April 20th, 2009
113th Boston Marathon
2:44:24 (PR), 6:16 pace, 266 place overall, 9th from Illinois
It was slower than I should've, could've, and wanted to go.
But, I have to be pretty happy with the outcome:
- I finished the race.
- I had fun.
- I didn't have any major physical difficulties or blow-ups.
- In addition to the Newton hills, I had nasty 15-25mph head winds for THE ENTIRE race. It was steady, and it got worse as the race progressed.
- A conservative race ultimately left me finishing very strong and disgustingly fresh. I've never before experienced that in a marathon...?
- I snatched a shiny new PR: 2:44:24.
The days and 2 weeks leading into the marathon, my activity was much less than ideal... I put in 27 miles in the previous 7 days; I didn't have any speed work for basically 2 1/2 weeks; my diet was garbage... plus I felt like I was consistently sore. My hip felt like a mess. I was about 138lbs going into the weekend.
Needless to say, I was a complete nervous wreck leading into and throughout the whole marathon weekend. Concern for the weather didn't help. I had no idea how many miles my hip was going to give me, or how fast it was going to let me roll, or if it was going to completely blow up like it did in the most recent tempo run. I was going to war, and I had the very valid concern that I would do some serious damage to myself. I just didn't know where or when that potential blow up might happen. The hills AND the wind combined worked doubly against me. That said, I performed a minor miracle as I had no major pains of any kind during the race.
1st Half: 1:21:37 (6:13 avg)
Paced a good part of the first half with Jason and Dan (through about 10 miles). This helped me morally and was tactful with the early wind.
We took the first couple miles ridiculously slow due to the downward slope. It was a good strategy, as it helped me to loosen up and get ready to roll. I found it amusing that we easily had 1000 runners in front of us after the first mile. I passed most of them over the next 15 miles, and all but 265 of them were passed before reaching the end. I can probably count on 1 had the number of times I was passed after the first couple miles.
2nd Half: 1:22:53 (6:19 avg)
I was running alone for most of the second half. Before the hills (16ish), I had a stead stream of runners to pass. Occasionally, a few guys would try to keep up with me, but eventually I would drop them.
Once I got to the Newton Hills, it became fewer and far between. I had nobody to work with, and nobody to draft from. I basically was left playing a game of leap frog... jumping from one pack to the next. Cutting each of them up as I went along. When I would pull away, some of the runners would draft off my back, sucking on my energy... only to be dropped a few minutes later. Eventually there were no more packs. I then had to reel 1 runner in at a time.
To boot: The wind was steadily picking up through the hills, and significantly on the back side as I got closer to the finish/downtown/ocean. Rarely would it let up.
In spite of a much more difficult environment in the second half, I only lost about 6 seconds per mile, or 1min 22sec from my first split. Most, if not all of that loss was in the hills and being conservative on the down slope from 21-23. Some of my better miles were the last couple miles. I was defintely fatigued, but I was still able to hammer away and keep my pace. This was by far the strongest I've ever felt at the end of a marathon.
It wasn't perfect race, but all things considered for the day, it was about as good as I could've asked for.
I still question how I might have ran with a little more help in the second half of the race. I often found my mind wondering and losing focus in the hills. I was rarely, if ever being challenged by other runners. If I had some pacing, I feel like I could've run a more clean and possibly a negative split.
After I crossed the finish line, I felt disgustingly fresh. I had no major pains in my body whatsoever. I looked around and thought, "That wasn't so bad. What was I so worried about?" I even did a small cool down a few minutes later (about a 1/2 mile + some karaokes).
Who does that?? I just ran a 2:44, and then bothered to do a cool down?!
So bottom line: I may not have had fair shake with the weather and a bum hip, but I still had a very solid Boston Marathon. 266 out of 23,000+. 9th out of Illinois. If I would've used Buffalo on my registration, I would've been 1st.
Mile Splits
1 - 6:42.1
2 - 6:09.8
3 - 6:08.4
4 - 6:07.3
5 - 6:16.7
6 - 6:06.3
7 - 6:09.1
8 - 6:17.3
9 - 6:14.0
10 - 6:15.1
11 - 6:12.1
12 - 6:06.3
13 - 6:10.2
13.1 - 1:21:31
14 - 6:12.1
15 - 6:18.1
16 - 6:07.1
17 - 6:26.4
18 - 6:26.6
19 - 6:17.4
20 - 6:22.7
21 - 6:33.7
22 - 6:16.3
23 - 6:25.2
24 - 6:12.4
25 - 6:18.7
26.2 - 7:32.9 (6:14ish)
Total - 2:44:24
