I'm going to try to keep this short.
You've all heard about the heat, so I won't go into that. Before
coming to Boston, my goal was to run 3:30. But, that went out the
window on Marathon morning. Instead, I thought something around
3:40-3:45 would make a lot more sense. However, when I started to
sweat walking to my corral, I was beginning to doubt that time. Dave,
Lorne, and I didn't go to our corrals immediately but instead stood in
the shade on the corner, dreading the hot sun. Finally, we were off
to our corrals. As I was waiting I saw the Maniacs go by and I found
Dennis Halpin in our corral -- that would be last time I saw Dennis
until we were picking up our stuff at the bus.
I never heard the official start but people starting moving and we
were across the start line in 5:40 (I was in corral #8). I tried to
start out slowly but the first mile went by in 8:07 and I was dripping
and sopping wet from sweat. That was too fast so I put the brakes on
slowly. For the first 5 miles each mile was slower than the previous
one. Mile 5 was particularly slow since I was talking to a guy from
the Portland area (about daughters and college -- mine is in her first
year and his is a senior in HS. No running talk during the race :-).
The splits for the first 5 miles were:
8:07, 8:12, 8:16, 8:21, 8:49.
I decided that 8:49 was too slow so I got into a nice rhythm over the
next 5 miles. I was taking aid at every station (they are every
mile). I was alternating between one cup of Gatorade and one cup of
water at one aid station and two cups of water at the next station.
At the stations where I only took water, I didn't drink both cups but
dumped a lot of it on my head. This second section went by fairly
fast and I was still feeling pretty good.
8:16, 8:18, 8:33, 8:33, 8:14
The next section includes Wellesley, which, of course, is my favorite
area (that and the finish on Boylston). I was running fairly easily
and still keeping up a consistent pace. I was feeling the heat but
not to the extent that I was having a lot of problems.
8:32, 8:23, 8:35, 8:26, 8:25
Now, I was beginning to psych myself for the hills. When we finally
made the turn at Newton, I never saw as many people walking up the
first hill before. I put it in low gear and just kept going forward.
I saw a couple of people wavering from side to side in their running.
It was pretty brutal.
8:11, 8:49, 8:53, 8:34, 9:03
OK, Heartbreak to go and then it is downhill from there. My legs were
definitely hurting by then and the heat was sapping my energy. A
couple of times I felt myself getting too hot so I walked those aid
stations and dumped extra water. That seemed to help and I got back
into a nice pace going by BC and towards the Citgo sign. It was
during this stretch when I saw a fellow Maniac, Tony P, at around mile
22 or so. He was having a hard time (he has just come off of a stress
fracture) but was toughing it out and in good cheer as always. We ran
together for a bit and then he said he was OK but needed to walk.
9:26, 8:37, 8:26, 8:44, 8:42
Finally, we were at the Citgo sign and I tried my best to pick up the
pace. Not much there but I did my best. I love running the stretch
on Boylston and soaking up the crowd.
8:19, 1:42
Final time of 3:43:38 (chip time), which breaks my string of running
each marathon this year faster than the previous one. But, given the
conditions, I was pretty pleased with my results. I ran the first
half in a little over 1:50 and the second in around 1:53. No negative
splits this time.
After crossing the finish, this was one time I was very happy for the
long walk to get water, the medal, drop off the chip, food, and pick
up my clothes. I got my drop bag very quickly and then noticed a
young woman between a couple of busses throwing up and not looking
very well. I got her to sit down on the steps of a bus and asked
every volunteer that I saw to get a wheelchair. After a long wait, a
chair finally arrived and she was taken away. She kept on saying she
was feeling a little better while we were waiting but she wasn't
totally coherent so I stayed with her and made sure she waited for the
wheelchair. As we were waiting, Dennis H showed up to get his bag,
which they couldn't find. It probably took at least 15 minutes of
looking before he got his. He didn't look too great so I hung around
with him and finally got his bag. We walked together to the meeting
area, where he began to look and feel a little better. He said he was
OK and went off looking for Gaye. He was coherent (or as much as
Dennis ever is after a race :-) so I said my goodbyes to him.
While the heat was horrendous, I still had a great time at the race.
I enjoyed the Dead dinner on Saturday night (thanks again Robin),
visiting with old friends. On Sunday and Monday nights, the NoWDead
contingent got together for dinner (on Sunday, Dennis, Gaye, MarkO and
some guests joined us) and celebration (on Monday). We all survived,
though all ran slower than we would have liked. And, of course, the
team of Mika, Lorne, and myself beat the main Maniacs in the head to
head competition so we enjoyed some beer on them. It should be
mentioned that we definitely took advantage of Tony P's injury,
Chris's recovery from injury (though he ran the fastest time of all of
us), and this being Steve's 4th marathon in 3 weeks. Plus, they are
off to Nashville to run that marathon on Saturday. But, heck, we
didn't want to show them any pity.
I took the train the next morning to Providence and flew out of there.
I loved the train ride to Providence (I'm a train person) and might do
that again next time. The wait in Providence for a bus to the airport
was a bit of a drag but I think they are building a train station
close or at the airport. Hopefully, it will be done before I'm back
to Boston.
So, my 30th marathon and 4th Boston is in the books. Next is Ft
Collins in 3 weeks and then Newport 4 weeks after that. I will
probably also run the Haag Lake 10.4 mile race the weekend before Ft
Collins as a fast tuneup and to gauge my fitness. I've run this run
many times and it seems to be a good gauge for my marathon times in
the upcoming months.
And, about keeping this report short, I lied.
marc, back in rainy Portland