The road least taken
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Rambling Race report, probably should have done it earlier but with being in the states and then travelling meh,
This Boston race really started last year in Manchester with a 3.18 solid run on a lovely course, I wasn’t focusing on Boston but as I now had a BQ in my age category I applied, got accepted on the 29th of September. Happy days.
I was gently tapping away at DCM training after my first hamstring tear at the Fingal 10K a few weeks earlier, so I didn’t get too excited. DCM was lovely, great conditions and I was in good shape for what felt like a very easy 3.17 finish time. Had a little breath and dived into the online Boston BAA plan. It’s a 20-week training plan with 3-week prep, 6-week build, 9-week Marathon specific and 2-week taper. Pretty standard. I add two down weeks for Christmas and maybe recovery after a Donadea attempt.
+2000 for 2022, this made me very happy and confident I had a good base.
Did I mention I started a Bsc degree as well last year? so I had winter exams and as I hadn’t done applied maths/stats since my leaving cert in 1990 I had to allocate a shed load of time to this as well. The misses is a saint, no way I could do all this **** without her ever expanding patience.
All going fine till Christmas, my favourite time of year, much merriment and gluttony followed, Santa brough me new shoes (Although black Friday was also kind to me, rocking new Alphaflys, Vaporfly and tempos, later to add Hoka mach 5 to my rotation in place of retired speed 2) so I was all set. The first week in January was simply sweating the badness out of me then I got the worse chest infection, I expect it to bugger of after a few days, but it didn’t so after five nights of no sleep it forced me to the doctor for a course of anti-biotics, steroids, inhalers and various other meds. By mid feb I reckon I back on track, slight niggles mainly with the hammer during intervals but that’s running.
One thing I remember about spring in Ireland this year was how awesome it was for training outdoors, feck all rain, and not particularly cold. I was in a few groups online for Boston and some of the guys in the states didn’t get a decent day till April. In March I also had a glute issue after hill repeats which forced me into a couple of weeks step back training with no intensity. All in all, the training wasn’t bad, no bad injuries and I felt ready come April for my first Major.
So Boston, what can I say, amazing city, amazing people. I had been to New York in the autumn and although it was awesome the people are not particularly friendly. My faith in the good old US of A was reinvigorated by the sheer goodness of the Bostonians. We flew on Thursday arriving at lunch and went straight to the Hotel, which was lovely. Off we went exploring Boston in a lovely 28C, Friday was the same, upper 20s and record temps for that time of the year. Found some great restaurants, visited the sights. Probably over did the touristy stuff but feck it, 20,000 steps Thursday, 35,000 steps Friday (a 10 k final run included) 20,000 Saturday including the expo which was mainly adidas (got the jacket 😉 and a few other stands, pretty underwhelming if I’m being honest. Sunday lots of walking as well, not clever but we had fun.
Get to the race already!
Race day Monday, the weather was cold, into a headwind all the way, mist and rain. Those are the cards I suppose, got up at 5.45am, had some crackers and a Maurten drink. Vaselined the nipples and other bits and then went to the lobby to get a cab, but as often happened while we were in Boston, a guy beside me in the lobby offered to bring me to the bag drop. Love Boston. The bag drop was easy, rows of buses with bib numbers on them, you matched your bib number and handed the race bag in the window and off ye went. Then a queue for the buses to Hopkinton, about 15 minutes then onto the bus, lovely and warm to start but some **** mutant (London accent) opened the window to allow the wind in, even though I had two extra layers I shivered all the way to Hopkinton which takes about an hour, got to the start area, drizzling and foggy, sat in a tent for over an hour also shivering.
At about 9.45am I readied myself and got in the queue for the start pen which was scheduled for a 10.25 start, I was happy to be moving, lots of toilets, water and bananas available. Exceptional organisation by the BAA. The start line is on a lovely street at the lip of a hill and by this time all my shivering had stopped, the excitement had overtaken me. Woops and smiles where the order of the day.
I wore a decathlon hydration belt with only a 250ml bottle as backup as I knew there was water cups at nearly every mile, I also had 3 x Maurten blacks and three Decathlon (two caffeine) gels to fuel the run.
10.27, off we go, straight downhill surrounded by thousands of likeminded people. I had decided just then that 7.20 pace was the order of the day. One thing to note is that your starting pen is in order of your qualifying time, so everyone starting at my time had run a qualifying race around 3.15 to 3.25 (7.25 to 7.35 ish)
Mile 1- 7.45
The first mile was mayhem, mainly downhill but not all, the rolling hills as they call them had started and there was no way to hit the pace. The crowd didn’t ease at all so after the first mile I decided to push on with the hope it would open, a couple of near misses, trips and should bumping ensued. I would discover that the race doesn’t open up until after 10K.
Mile 1 to Mile 5 averaging 7.32 per mile
Mad crowds and runners going at 7.30 pace made it hard to push. The support along this stretch was amazing, between the fog and rain this was not a pleasant day for spectating but there they were, cheering, offering candy, shouting names and generally being the best supporters in the world.
Mile 6 to Mile 10 averaging 7.11 per mile
Off we go, this is the pace I trained at, and I reckoned I was capable, felt the hammer from about 4 mile but I had made my mind up to run through any pains, and if it went it went.
Fvck off cups, the worst fvcking hydration method ever, a load of absolute boll0x, can’t describe how much I hate cups.
Mile 11 to Mile 15 averaging 7.23 per mile
Did I mention how much I hate cups- on the other hand it was nice to see the Maurten gels handed out on course, at the cost of these bad boys I was nearly going to keep taking them for home. This stretch was fine. The crowd in the towns and the famous scream tunnel were unreal. Mad buzz
Mile 16 to Mile 20 averaging 7.27 per mile.
Rookie error, seen a stall on the side of the road with a big banner, - “prevent cramping try this amazing blah blab la”, over I weave towards the table and grab a cup(grrrrr) and neck it. Holy sh1t, this stuff was foul, like drinking tobacco sauce, rank. Took me a mile not to get sick. The crowds only got better and then we hit the newton hills. The course is described as net down hill, but it is never flat or down hill for long as there are many little hills even before the four famous Newton hills culminating in Heartbreak hill. If I’m being honest, I reckon on a good day I could have done them at 6.30 per mile, nothing really too bad but it became apparent quickly that my quads were banjaxed from all the ups and downs in the previous 16 miles, I decided to run on feel from here.
Mile 21 to Mile 25 averaging 7.58 per mile
I had nothing left, my coma pace is 8.00 to 8.15 and this is where I my effort stayed even with a decline in elevation. I have never been so close to walking as I was in the last 3 miles of Boston, but the crowds got even better, they swept me into the city. The Citgo sign is not as close as I would have liked. There was a small bridge on the last bit of the course, which is like a dip, the pain here was on a new level but I had seen some clips of the course and knew there was only two small turns to come before the finish straight.
Last bit- 8.11 per mile and what a finish this race has. In flitters, leg gone, never been so thirsty, the shivers returned but this time they had a smile. Unbelievable experience.
Went to McDonalds for a celebration big mac and coffee, what a tasty burger that was.
When I look back to what I could have done better to finish the race faster there are loads, I put 6kgs on between Manchester and Boston, I didn’t taper properly, I had some niggles and I didn’t plan the race strategy properly, but I wouldn’t change a thing, what a journey. Best race in the world.
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