Brief: 3:34:25, 7207 overall (I beat my number), 7th Oregonian in Seniors AG
(50-59)
Way Longer:
Back in January I was hoping to be able to break 3:30 at Boston this year (I
have never done that -- the weather stopped me the last two years when I was
in better shape) and had some nice short races that gave me confidence. But
then get my dreaded cold (or whatever) in February and it cost me a good 3-4
weeks of training. Plus I've been having some weird pains in my left leg
that seem to come and go with no apparent reason. So my confidence was not
high for my 6th running of Boston (marathon #48 overall). On the plus side,
the weather forecast was looking great (it turned out to be great weather)
and Yakima went pretty well a couple of weeks ago. I decided if the weather
cooperated, I'd go for 3:30 and see what happened.
This year I was without my normal teammates for our competition (Mika and
Lorne) against the Main Maniacs but found great substitutes in Clay and
David. It was also pretty exciting since we had a large contingent of
Portland folks (many of whom I train with on Saturday mornings) at Boston
with most of them there for their first experience. I arrived (after a
hellish Friday afternoon of cancelled/delayed flights -- I spent 6 hours in
PDX) on Saturday morning and was off to the expo. I did my volunteer stint
(this is the last year I'm doing it -- hold me to it next year), got my
stuff, spent some dollars, and then went off for a great Thai dinner at a
restaurant picked out by Sara.
On Sunday morning, Clay, Charlie, David and I ran about a 4 mile loop over a
couple of bridges to get the cobwebs out. About 3/4 of the way through the
run, my left leg really started to hurt and I got very concerned about the
race on Monday. But there wasn't much I could do about it anymore. After
the run, I was off to the fantastic Bagel Brunch at Julia and Joe's place,
and then took it easy though I did walk over to the Public Gardens to
commune with the Swan Boats and the ducklings, which were decked out in
their best Easter bonnets (very cute). The Portland contingent met up for
dinner later that night and then it was off to get ready for Monday.
Monday dawned with great weather so I was going to try for 3:30, if my leg
would allow it. The leg felt fine when I woke up and I had no pains on the
walk to the bus. We met up with a few other folks at the Tremont/Boylston
Starbucks, grabbed some coffee and got on the bus. At the Athletes Village,
I saw a bunch of Maniacs, engaged in our usual trash talking, put on some
more sunscreen (I really missed you Lorne -- I missed a few spots), and
headed off to the corrals. It was still a bit chilly so I kept on a
throwaway sweatshirt (discarded at the start) and some gloves (discarded
around the 10K mark). As I was waiting in the corrals, I got to see many
more Maniac buddies as well as tp! hightailing it to corral #1 about a
minute before the race (he barely made it -- talk about being laid back at
the start).
The gun went off and we stood around for a few minutes then finally started
to inch our way forward. It took 4 1/2 minutes to cross the starting line
but we were running pretty freely at that time. I tried to settle myself
into a nice 7:50-8:00 pace since I knew that to break 3:30 at Boston I would
have to arrive at the 1/2 way mark in around 1:43 or so. I got into a great
groove and the miles just clicked off steadily. Unfortunately, I felt it
was a lot of work to keep up the pace which didn't bode well for the hills
and the rest of the race. Here are my splits from my first 15 miles:
8:01, 7:43, 7:59, 7:41, 7:58, 7:50, 7:54, 7:58, 7:55, 7:56, 8:02, 7:52,
8:03, 8:03, 8:11
As you can see, after the first 13 miles or so, I started to slow a bit and
I knew by mile 15 that I wasn't breaking 3:30 even though I was still on
pace. The hills were about to start and I just didn't want to totally bonk.
I didn't bonk but couldn't keep up the pace either. I was hoping that maybe
the hills wouldn't destroy me and I could make up sometime after cresting
Heartbreak but that wasn't the case. However, once I gave up 3:30, my next
goal was to get a BQ for next year. I already have one but it is nice to
qualify for Boston at Boston. My final splits were:
7:53, 8:30, 8:33, 8:25, 8:38, 9:08, 8:18, 8:35, 8:28, 8:38, 8:25, 1:44
Not a bonk but not what I would have liked. I did get the BQ (it is
actually a little faster than my previous BQ that I ran at Carlsbad in
January) but I am hoping that I will get a much lower one at Newport in
June. I'd like to stay in the first wave. This was my second fastest
Boston (I ran about 3 minutes faster last year) but given the great weather
conditions I was hoping for a faster time. I guess those training miles are
important after all.
Now it is time to recover, run the Oklahoma City Marathon (total training
run -- 3:45ish) in a week and a half, and then get ready for Newport. I
don't think I will be attempting a PR at Newport (3:18:41) this year since I
don't think I will be able to get into the shape that I need. But I will
shoot for a sub-3:25 or better. The week after Oklahoma City I'll be
running a key 10.4 mile race that is a very good indicator of my Newport
time. Plus I hope to throw in a 10K a couple of weeks before Newport. I
haven't done any speed work this year so I'll be making a weekly trip to the
track. Of course, this all depends upon my left leg cooperating.
Whew, that was long, even for me. There's lots more to say, both about the
race and the extra activities, but I think that will do for now.
marc