Boston Marathon 2016 Race Report

The 120th edition of the Boston Marathon represented my fifth consecutive year running. I'm starting to wonder if I should choose a different marathon or maybe an entirely different distance to focus on. Marathon Monday has represented the warmest-day-yet of the year for three out of the five years I've run. This year I worked hard towards a goal of breaking 2:40. I put in the work. I ran the "equivalent" times. I had 14 consecutive weeks of 100+ miles/week, averaging just shy of 105 and peaking at 113 and blah! blah! blah! blah!! blah!!!! Spoiler alert, it didn't happen.

Anyways, on the morning of the race Elizabeth drove me to Newton to meet up with Neil and Jen, and Jen was kind enough to drop us off at the start. We picked up a few other runners and road out in their van with a packed car, and I didn't know it at the time - but Neil had only met everyone just that week. Thankfully they were all extremely friendly, and they had access to a condo only a few hundred meters from the start. So we were all able to relax out of the sun, and awaited the announcement for wave 1.

At the starting line, I could tell it was not a day to run fast. It wasn't brutally warm, but it was far from ideal (for me at least). Temps were in the 70s for a good portion of the race, but I was more concerned with the cloudless sky - the sun has a way of sapping energy and salts from my body, and on this day my strategy was to do my best to mitigate that potential complication. I started off slower than goal pace, and had a difficult time navigating the crowds for a 6:33 first mile. I wasn't concerned with being on or off pace, but I still had hopes to settle in as close to goal pace as possible. I tried to find a comfortable rhythm and clicked off a few ~6:15 miles. A 6:10 fourth mile would be my quickest of the day, but I wasn't feeling it - something felt a little off. By the 10k mark, I could feel my quads starting to get heavy. Barely 10k into the marathon and my quads were hurting off of a slow pace...W.T.F. I was not happy. This was too early to have this happen. Add in the fact that I had done training on the course, downhill repeats, etc etc to specifically prepare for the quad-pounding...I'm not going to lie, I was a annoyed.

Photo Courtesy of Paul Hammond

Around ~7m, I caught up to Neil, who started in Wave 2. Neil and I had run quite a bit together throughout the winter, including two pretty big workouts (the Soup Run and the 2 x 10k), and when I caught up to him my plan was to stick together for as long as possible and eat up some pavement. We were clicking off relaxed 6:30's, but I was concerned about my quads. We passed through the scream tunnel and soaked that in. Shortly thereafter we passed Sue McNatt and Jon Waldron, who joined us for a stretch and gave Neil a water bottle. Right around here I took an electrolyte/salt capsule. Last year I took something similar to help ward off any cramping issues, and since it didn't cause any GI issues I did the same this year. Every once in a while Neil would say, "anytime you want to go ahead, feel free..." I finally had to say, "my quads have felt like shit since 10k. I'm either going to suffer for the remainder of the race or cramp up and fall apart...so lets keep clicking off the miles!" Frankly, I needed the company!

I was happy to notice that my quads weren't getting worse, and my lungs felt absolutely fine. When we turned onto Comm Ave at the fire house around mile 17, I took a slightly wider turn than Neil and we were separated by a handful of runners. I knew Elizabeth was going to be on the left side of the road, and Jen would be on the right side, so we remained separated for a bit and eventually I lost contact as Neil was working through a bit of a rough patch on the hills.

I passed Elizabeth near Centre Street, and started to feel pretty good. My quads were heavy, but with 10k to go, I was getting more confident in my ability to finish strong and without any issues. After a botched handoff with a volunteer on which I had to turn around and go back to grab some vaseline, I started to find a good groove. I was cruising comfortably and passed Layman, and the Fanning family before I hit my first true rough patch crossing over the Mass Pike at mile ~24. It was a pretty sudden "oh crap" type of slow down. Thankfully, the subsequent downhill did provide relief, and rolling through Kenmore I could sense the finish line.

Aside from crossing over the Pike, the final 10k was mostly a blur. Before I knew it, I was taking a right on Hereford, and then beginning the long stretch down Boylston. I picked it up a bit before feeling my hamstring catch, and then dialed it back thinking, "all time goals are out, don't finish limping like Frankenstein down Boyleston." So, I slowed slightly and just soaked it in crossing the line in 2:52:52

Photo Courtesy of Chris Spinney

Splits:

06:33.8
06:17.8
06:16.6
06:10.6
06:28.3
06:21.9
06:24.2
06:17.5
06:30.1
06:30.1
06:29.1
06:29.9
06:25.5
06:39.0
06:37.4
06:25.8
06:57.7
06:41.8
06:28.0
06:42.1
07:06.5
06:32.1
06:36.0
06:44.2
06:40.3
07:06.9
02:18.9

All in all, I am content with this performance. I had high expectations

and fell far short, but on a "sneaky tough" day in Boston, I ran well and did a good job pacing myself. Once Elizabeth and I got home from a great lunch with Neil, Jen, Kevin, and Mariani - I enjoyed some water...coffee...juice...and beer...while perusing the results of my CSU teammates who all put forth admirable efforts on a day that was far more challenging than most folks realize.


Next up - PUB SERIES!