Very scary, everyone that I know is safe. Pray for those affected.
My garmin had the course at 26.4 so my garmin splits will be a bit quicker than the course would have said. Splits: 5:55, 5:46, 5:44, 5:46, 5:53, 5:47, 5:51, 5:50, 5:52, 5:49, 5:48, 5:43, 5:46, 5:42, 5:45, 5:36, 5:55, 5:48, 5:46, 5:49, 6:20, 5:49, 6:04, 6:12, 6:20, 6:34, 2:34 (.4). This race is still kind of a blur and it's taken me a week to really want to write anything about it. The start was crazy, I haven't been in a field this competitive ever. Only college cross country races have felt similar. The crowds were amazing, Wellesley was unreal. My brother and his friends were at the last turn. The first half I just tried to keep a constant effort and not go to crazy because I knew people would come flying back to me the second half. Once I got to Wellesley I flexed and slapped hands until my arm got tired, I started speeding up at this point for obvious reasons and just felt great, like I haven't just run a half marathon in 1:16:30 which was exactly on pace. So I started moving, I flew up the first three newton hills, but my quad issues were intruding even as I passed people like they were standing still. Even on Heartbreak my legs still felt ok and the pace wasn't too off. But the last five miles where I wanted to fly were just some of the most painful running I have ever done. Every stride was painful and I really wanted to stop, but in the end it would have just hurt the same but for a longer period. I was dousing my legs in water every aid station, and started Gatorade a mile 23 (should have switched earlier). Both those things seemed to help a little, but it was just a grind it out phase then. Even sort of blowing up I and feeling like I was standing still I was keeping it pretty well together, caught a few guys and got caught myself. My legs are still roughed up, owing mostly I think to different muscles getting recruited the last few miles that aren't used to doing what I was asking them to do. I was on pace for my goal, and if my legs hadn't gone I would have been able to probably gain a minute or two and end up somewhere around 2:31:xx and get into the top 100. But live and learn, I got a few good pointers from my college coach the next day about some strength training and good ideas for a few workouts to try to simulate a marathon load as closely as possible. After the race I saw Scott, and found out I was catching up to him. Once Brandon finished and I said congrats to both of them I made the stumble back to my brother's place about 1/4 mile from the finish line. After helping my up the stairs and replenishing myself, we were about ready to head out when we heard the two bangs. About 10 minutes later we found out what happened on Twitter and we hunkered down there for the rest of the day and a lot of his friends checked in back at his place before heading back home. I was diligent about answering all my texts to make sure people didn't worry about me, and I was very relieved to know everyone I knew was safe.
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