days leading up to the race:
I randomly requested months ago Wednesday through Friday off prior to the race and got some good rest in. I ran a 6 miler Wednesday as if that was somehow that'd mitigate the MIA miles since I didn't do the long runs on the back half of my training due to heat/humidity and mentally being tired from that pandemic thingy.
The weather daily check was left to Abby (maybe it's a new rule I have to run every marathon with a coworker). The weather was looking good leading up to the race, 50s and cloudy or rain in the afternoon. Other than the Philadelphia Marathon in 2012, this was the best weather heading in to a marathon.
Carb loaded Friday night, two days prior. Realizing more and more sleep and carb loading two days prior is super important.
Saturday morning, Abby picked me up and we met her sister Meri in Portland. Portland is so hip and, well, there's SPACE everywhere. The Adsits were incredible hosts as we got our bibs, hit up the Lighthouse and Eastern Promenade, and hit up Holy Donut as well to, carb load.
pre-race dinner meal?
Hot honey pizza from Otto and sour cream and onion ruffle potato chips with a little bit of Friday Night Lights for dessert. Texas Forever.
Weighing in the day of at...183.6 lbs. The covid weight came back with a vengeance and shocked me. I was probably 10 lbs lighter during the first half of training. Who knew going out and not running as much would mean a heavier me? weird
Per tradition, I chewed on peanut butter and banana sandwiches and felt like yakking, prerace? This was new to me. It might've been nerves from not having trained properly for the first time.
to quote the Little Giants, "death shrouds"
something old: my iPod shuffle, only one earbud was working.
something new: my Humarock hat for the rain was a last second decision, came in handy.
thankfully I reread race reports and remembered to stuff some TP in my pants for the portapotty
We were a fifteen minute walk away from the starting line and even though I took residency in Meri's bathroom in the morning, we hit the portapotty pre-race.
I decided that due to a lack of training, I'd treat this like a long run and go for 10 minute pace and stay with the new runners. My sister can attest to from our first half marathon, I'm not a good pacer and went up to 9:30-9:45s as I kept looking back, hoping they were behind me. The field was packed anyways so I sat and didn't bob and weave (too much) so I didn't add on extra mileage.
At about mile 2, the light rain started. and it would go on and off all day. Thanks a lot, weather report.
Around mile 5? a volunteer handed me water and said "looking good, Aaron". it's weird how much that means from a complete stranger. Unfortunately I would not be donning the A-A Ron moniker today otherwise I would've had more cheers.
By mile 6 or 7, the crowd finally thinned out since the half marathoners had a separate course/chute.
My hip flexors felt tight all race despite all the hip flexor work I did this year. My outer right knee felt like it was gonna explode. However, there were only two ways of getting to the end: happy and easy or miserable and dead tired.
My barely tested fruit snacks paid off, I had em at mile 4.5, 9, 13, 17, 20 and could feel the hunger right before ripping in to a new bag and chewing on some gummies. It turned in to me looking forward to snack time every 4 or so miles.
Since it was an out and back course, I knew that at mile 10 I'd see Knapp pretty soon so kept staring down the runners hitting mile 16 going the oppo way. Eventually, I see this Incredible Hulk/Flash run past me and giving me a high five. It was Knapp, fully transformed and different than the picture at the top of this site.
The hills at mile 16 and 20 were not expected but thanks to training in Newton, didn't feel so bad.
After 20, it's a mental game of "ok 2 5ks left. I do this at home in my sleep all the time."
The last mile and a half was just a cocktail of a mashup song of Kanye and Tame Impala on repeat as I kept pumping myself up with Ted Lasso quotes and tricking myself in to thinking I had enough in the tank to do more than a marathon.
No gag reflex at the end, and even hammed it up with a "finishing kick". It was also nice to run negative splits/even and pass people a majority of the way, as I passed by the LL Bean boot truck b/c of course there is a LL Bean boot truck in case you didn't know you were in Maine.
4:10:22
I had chocolate milk and a space blanket as I waited for the others to finish.
Post-race thoughts:
I didn't learn my lesson from Boston, worked the day after. Head in a daze.
My back and all the leg work has helped though as my upper body feels ok post-race and my legs, while sore, don't feel as awful as in the past (maybe because I didn't go all out).
Knapp ran a 3:08. Wow. Enough said.
Volunteers were amazing, well organized. Never felt like a car was gonna hit me even though I was usually the last runner when crossing the road. I tried to thank as many spectators and volunteers as I could.
25 year old me would've blown up at this race a la Miami. 35 year old me knew better and took it easy. Call it self-preservation, or not gutting out a harder race, but I feel good about it. (and my body thanks me, as by Thursday, I'm running again)
had some random left glute pain momentarily on the ride back to Boston
I think the back half of the training plan suffered in the midst of a year plus of a pandemic solo.
ocean views for most of the race was pretty nice
Had half an Andy Bernard since I thought it wasn't gonna rain. Thankfully, I had on smartwool socks so I only got the one blister.
only with running could you meet someone new, and christen their bathroom pre-race.
This felt like an away game. You don't realize how diverse Boston is until you go to Maine.
They sell live lobsters at the restroom stop in Maine.
weight drop during the race:183.6-> 177.2 curiously I wanted to check pre to post race weight in an experiment of one.
As I continue to ramble, felt like I controlled what I could and everything that isn't under my control, let it go.
training with someone on a long run>training solo
Lifting consistently for my back and legs: nice that I was able to power through and hold up during and after the race, but definitely felt bulkier even if it's in my head
