I was not going to write a proper race report, but others' have been so
inspiring, and I can't resist. As usual, I loved the whole experience,
despite a disappointing race (also as usual). This time, it was about
useful lessons of biblical proportions: pride goeth before the fall
(and NOT "the Mika shall inherit the earth").
Why this religious talk out of an unrepentant atheist like me? Well, I
had had a discussion about the seven deadly sins with my roomies Dave
and Marc in the hotel room. Dave had insisted on trying to live up to
all of them (what does his pastor say of this?), but I do think I had
been the one committing the sin of pride: before the race, I had made
public noises about never wanting to see the slower side of a
three-hour marathon, and about how it was uncool not to take Boston as
a serious race.
Well, when the weather forecast had Monday as the only scorcher between
significantly cooler Sunday and Tuesday, I shoulda started recollectin'
the Book of Job. And sure enough, this time the forecast was right, and
a sharp nose might even have detected some sulphur in the heat as one
wandered to the starting line in Hopkinton.
Mind you, I did revise my already conservative plan of 2:55 to going
out at a training pace and seeing what would happen. I also decided
that today I might just try forgetting about the race aspect. But as is
well known, vengeful divinities have little patience with opportunistic
last-minute repenters.
At first, it was more or less wine and roses: I went out easy. It took
me about 20 seconds to cross the starting line, and I would estimate
that about five thousand people went by me during the first two miles.
Mile one was my fastest of the race, as expected: 6:48. I reined things
in a bit and settled on a roughly seven-minute pace. I passed
absolutely no one during the first four miles; I was passed by
thousands. I chatted with a few people about their plans, and it seemed
foolish to me that they were sticking to their good-weather plans.
"You're in for it, too, buddy" I thought to myself. And sure enough,
after mile four, one would start seeing some people stopping to walk.
At some point after 10 miles, I think, I caught up with one of the
Triplets of Maniacville, Chris. He had gone out a bit faster than he
had wanted, and now wanted to hold back a bit. I stuck with him, which
was both smart and nice. It made the hot miles go faster. We drew
strength from the crowds, particularly around Wellesley, where sound
energy seems to turn into kinetic energy, and accepted chilled water
and ice from kids along the course.
(One discovered quickly that the official water stations, which I of
course also used, had lukewarm water and Gatorade, unlike the crowds,
who used coolers. And when you took stuff from kids, you were pretty
sure it was not suspicious. Unlike, say, the undergrad around BC
offering "orange juice" from a shot glass. I passed.)
I am satisfied that I did no walking on the Newton hills, although I
did have to get rid of eric in a portapotty around the Newton
firehouse. (The first time ever in a 'thon -- my stomach wasn't
enjoying this life on the seventh layer of Hell.) Whatever satisfaction
running up the hills brought, I was a goner, and had to resort to
walking around 23 miles. I let Chris, whom I had caught after my pit
stop, go ahead.
Although I had slowed down miserably -- even my running miles were in
the 8 mpm range -- so had most others. On Commonwealth, a few people I
hadn't seen before went by looking very good. I once ran a smart race
like that, too, but today wasn't the time for it. I did my last walking
around mile 24 and then ran it in. There were varieties of shuffle: I
passed some, some passed me. Even on Boylston, a hundred meters from
the finish, one guy went down and said to the people who came to help
that he'd drop out.
My net finish time was 3:16:17, which is the first time I ran a 'thon
and didn't even get a BQ. (Fortunately I've got one in the bag for next
year.)
So: lesson learned. I'll be more humble about things. As an experience,
it still was a wonderful one, especially running with Chris, and once
one adds all the fun extra stuff -- the Dead and NowDead dinners
(thanks, Robin and Marc), seeing Joe & Julia's wedding on the telly,
and other such things, I'm happy to say that, once again, I have
unfinished business with that course and will be back.
mika
in ann arbor