My friend David Hall brought me to the marathon. I said we could leave about 6:00 but that he could be early. He arrived about 5:15. I was a little surprised but I had been awake since 3:37 so I turned the porch light on and he pulled into the driveway. I finished getting ready and we left before 6. We talked about Boston and marathons in general; David has run 9 marathons including Boston once. It was the first time I had someone who had run marathons taking me to Hopkinton. We got there so early that the parking lot was empty. I got on the bus to wait. People were talkative and a women who was running for the first time sat next to me. I said she should enjoy the experience and take her time in the first half. She seemed a little nervous and excited.
We got to the village quickly; faster than the past 2 years. After using the Porta-potty I got a another bottle of water and sat down next to a group from Ohio. I took their picture with each of their cameras and then got back in the Porta-potty line with 40 minutes to go. I talked to some people from New York who said the NY marathon was better even though most of them had not run Boston yet. I have run NY and the course is not as challenging as Boston. The music was the best of any marathon I have run. I'm not sure you should ever compare marathons since a lot of factors color your memories and your experience of the marathon and the surrounding area.
It was cool and breezy in the village and walking down to the corrals. In the corral it was warm with no breeze. I got in with 15 minutes to go. By the time we started I had to use the Porta-potty again. I did between mile 2-3. It added about 2 minutes to my time.
I held back for the most part although I tried to run about 8:10-8:15. Going down the hills I hit 7:20-7:40 and going up I hit 8:25-8:35. The GPS just does not respond immediately so you have to anticipate what is going to happen. I let people pass me when they seemed to be running a 3:20-3:30 pace. I fell in with a group of people which I ran with from mile 4-17. At 17 I tried to push when I could; I wish I had gone just a little faster up the hills. I lost about 4 minutes on the hills. I only lost about 1.5 minutes though over mile 2-25. I did feel that my plan had worked well.
I ran down Heartbreak and had a lot left. I passed a lot of people until mile 25. Then I started to feel it in my legs I was still able to run faster down hills but I slowed going up until running under the overpass. I came out and ran well still going by people up the outside. With the finish in sight, I did pass a few more people.
I felt OK after a bottle of water; after I got my bag off the bus I was even able to sit down to take my shoes off. I has no problems walking up or down stairs. My toe, which I had hit on a chair Sunday was red and twice as big as it is normally, but didn't really effect my run. I felt the cyst on my right foot a couple of times but neither slowed me down.
The crowd was great all along the course; even in the early towns a lot of people were out due to the nice weather. I was too hot; I shouldn't have worn the maniac sleeves or black gloves.
Every year I feel different when I run Boston. This year I felt blessed to just be able to run here and I wasn't so concerned about my time as I was about having a good time and remembering every mile.
I did see a lot of people who did not drink enough water yesterday. I drank Gatorade only once and drank water or water with gel instead. I don't feel the Gatorade takes the place of water and I don't think we need as much sugar as people think we do.
I can't wait until next year. Now all I have to do is get a faster qualifying time;)
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