The 18-week training program for this marathon began on December 13th. I
followed the training plan as outlined in the book "Advanced Marathoning" by
Pete Pfitzinger and Scott Douglas. I followed the same plan for my last
marathon, in which I set a PR of 3:29 and qualified for the Boston Marathon
last October. Training was going very well until tendonitis stopped me on
March 20th, with 4 weeks to go until the marathon. It was going so well that
I was shooting for a 3:20 marathon. I tried running 3 days later, but the
pain soon returned. I then took an entire week off before I ran again.
Again, the pain soon came back. Next was a doctor visit. He prescribed
prednisone and 800 mg tablets of Ibuprofen. He said I could start back
running after the pain went away but I should put the marathon off for now.
I don't think he realized that the Boston Athletic Association was not going
to reschedule the marathon because of my injury.
Here is the weekly mileage:
43, 47, 51, 53, 57, 47, 60, 61, 57, 51, 55, 61, 61, 50, 5, 7, 0, 17
Here are the weekly long runs:
13, 16, 16, 17, 19, 14, 19, 21, 15, 15, 14, 20, 17, 19, 0, 0, 0, 7
With no running to speak of and still feeling pain with 2 weeks to go, I
mentally prepared to not run. Additionally, I had put on about 10 pounds
after taking the prednisone and not exercising. We had already purchased
tickets and hotel reservations, so my wife and I were going to just make it
a non-running Boston trip. Neither one of us had been to Boston, so that
might be fun. At least I was going to make every effort to pretend I was
having fun. Having spent so much time training to qualify for Boston, as
well as training for Boston itself, I had a feeling that I might not be
having too much fun unless I actually run the marathon.
I started walking on the 10th and was able to walk for a few days without
pain. I started running again on the 12th with no pain. At that point I'm
thinking of at least starting the marathon and my wife could pick me up
wherever I ended up. Actually finishing the marathon was not a possibility.
Since I was able to run a pain-free 7 miles on the Saturday before the race
(including some long downhills), I figured I could at least run the first 10
miles, with a goal of making it to the half way point or Wellesley College.
I didn't want to be one of the 2,000 runners that registered but never made
it to the starting line.
Since my wife and I didn't want to get up too early to take me to the buses,
she drove me to Hopkinton. She dropped me off with a 1.5 mile walk to the
start. I saw about 50 busses pass me, I realized I should have taken the
shuttle from the Park. I got to the starting area and sat down by the
porta-potties. Unfortunately, I waited too long before dropping off my bag,
so I had to run, walk, and fight the crowds to get to the buses that were at
the back of the corral area to find my bus. Then I had to run, walk, and
fight the crowds to get to my corral. I finally found a spot at the back of
corral 9 with 5 minutes to spare. If I run Boston next year, I'll have these
details worked out. After a while I heard someone say they heard a gun go
off. 8 minutes later I crossed the starting line. The first 4 miles is a
fairly steep downhill. I thought that if I could run downhill on asphalt
with no pain, then I might be OK to make it to Wellesley. I started off at a
pretty slow pace, especially considering the downhill. A lot of people were
passing me. I was OK with that. I was just thinking of taking it easy and
trying to avoid any pain. I was running at about my long run pace, which is
about a minute per mile slower than my marathon pace. I was just enjoying
the spectacle of Boston. The cheering and yelling never let up during the
entire run. I caught the 3 mile split. I was averaging 8:20/mi at that
point. I was taking 2 cups of Gatorade at every aid station. Since most cups
were about half full, my guess is that this was about 12 oz of Gatorade.
Starting around mile 10, since it was starting to get warm, I removed my hat
and poured a cup of water on my head. The hat I was wearing is supposed to
react with the water for extra cooling power. It seemed to work.
I don't remember much else until I got to Wellesley, just a lot of yelling
from the crowds. Many people trying to get me to take orange slices or
water. I finally made it to Wellesley. I don't know how those girls can
scream so loud, for so long. I noticed that most of the male runners were
running on the right side of the road. One girl had a sign that said "I need
a hug." A guy in front of me satisfied her need with a sweaty hug.
As I passed the half way split a 1:49, I was feeling surprisingly good. I
started to text message my wife and saw there was already a message from
her. "where r u? i'm @ wellesley." I replied with, "past wellesley still
running." By the way, this is not easy to do while running. My next goal
would be to make it to 18 miles. However, I started thinking that while I'm
here, it sure would be nice to finish and get a medal. Even though I'm still
qualified to be able to run it next year, who knows what could happen with
my running between now and then? What's another 13 miles? I've run lots of
13-milers. If I don't have any tendon pain at 18, I should be able to
finish.
At the 18-mile mark I'm feeling relatively good. In all the marathons I've
run, starting at around 18 miles is where runners start to walk, shuffle,
and stretch. But I'm still feeling like I can continue on. I found someone
handing out ice cubes. I put one under my hat. That felt really good.
I don't know how all training can stop with a month to go and still have
some of that long run fitness within me. But it was still there. Part of
that was because I was taking it slow for most of the race. I expected my
tendonitis to start affecting me, especially with all the downhill running.
If you've run Boston, you know that between 16 and 21 miles are most the
famous hills, such as Heartbreak Hill. Although the hills are famous, most
Boston runners will tell you that it's the downhills that will really take
their toll on you. I was running the uphills very slowly, and just breezing
down the downhills, trying to stay light on me feet. I really was not taking
splits at that time. I just wanted to finish. Just staying comfortable was
the best way.
Between 18 and 25 miles I was pretty much in a zone. It was like a dream. As
I watched the crowds of spectators going by, it was as if they were the ones
moving and I was the spectator. I do remember running alongside of a guy
dressed as a fairy, including pink tutu, pink shoes, and a magic wands. It
was interesting to see the reaction of the crowd.
Heartbreak hill barely got my attention until I was about halfway up. In
fact I didn't realize it was Heartbreak hill until someone said that this
was the last big hill and that it was mostly downhill until the finish. At
the top of Heartbreak (21 miles) my legs were feeling dead but I wasn't
bonking. I was just thinking about all that had happened in the past year
and that I should be happy that I made it this far. I also realized now that
I was going to finish! It won't be my best finishing time, but it won't be
my worst either.
As we made that final left turn on to Boylston St., I started to wake up and
realized that this was the final stretch. I had no ambition to sprint to the
finish. I just took my hat off for the photo and joined the party.
http://tinyurl.com/akwv3
My results
Overall: 7,279 of 18,319
Gender: 5,710 of 11,342
Age Group 40-49: 2,346 of 4,183
Here are my timing chip checkpoints
5k 25:54
10k 52:01
15k 1:17:49
20k 1:43:40
Half 1:49:10
25k 2:09:55
30k 2:37:51
35k 3:06:22
40k 3:33:55
Finish 3:46:40
--
Phil M.