Better late than never. Here is my Boston 2011 race report:
I have been conditioned to temper my expectations about things that are hyped, advertised, and loudly lauded. I’m thinking of things like summer blockbuster movies, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade, Black Friday deals, Fireworks on the 4th of July, theme parks, most Marathon Expos and their related activities, and a myriad of other activities/experiences. While these have enriched my life they have fallen short of their hype and advertisements in one way or another. I fully expected that this would be the case with the Boston Marathon. I was wrong. The Boston Marathon experience exceeded my expectations. It stands up to the hype and blows it out of the water.
My wife and I decided to make the trip a vacation. This was both a wonderful and a fateful decision. Wonderful because we got to spend two sunny days at Newport, RI prior to spending time in Boston during marathon weekend. Fateful because I did not adjust my race plan to account for the fatigue on my feet from two days walking through Newport Mansions and one entire day at the Expo and downtown Boston. Needless to say by mile 22 my feet had had it and I posted a fairly slow 3:23 on race day. But more on that later. We probably should have planned on Newport for after the race but I figured that my wife deserved a good experience without having to drag a post-marathon-trauma disabled husband. I would not have made it to Boston without her patience and support. So the Newport trip was non-negotiable and very enjoyable.
The Expo on Saturday was also non-negotiable. This could be my only Boston and I was determined to experience as much of the Expo as possible. I picked up my bib number and bag of goodies and took the obligatory pictures. Absolutely love the shirt this year. Very nice. Wow, pretty much every retailer in the running world was there. I loved all the free food and the Runner’s Seminar series. I attended two of these. One was a course introduction by Dave McGillivray and the Course Director. These guys did an awesome job and I was able to get Dave’s autograph on my Boston book by Higdon. The next seminar was advice by the editors of Runner’s World who included Amby Burfoot, Bart Yasso, Mark Remy and others. At this session I got autographs from Amby Burfoot, who won the Boston Marathon in 1967, and from David Willey who is the Editor-in-Chief of Runner’s World Magazine. The seminars were awesome and everyone was very nice and personable. As far as the retailers go I purchased a hat from Adidas and shirts from New Balance. I already had bought the Official Adidas jacket from Running Warehouse. I was also able to play around with the new Garmin 610 GPS watch which will probably be my next watch. I would say New Balance had the best apparel at the expo. They had a good presence at the marathon throughout.
So that took most of that day then we went and had lunch/dinner at the Prudential center where I met Neil from Pennsylvania. Neil was about to run his 45th straight Boston Marathon. He holds the record for the most Bostons run consecutively. To put it in context, he ran the marathon in 1967 when Amby Burfoot won. He was the nicest guy and provided me with some good race wisdom. After that we went to the finish line and took 200+ pictures (it felt like my wedding). We then took the T back to Cambridge got our rental car and drove to Hopkinton where we took 200 more pictures. Finally we drove the course and went back to my brother-in-law’s in Cambridge.
Sunday we returned the rental and then took the T to Old South Church on Boylston where we attended the Blessing of the Runners service that the Church of Christ puts together. They did a really good job and it was a bonus that it was Palm Sunday so the sermons and ceremony were extra special. We then took the T and met up with Smooth, Rhett and other bloggers and attended our church in Cambridge (that’s 4 hours of church for me on that Sunday!).
Needless to say I was dog meat by the time I got back to my brother-in-law’s house on Sunday. Reason would tell any intelligent person that an adjustment in the race plan is warranted. However, since I am an idiot I decided to stick to my original plan. This plan called for a conservative first half and an aggressive second half resulting in a PR. I wrote the splits down on my arms with permanent marker and committed to the plan.
I meet Smooth and the rest of group at the Boston Common at 6:20am on race morning. It was freezing! The wind seemed to come from all directions. We quickly made our way to the line for the buses and literally fought our way to get into the bus. I sat with Rhett and had a good conversation all the way up to Hopkinton. This was nice and it made the ride up to Hopkinton feel shorter. I was very glad I listened to Scott and Smooth and brought an inflatable mattress with me to lie down. The wind kept whipping and it was sooo cold. Very glad I brought extra clothes and a blanket. I was very prepared for the Village and the time went by quickly. When time came to head to the corrals I headed out with Rhett and Lito (Bobcat). They made for good conversation as we dropped off our bags and started our long walk. Rhett was nice enough to give me an extra trash bag he brought with him which I used as a wind breaker. We made one last PP stop behind Coella’s Market and then headed out to the corrals. I definitely scored with my super thick $1 gloves I picked up at Wal-Mart in Newport. These kept me toasty warm all the way to the start. The organization of the race was incredible. There was never a doubt as to where I needed to be. They must have checked my bib number about four times before I made it into the corral. One disappointment was that I thought there was a flyover by fighter jets at the beginning of the race. I either missed it or they didn’t have one. In any case, the level of excitement from the runners and the crowd at the beginning was awesome.
The feeling of finally starting the race was so gratifying. This is what I had been working towards for about two years and I was finally a part of it. I started high fiving people right from the start. I probably high-fived kids (and Wellesley girls) for at least 50% of the race. The kids were so excited. There was a biker bar close to the start where the bikers were more excited or “happy” than anyone else. I was being passed a lot at the beginning since I decided to take it fairly easy at the beginning of the race. This turned out to be great since it kept my pace controlled and it allowed me to take it all in.
The first few miles were very easy since they were at a gentle downhill. I stuck to my plan like glue. Well, for the first 19 miles at least. Here is the play-by-play:
1- 7:31 (see description above)
2- 7:16 (Crazy running with these many people. Very different experience.)
