Boston Strong

Hardly a 'Race' report, but considering I only ran 19 miles total in the preceding 66 days, I am happy with my 4 hour marathon.  With 5 miles to go I figured I could easily cruise in just under 4, but 3:59 means no more to me than 4:01, so I chose to just enjoy every moment and finish whenever I finished ... but I did speed up turning onto Hereford & boylston to look good for the pictures!  :)

It was a great weekend and I stayed with a friend who lives in Hopkinton.  Saturday afternoon I drove the course & picked up Preston and his family at the airport & we met David out for dinner.  Met up with Preston again at Easter Service for the 'blessing of the runners' and also briefly met Hillbilly Runner & Tom Slick.  It was a great service and the scarves they gave out to runners were awesome!

Sunday was also my birthday, met some other friends and just hung out downtown & went to the expo to get some last minute things.  Also dropped my bag at a friends at the Westin Copely, so after the race I could shower & head for my 6:25 flight.

Onto the race ... staying in Hopkinton is a plus ... went to local bus and arrived in village about 40 minutes before corral calling.  Preston & I met up in the corral which was a good thing. as we failed to connect in the village as planned.  While it was chilly first thing in the morning, it was heating up fast and I knew things would be challenging for me as the day progressed ... of course that was going to be the case if it was 45 degrees, so just a contributing factor.

We ran the first 5+ miles together somewhere around 7:40 pace, at which time I wished Preston a good race ... it was time for me to walk to take a GU, Endurolyte, and start to conserve some energy.  The next 5 I kept a pretty good pace, but took a couple walk breaks, not because I had to, but because I knew they would pay dividends later in the race.  By this time, I had fully decided I was going to enjoy the day to the finish, and my finish time did not matter.

Miles 10-15, the walk breaks became more frequent, I hit the half in 1:49:10 ... not that it mattered.  From this point on it was just run when I wanted, walk when I wanted, high five people when I wanted, and engage the crowd ... they were awesome!

Of course I was happy to finish, and even happier that I had a pain free walk to get my medal, go get a shower, and make my way to the airport.  At no point in the day was I really uncomfortable, and I can't say that has ever been the case in a marathon before, so I really am glad I had the wisdom to switch to enjoy mode at Mile 5, as I am sure running 10 minutes faster would have taken a whole lot more out of me!  Miraculously, I even felt fine getting off the plane ... but next day soreness did set in on Tuesaday.

All is good, I feel blessed to have had the opportunity to participate in this historic event ... Now time to start training so I can get my qualifier in early September & return again to race Boston!  Next year, race day is on my birthday, and I plan on being there ... I just have to take 40 minutes off my time in the next 5 months!  :)  I believe a Boston PR is in the cards next year, the challenge will be qualifying for the first wave, as I believe starting 25 minutes earlier is a huge benefit, particularly for someone who does not like to run in warm conditions.