First off, I want to say: See you in 2018, 122nd Boston Marathon!
This was my first Boston Marathon, and an experience that I will never forget. I have wanted to qualify for and run this race since I started running at 12 years old. Both my parents have raced it a number of times and I wanted to finish it as well.
Going into the race, my goal was simply to have fun, take in the atmosphere, and run my hardest. I’m happy to say that I believe I accomplished all of these goals! Overall, my training for the Boston Marathon in the past few months has not been of the greatest quality or been the highest mileage, but I believed in my ability to finish and was not going to give up. I peaked at about 40 miles a week for this race and put in a few long runs of 16-18 miles. In addition, I started more weight training than I have done in the past and put on ten pounds since the beginning of the year. Finally, all of my training data is published daily at my account on Strava. I definitely believe with a solid training schedule I would stand a good chance of lowering my PR and qualifying time of 2:53:16 from the 2015 Thunder Road (Charlotte) Marathon. Now for the race recap!
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| Dying on Comm. Ave at Mile 24 |
I woke up at 6:30 am after a pretty restless night and quickly threw on my running clothes and packed my things. I was wearing a pretty new pair of HOKA Clifton 3’s, a black and orange singlet, and a pair of Zensah compression socks. In my starting area bag, I packed my energy GU’s, a water bottle, and some peanut butter pretzels in case I got hungry before the start. Since I was in Waltham and couldn’t take the shuttles from Boston, I had my girlfriend, Charlotte, drive me to the start in Hopkinton. We left at around 7:30 and arrived at the runner drop off at around 8:15. I handed her my phone and wallet, grabbed my things, and then I was all alone. I made my way over to the shuttles that transported runners from the drop-off area to the start line. Once I arrived at the start line I made my way over to the athlete's village, which was actually much farther away than I expected it to be. After arriving, I looked around for a bathroom, but all the lines were ridiculously long. I decided to stand in line and wait. I did not make my way over to the start line until about 9:25 and finally arrived there at around 9:40. On the way to the start I ran into Megan Hovis, one of my former coaches when I was in middle school (and also a ridiculously fast runner), we talked for about a minute or so and I wished her good luck!
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| Boylston St.! |
The start line was packed when I arrived, and there was very little room to warm-up. I was thankful that I had just made the Corral 2 (Bib #1837) cut-off to push myself a little bit further up. The next 20 minutes passed by painstakingly slow. I did some stretching and some general moving around but for the most part not much else at all. For fuel, I was carrying 4 energy GU’s with me that I had planned on taking at Mile 6, 12, 18, and 22. With less than 5 minutes until the start, I double checked my shoes, made sure I had all my GU’s in place, and moved up a little bit further to the front. I saw the Elite Men, and Galen Rupp, come out to the front and this really made me excited to start!
Before I knew it, the gun sounded and I was off to Boston! My plan had been to settle into 7:00 pace, which would have given me a finishing time of around 3:03:00 or so, but my nervous energy and the large crowd of people around me had propelled me to a faster pace. I felt like I was barely moving and being passed left and right, but I ended up hitting the first mile in 6:36. Temperatures were already hovering around 70 degrees and the sun was beating down, with very little shade on the course. I settled into a pretty good rhythm and enjoyed the downhills of the Boston course. My 2nd mile came and went in 6:25, and my third mile in 6:31. My first race mat split was 20:16 for the 5K. I could feel my skin heating up already and I made a conscious effort to monitor this going forward. I took Gatorade every few miles or so, and water at every mile, pouring some on my head and back to cool myself down. I had started the race feeling good, and as I entered Ashland I was still feeling pretty good overall. I hit Mile 4 in 6:30 and Mile 5 in 6:42.
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| Around Mile 16 |
As the miles began to start going by, I told myself that I needed to slow down because it was a hot day, but as hard as I tried, I couldn’t settle into a rhythm at a different pace. I hit Mile 6 in 6:33 and the 10K in 40:46 (6:35 Pace). My splits did start to creep up into the high 6:30s and low 6:40s by now. During this race, I always had people around me, both runners and spectators alike, which I had never experienced in a previous marathon. It was both exhilarating and terrifying. I never did truly run with anyone or latch onto anyone in this race. I ran my own race and passed people when I wanted to and let people go by me. I entered Framingham and hit Mile 7 in 6:30. There was a very nice tailwind pushing everyone forward, but I desperately wanted a little breeze in my face or a little patch of shade to run under. I hit Mile 8 in 6:42 and Mile 9 in 6:37. I had not intended to bank time on the front half of this race, but I knew that I had built up a nice little cushion. I was running at 2:50-2:53 Marathon Pace, which was a little quick considering my fitness level, the course, and the weather conditions. I thought it would be in my best interest to slow down a little, but my stubbornness prevailed. I passed the third timing mat, the 15K, in 1:01:18 (6:35 Pace). At this point, I could feel some fatigue starting to set in when I was running on the uphill’s, but the downhills were still coming easily. I hit Mile 10 in 6:44 as I entered Natick. My pace had started to decrease slightly with Mile 11 coming in 6:42 and Mile 12 in 6:45. I hit my first low of the race before the 12th mile and desperately needed a shot of energy. I took my 2nd GU of the race shortly after and started to feel much better.
