Me and 26,999 other people ran Boston today. The race was massive...massive amount of buses, massive amounts of runners, massive amount of spectators. Everything took longer--like waiting for the bus, getting to Hopkinton, using the port potties, etc... Before moving into the corral to start the race, we probably walked a total of 4 or 5 miles, but I was ready to run when the gun went off.
The first 20 miles of the race are incredible. People everywhere. Below are my mile splits: Mile 1--6:48 Mile 2--6:30 Mile 3--6:32 Mile 4--6:20 Mile 5--6:39 Mile 6--6:31 Mile 7--6:32 Mile 8--6:39 Mile 9--6:34 Mile 10--6:42 Mile 11--6:39 Mile 12--6:33 Mile 13--6:41 Half Time--1:27:02 I was hoping to come in around 1:29...way too fast! Mile 14--6:37 Mile 15--6:52 Mile 16--6:37 Then the hills of Newton! Mile 17--7:01 Mile 18--7:07 Mile 19--7:11 Mile 20--7:27 I was cooked after Heartbreak Hill! Mile 21--8:36 Mile 22--8:19 Mile 23--8:21 Mile 24--8:00 Mile 25--8:18 Mile 26--8:03 The race was 26.5 on my GPS . It was impossible to cut the corners with all the runners. Total time of 3:07:45. I had a pretty good race going until Heartbreak Hill. I had some serious cramping after that hill all the way to the finish line (I had to stretch or change my pace almost every 1/2 mile). This is definelty a course you can improve on once you run it once and know the difficulties of the 2nd half. The crowds were incredible, the volunteers was great and the weather was nice. Everyone should try to run this marathon once.
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