into and refer to them during the race. all for free when other booths were selling generic pace- bracelets for $5.00 ?!?!?!?

i wore the bracelet but it wasn't any use since (a) the font was way too small to read especially while moving, and very especially when tired, and (b) the program did not account for n thousand people trying to run in the same road at the same time. but i really like the idea. perhaps the program is available on the nike website ? monday: hanging around in hopkinton was cold, even for those from northern climes. wore a drs singlet, race-ready shorts, gloves, and over-optimistically, sunglasses and a sun-hat. oh well. tossed the gloves around mile 20. i think the weather, except for the headwind, was actually very good for running hard.

i had planned/hoped to run around 2:58:30 - 4:40/km for the couple of kilometers, the 4:20's until halfway, 4:10's to about 32 km, then 4:05's, hopefully faster, to the end.

made my biggest mistake of this race back in january/february when i sent in my application. i could have used either last year's boston result (3:19:26) or my 1998 california intl result (3:01:xx). i like to start slow so i used the 3:19. this put me in the 8th corral. i don't like to start *that* slow.

looked for dennis halpin, marc frommer and jerome focosi who were all in my corral but didn't spot them. sorry, guys. marc and jerome and myself were on the 'stud that was' drs team, too. took almost 3 minutes to get to the start line. no sweat. using the champion chip. took 8:48 to shuffle/run the first mile - downhill. nike pacing called for 6:35. i had hoped for 7:30 accounting for crowds. second mile took 7:15. lot of running on the grass verge. first 5 miles took 36:42, i had planned on about 34:20. start to wonder how hard i am going to have to run to make this up, and if i am ever going to be able to run in a straight line. there are runners everywhere. am feeling pretty comfortable and well in control. not relaxed because i am always looking for the best route. have mostly given up on running the tangents and when one magically appears, i take it as a bonus.

michael musca recognises my singlet and we chat a bit, run sort of together and sort of as a dance where we take separate paths for a while then end up close together again. we catch up to eric meunier of toronto, say hi, and keep on going. i lost track of michael about here, too.

find another dance partner around mile 8 and we push each other along until after halfway, then i lost him too. the wellesley women were, like last year, truly amazing. police estimated the crowd totaled about 425,000 people this year. i think it was estimated at twice that last year. but there seemed to be just as many people on the course this time as 1999.

halfway split about 1:31:30 chip time, which is just about what i had planned, but i had to work harder to get there becasue of the slow first two miles and the weaving around. also, started to feel my legs around halfway.

there were a lot more hills this year. i really only remember heartbreak from 1999. this year i worked up a lot of hills. not powering up, but trying to keep a steady pace. i knew this was costing more energy than planned, but there was no choice. my quads were starting to hurt a bit and i figured they would be too tight to run sub 4:00 kms at the end. i couldn't afford to give up much time on the uphills.

i must have passed several people that i knew from ottawa in the second half, but i didn't recognise anyone, excpet when one friend called out as i went by. steve is usually about my speed, and i told hime to run with me, but i didn't wait for him and he didn't try to stay with me. said hi to a woman with a buffalo chips shirt but again i didn't stop to chat.

at each mile marker, i kept trying to calculate how fast i had to run to get under 3, and it always seemed barely within reach. around mile 20 or 21, a woman went by me pretty quickly and i thought she would soon be out of sight, but that i would try to pace off of her for at least a while. so i kicked it up whatever small notch there was left. stayed 10 to 40 meters behind for few miles. noticed she was getting some draft by running up behind someone, then passing and running up behind the next target. hey, why didn't i think of that? maybe because my brain had stopped a while ago. anyway, i adopted the same tactic. the wind had been there for the first 20 miles, but didn't seem much of a factor. it was definitely there for the last 6 miles and any draft helped a bit, even if it made the running more complicated. i didn't really feel like thinking about analytical stuff by now. just run.

i did think about the deads, especially ruth and joep and dave, during the last miles. about how much easier it was for me to run than for them to fight their battles. about people with injuries itching to get back on the roads and trails. about jimp and 'just one more mile' and decided to just run one more hard mile, then just one more hard mile then ... you get the idea.

the citgo sign seemed impossibly far away and soon after i saw it, my pacer shifted into warp drive and vanished. i was running as hard as i could. gasping like i do in 1 km intervals but certainly not at that pace now. just one more mile. feeding off the crowd but no energy to acknowledge them. managed to get a good tangent onto hereford(?) st, not bad onto boylston st. just hammer. the blue and white ballon banner is a long way away. how come i can't see the finish line clock? ok, there it is. 3:02 something. can't figure the seconds. keep hammering. i think that about 15-20 seconds out, i knew that i was going to get the chip time under 3. was too out of it by then to realise that i could slow down a bit so i just kept going as hard as i could to the finish.

ken cotton said hi at the finish area. saw eric meunier again. they can tell their own stories.

got a space blanket and my clothes, met up with my friends. some had excellent races, some good, a couple were a little disappointed.

i raced this marathon. it hurt. it was hard. i got want i wanted. yes, i would have liked an official time under 3:00. next time. for now, i'll take the chip time.

splits:
mile split accum heart rate
1 8:48.5 8:48.5 150 target 150 for first 13 miles
2 7:15.4 16:03.9 142
3 6:56.8 23:00.7 53 hrm acts funny sometimes
4 6:47.7 29:48.4 150
5 6:53.7 36:42 149
6 missed mile 6
7 13:34.7 50:16.8 152 6:47.4 avg for 6 & 7
8 missed mile 9
9 13:36.5 1:03:53 144 6:48.2 avg for 8 & 9
10 6:47.0 1:10:40 153
11 6:46.6 1:17:26 157
12 6:36.4 1:24:03 157 wellesley
13 6:45.6 1:30:48 159
14 6:30.0 1:37:27 158
15 6:43.2 1:44:11 160
16 6:27.3 1:50:38 160
17 6:53.3 1:57.31 159
18 6:52.5 2:04:24 159
19 6:37.0 2:11:01 161
20 7:05.9 2:18:07 164 hit my watch a bit late
21 7:03.3 2:25:10 166
22 6:39.5 2:31:50 167
23 6:37.3 2:38:27 172
24 missed mile 24
25 13:14 2:51:41 177 6:37 avg for 24 & 25
26.2 8:04.5 2:59:46 186 6:36 pace ???
i liked the pretty even splits from mile 4 through 13 and again in the last 5 miles.
official time 3:02:46. championchip time 2:59:47

caveats: i don't really trust the averaging function on my heart rate monitor. but the general trend is accurate. 186 is supposedly my max heart rate. i doubt very much that i could hold that for 8 minutes.

to all the deads, thank you for helping me along and thank you for being who you are.

ORN: 30 minute very slow jog around faneuil hall area before driving back to ottawa.

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