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| Almost there! |
One of the coolest parts of the Boston Marathon course was definitely the Wellesley Scream Tunnel at Wellesley College just past Mile 12. It was incredible having that spectator support and being able to hear everyone from over half a mile away. I gave out high-fives all the way down the scream tunnel and got a huge surge of energy. There are very few moments that can top thousands of people screaming and cheering you on while you run. I hit the 20K in 1:22:22, Mile 13 in 6:41 and the half-marathon mat in 1:26:50 (6:38 Pace). I was still taking water every mile and I was feeling great at this point, I even had delusions of running a PR still! Passing through Wellesley I hit my 2nd fastest mile of the day at Mile 14 in 6:26. It was after this mile that things slowly started to unravel. I was running out of energy, the sun was beating down on me and we were about to enter Newton and take on the rolling hills that I knew could easily end a runners race goals. I hit Mile 15, a largely uphill mile, in 7:01, my first mile above seven minutes. My 25K time was 1:43:15 (6:40 Pace). Fortunately, the next mile was a steep downhill and I was able to make up some ground by hitting Mile 16 in 6:45. The hills of Newton were a very dark place for me. I was still moving decently well, hitting Mile 17 in 7:09 and Mile 18 in 7:12, but all I could think about was Heartbreak Hill between Miles 20 and 21. I was especially nervous because this was the point where I had fallen apart during most of my previous marathons. I felt like I was moving much slower than I actually was, which was a huge relief. I took my third GU of the race at this point, opting not to take the last one later on for fear of upsetting my stomach. I was also taking one to two cups of water at each station, but the heat still felt horrendous. I managed to hit 30K in 2:05:15 (6:44 Pace). I split Mile 19 in 6:59 and Mile 20 in 7:13. I focused on doing anything and everything possible to power myself up the hills, and then to recover and regain my breath on the downhills.
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| CITGO |
Right when I thought I couldn’t take any more hills, I hit it. Heartbreak Hill. And if I am being completely honest, that is exactly what it did. This was one of the points where I considered packing it in for the day. I felt like I was barely moving and I was started to feel dizzy and have numb hands, a feeling that accompanied me to the finish line. I obviously did not do enough hill training in preparation because I just felt beat down on the hills. Every little incline put a burden on my pace. I finally crested the top of Heartbreak Hill and relaxed a little knowing that it was pretty much downhill the rest of the way and that I only had about 35-40 minutes to go. My split for Mile 21, which included Heartbreak Hill was 7:50, my slowest of the day. On a positive note, this was the first of my four marathons that I did not have a single mile above eight-minute pace! Even in my PR race where I ran 2:53:16 my last mile was still over eight minutes. Just because the uphills were pretty much finished did not mean I would be cruising to the finish line. I picked up the pace a little bit from the last mile and hit 35K in 2:28:08 (6:49 Pace) and Mile 22 in 7:20 as we entered Brookline. The next mile, however, seriously tested my willpower as I truly believed that I was going to have to walk when I reached Mile 23. I reached Mile 23 in 7:30 and was greeted by a nice steep downhill. I believe that if not for the downhill right after Mile 23 I would have found myself walking. By now I had started taking two to three cups of water at each aid station, two to drink and one to pour on my head. On a side note, they did have several rain sprinkles out on the course for runners to run under and cool off at which was awesome! I finally entered Boston and hit Mile 24 in 7:30 as I was running on Beacon St! At this point, I could see the CITGO sign so I knew I was close! I was doing my best to hold on, but I knew I did not have much left to give. While I was excited to see the CITGO sign, staring at it for over a mile lead me to believe that it was speaking to me, taunting me and telling me to give up. I finally passed the iconic sign and hit Mile 25 in around 7:50 and 40K in 2:51:29 (6:55 Pace). I did not get an accurate Mile 25 split because I hit my watch early at the 40K. I was finally on Comm. Ave and had less than a mile to the finish line! The sound of the crowd was almost deafening but in reality I don’t think I really heard any of it. I was in my own little world trying to hold myself together the last mile. All I could think about was that I had 1 Mile to go, and then 0.75, 0.5 etc.
Turning onto Boylston St. was honestly one of the greatest feelings of my entire life. I don’t even have the words to describe it properly. Waiting so long for this moment and finally achieving it was just incredible. I hit Mile 26 in around 7:15 and from that point just tried to enjoy the last 0.2 Miles. I finally crossed the finish line in 3:01:34 (6:56 Pace) and raised my arms in the air. I had requalified for the 2018 Boston Marathon!
After crossing the line, I proudly collected my very first Boston Marathon finisher’s medal! After picking up the medal, I walked around in a delusional stupor drinking water and Gatorade for a few minutes before deciding that I needed to go the medical tent. Once I reached the medical tent I sat down for a little bit, had my vitals done, and drank way too much Gatorade. I had the same issue happen to me at the 2015 Thunder Road Marathon where I got lightheaded and my hands went numb. After about 20 minutes I was released and I went back to the finish area. I ran into my old coach at Charlotte Catholic, Coach Conrad, and we congratulated each other on finishing on what was a hot day for sure. After this, I met up with my girlfriend who made a sign and a t-shirt to cheer me on!
Overall, the Boston Marathon was an incredible experience, and one I will never ever forget. I couldn’t have gotten to the start line without the support of my parents, friends, girlfriend and everyone else who has had an impact on my running career. With the 2017 Boston Marathon in the books, I am already looking forward to 2018 and beyond!
Splits (Kilometers):
5K: 20:16
10K: 40:46
15K: 1:01:18
20K: 1:22:22
Half-Marathon: 1:26:50
25K: 1:43:15
30K: 2:05:15
35K: 2:28:08
40K: 2:51:29
Marathon: 3:01:34
Splits (Miles):
6:36, 6:25, 6:31, 6:30, 6:42, 6:33, 6:30, 6:42, 6:37, 6:44, 6:42, 6:45, 6:41, 6:26, 7:01, 6:45, 7:09, 7:12, 6:59, 7:13, 7:50, 7:20, 7:31, 7:31, 7:50, 7:15