3- 7:03
4- 7:09
5- 7:17 (I think it was here that I saw my reflection on some store windows. I saw myself running the Boston Marathon!)
6- 7:01
7- 7:07
8- 7:11 (All throughout here it was very pretty. I am feeling good. I cannot believe every foot of this race is lined with spectators. My hand is getting a workout from all the high-fives.)
9- 7:08
10- 7:18
11- 7:20
12- 7:11 (Wellesley. Scream Tunnel. Insane as advertised. Literally all of the girls lining the street were looking for kisses. Oh, if I was 20 years younger! Instead I gave them all high-fives.)
13- 7:17 (7:16 pace at the half, feeling good starting to have some pain on top of my feet)
14- 7:11 (Pain on top of my feet is pretty bad and moving to the bottom.)
15- 7:24 (My feet feel totally swollen and in pain. What the heck is going on?)
16- 7:08 (Here was the first long hill of the course, which was an overpass over Rte. 128, and I actually felt great going up it. The pain on my feet eased significantly.)
17- 7:43 (Looked for Jolynne after passing the Newton Hospital since this is where we were supposed to meet. However, she was nowhere to be found. Then, after the Power Bar aid station, the course turned left and I could see where we took a hard right towards the hills of Newton. It was then that I saw the three orange balloons that I told Jolynne to use to mark her position. She was at the left of the road with Kurt, Jen and the kids. I headed over and paused to give high-fives to everybody. As I was ready to leave I heard someone say “Hey!”. I looked up and it was my brother-in-law Conrad! He had not said anything about coming out and it caught me completely by surprise. I said “Wow!”, gave him a fist pump, turned, and headed for the hills.)
18- 7:46 (2nd hill, not too bad. Feeling good.)
19- 7:34 (Fairly flat here. My feet are hurting again.)
20- 8:03 (3rd hill, feet don’t hurt as much but slowed down the pace to make sure I have enough for Heartbreak)
21- 8:33 (Heartbreak! I took it easy up Heartbreak and it was good that I did. By this point the hills took their toll but I still felt pretty good. It was great to see the big inflatable sign at Boston College that read “Heartbreak is Over!!! That was very cool but as I headed down hill toward Brookline my feet were pulsating with pain like I have not felt before at any race. Here is where I paid the price for my four days of tourist walking prior to the race. Stupid! My body wanted to go but every step shot pain up my legs)
22- 8:41 (My pace really slowed down here. This was a death march.)
23- 9:04 (I started taking walk breaks at this point. Pain was fairly severe. I saw two people passed out, one with blood all over his face. I was definitely not the only one having issues.)
24- 9:22 (I continued taking walk breaks. Half the world is passing me now. I was disgusted with myself and made several efforts to push the pace and ignore the pain in my feet. I don’t remember where it was but I think it was around this mile that I caught my first glimpse of the CITGO sign in the distance. This is where I remembered: YOU’RE RUNNING BOSTON! This could be a once-in-a-lifetime experience and you’re missing it! It was at this point that I came to my senses and stopped trying to push the pace and decided to jog my way to the finish while taking it all in. I waved at people. Smiled and looked forward to Hereford and Boylston.)
25- 9:32 (It was awesome to see the fabled CITGO sign and Kenmore Square. The crowds were overwhelming. My feet started to feel a bit better.)
26- 8:47 (Later I calculated that the second half was 8:18 pace, over one minute more per mile more than the first half! At this point people were going nuts and this helped me to pick up the pace. The right turn at Hereford was awesome. I could really get a sense of the history of this race. This is what I had worked and suffered so much to achieve and it was within my grasp. Then left on Boylston. Wow! I felt like a rock star. The crowd was going crazy and I had a smile from ear to ear. I started pumping my fists and egging the crowd on.)
27- 7:47 (this was actually 0.47 miles on the Garmin) (I was able to muster up some energy for the last stretch although the Marathonfoto pictures show that I was in deep pain. I was all grimace outside but I felt completely elated. There it was! The most famous finish line in all of running. I finished it! I finished the Boston Marathon!!!)
Total Final Time = 3:23:52. My eighth marathon, my third best Marathon time, and the best race experience I have ever had.
After the finish I was congratulated by a volunteer who gave me a Gatorade and instructed me to keep walking. Here’s where the hurt came back with a vengeance. I started feeling my legs lock up somewhat and walking was difficult but I kept going. Another volunteer gave me a Gatorade Recovery Drink and a bag of food. Later we got our space blankets and tape for the blankets and finally we were given our medals. After that we were directed to the bus that had my bag and I waited for about 15 minutes in line to get my bag. This was much faster than expected and I was glad. I then moved to the family meeting area to find Jolynne and the rest of the gang.
It was cool to see Conrad there. He also greeted me with a great surprise. He pulled out a Salt Lake Marathon medal. It took me a while to realize that this big boy had actually just run the Salt Lake Marathon on Saturday. I yelled in astonishment and gave him a hug. Jolynne then took a picture of us holding our medals side by side. I think it’s amazing that he was still walking around after having completed that marathon only two days before. Conrad is a die hard. We then made our way to the subway where we had the nice surprise to find that they were giving free rides to the runners.
The way back to Kurt’s house was difficult but once we got there it was nice to kick up my feet and watch the re-runs of the race on TV. Amazingly this Boston Marathon saw the fastest marathon ever run by any human being and the fastest run by an American. Kenyan Geoffrey Mutai ran a 2:03:02, fastest marathon ever recorded. American Ryan Hall ran a 2:04:58, the fastest marathon ever run by an American. It is extremely cool that I ran the same race where these records were set. It is even cooler that it all happened in Boston! I will be back someday… | 