Boston Marathon 2022 race report
Race went well! 10 minute PR from my first marathon. Was looking to run anywhere between 2:30-2:35, so I'm pleased to get in the lower end of that range.
Weather was pretty good for racing. Mid 40s, clear, low humidity, and light crosswind for most of it (though a little bit of headwind towards the end).
Woke up at 5:30 and had breakfast. Headed down to the buses by 6:30, but it wasn't until 7:00 when we left. Arrived at around 8:00, so had some time to kill before heading over to the corrals at 9:15. Got to see the elites take off, so that was pretty cool. Race finally starts at 10:00 and I get going. I totally had no idea about the hills of this course. I mean, I knew the first half was downhill, but these first few miles were much steeper than I expected, and it led me to going out a bit too quick. I was planning on sticking to 5:50s for the first 10 and thought I wouldn't have to hold back too much to run that pace, wow was I wrong. First mile was 5:39, so I tried to not speed up anymore... Second mile was 5:32, yikes. At this point I thought for sure I ruined my race by going out too fast. Decided to make sure the first half was at a pace that felt easy and natural. Kept it in the 5:35-5:45 range until around mile 16. Crossed the halfway point in 1:14:07, and thought "wow, I might have a chance at breaking 2:30!?" I knew I would most likely slow on the hills later on, but going through halfway on pace feeling relatively good showed was a confidence booster that I might be able to do it. At mile 16 where the big dip is, quads started feeling a little beat, which I assume is from all the pounding from starting too fast on the downhills. Entering the Newton hills, I'm now starting to feel the race. Fortunately my quads weren't too far gone yet that I was able to get some speed back on the downhills, so the pace didn't slow too badly for these miles. Heartbreak hill at mile 21 just plain sucked, this mile was a 6:20, and here my mindset started shifting into survival mode. I remeber thinking "I could just run a 40 minute this last 10K and still make it under 2:35." Was able to maintain a respectable pace from 22 to the finish, but I was definitely tanking by now. Quads were destroyed so I couldn't use any downhills to my advantage anymore. There aren't anymore big uphills anymore, but any incline at this point felt like it would about kill me. Here I got into the bad habit of watch checking counting down the distance waiting for it to be over. Finally got to the homestretch and just kept moving along. Immediately after finishing, both quads completely cramped up, so it was a long, slow hobble to the family meeting area and back to the hotel. Quads continued cramping for the next 1-2 hours.
Well, it was quite a race. The only thing I think I would've done differently is maybe gone out a little slower for the first half, but I guess I just underestimated the downhills. I knew from the start of this training cycle that sub 2:30 was a lofty goal, especially for this course, so really can't complain about the result having come quite close to that goal. The PR is cool too, definitely shows I have good potential for marathons in the future.
Splits:
- 5:39
- 5:32
- 5:41
- 5:37
- 5:44
- 5:38
- 5:39
- 5:39
- 5:35
- 5:35
- 5:40
- 5:35
- 5:36
- 5:36
- 5:41
- 5:31
- 5:52
- 5:55
- 5:44
- 5:54
- 6:20 (Heartbreak)
- 5:49
- 5:55
- 5:57
- 6:05
- 6:17 and 2:13 for last 0.38
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