The Boston Marathon 2011: A Retrospective

(Mile times below from my GPS watch, not official)

This year's training went real well, I only missed a few runs and was pretty confident that I'd be able to put up a PR or close to it. My Boston PR was 3:39:01 and my overall PR was down in Disney world at 3:36:55. I was shooting for anything better than 3:36:55. I had a busy weekend with not much sleep. I went down to NY on Friday night after work, filmed a wedding all day Saturday and came back up to Boston on Sunday night. I ate a nice pre race meal of chicken, pasta, corn and broccoli and went to bed around 9PM on Sunday. I woke up Monday morning at 6:56, made a few PB&J's, got dressed and got in the car as Lauren drove me down to Hopkington to start the race. She dropped me off at the runner drop off and I took the bus over to the start. I got there around 9 so only had an hour to sit and wait which was nice. The hour flew by and I made my way to my corral. I had bought a number off of someone who was injured from craigslist, his qualifying time was 2:55 so I was in the 2nd corral of the first wave...way up there. The gun went off and I started run-ing.
1- 7:23
2- 7:16
3- 7:32

The first 5k FLEW by, I kept checking my watch thinking I was going too fast but figured I wasn't working too hard to run that pace so I might as well take it while I could get it so it'd balance off my time later when I slowed up a bit (I had no idea how much I'd end up slowing). There were some slight up and down hills but I plowed through them and handed out a lot of high fives to the onlookers who flooded the sides of the course. I even had a random Charbs sighting who I hadn't seen since college, he yelled Go Pat and I looked back and was shocked. The beat went on...

4- 7:30
5- 8:00
6- 7:53
7- 7:59
8- 8:09
9- 8:03

Cruising along, I hit my stride right around the 5th mile and remembered saying to myself, this is a real nice pace, I'm very very comfortable right now, I can keep this up for a while. Legs were feeling fresh, I saw Lauren in one spot and my dad and Barbara (his girlfriend) at another spot, I knew I'd get a Knapp, KOB and Nikki sighting in no time, that kept me going.

10- 8:14
11- 8:18
12- 8:21
13- 8:26

Still feeling good, the legs started to feel a tad tired (they were tired all Sunday and Monday when I woke up but the tired feeling went away as soon as I started running, it came back a tad here). I ate about 39 more orange slices that the little kids handed me, drank 4 more cups (more like sips) of Gatorade and water and kept going. At the 13 mile mark I hit Wellsely college, the wall of sound. Phil Spector might take credit for the wall of sound, but those Wellsley girls brought a whole new meaning to it. I paused my iPod for the first and only time during the race to hear the shrill screams that lasted a solid half mile, leaving my right ear soar, I could still here them a quarter mile past their post, just awesome. I went through the half at 1:44, thinking no way I'm not getting 3:35

14- 8:27
15- 8:43
16- 8:43

All along the race I heard people yelling GO QUAHOGS (since I was wearing a custom made Quahogs shirt) but this one was different, this came from THE KOB. I looked over to see Nikki and KOB screaming and Knapp clapping and smiling, I gave them the point and the pump it up move with my arms, they def got me going which carried me for another few miles. The legs were feeling a little heavy here, but some strawberry banana guuuuuuuuuuu at mile 16 gave me the plecebo effect second wind, I was all ready to bust out the last 10 and get my PR. Then came the hills....

17- 9:33
18- 9:44
19- 9:24
20- 9:32
21- 9:58
22- 9:11

This was my third Boston, so I know all about the hills, but I never remembered them being that bad, today they were AWFUL. Crawling up them at a pace which wasn't much more than a quick walk at some points I grinded out the seemingly never ending hills of Newton as I made my way into Brighton. I saw Lauren again at mile 20, Nikki, KOB and Knapp shortly after and THE GREG and Barbara shortly after that. At this point my legs were starting to burn, the calfs felt like they were getting the OJ treatment and the thighs were starting to bark, but some downhills in mile 22 gave me a glimmer of hope.

23- 10:05

As I get to BC I see a sign that says the Heartbreak is over! and it couldn't have come at a better time, every part of my legs from the bottom of my feet to my upper thighs were screaming, I had to do all I could to fight off walking, not that I was running much faster than I would have been walking, at this point I threw the idea of a PR out the window and said just finish under 4, please just finish under 4...

24- 11:22
25- 11:08
26- 10:46

PLEASE JUST FINISH, god I don't remember running every hurting this much, EVER, pain completely took over and my legs all together stopped working during mile 24, I was forced to stop and walk, I waited till i got to the water station and walked through the whole station, taking large strides to try and stretch out my legs. The last 3 miles of the Boston Marathon are one of my favorite things in the world. They're the reason I train all through the harsh winters, the reason I run at 4:45 in the morning before work, the reason I run the 23 miles leading up to it, there is nothing like the last 3 miles of the Boston Marathon. I won't even try to explain it other than saying you have to run it yourself to fully understand its sheer awesomeness. This is the thing that pissed my off the most about today's race, not the fact that I got my worst time ever (and by a good amount) or the fact that my legs were hurting so bad that I actually had to walk for the first time ever (training, marathons, 5k, 10k, I've NEVER walked during a run before), none of that disappointed me as much as the fact that I didn't even get to enjoy my favorite thing, the reason I ran, it plain 'ol sucked. Well after that walk I started running again, very slowly, it was more of a hobble. The whole race people were yelling Go Quahogs! and I'd give them a fist pump or a high five or a thumbs up, now when they were saying it I didn't even pick up my head, it was bent down firmly staring at my feet, willing them to just keep moving. I stopped and walked through the water stop at the 25th and 26th miles, UGH, I turned the corner onto Boyleston and even the throng of people screaming their heads off couldn't make me run faster, I limped my way across the line, disappointed. No PR, not even close. Where as the last time I ran Boston my final 5k was 22 minutes, this time it was about 10 min worse, just flat out not my day.

After a few hours of thinking about it and gaining some perspective, I'm not that disappointed. Sure I got a time that was way worse than I wanted, I walked and I missed out on enjoying the last 3 miles, but I finished. I was hurting worse than I've ever hurt and I willed my way to that finish line. This marathon if nothing else puts a chip on my shoulder. I now know that you don't just automatically run faster every time out. I know you gotta get some serious rest the week leading up to the race and most importantly I learned what it feels like to be in sheer pain while running, and I never want to be at that point again.