The Expo
As this is my second Boston, I did know what to expect. As with last year, I stayed at the Westin Copley, which is part of the mall that includes the Hynes Convention Centre. The B.A.A. has been doing this for 113 years, so the delivery of bibs, the technical shirts, etc, was flawless. It took me less than 5 minutes to get in and out.
On Sunday I went to a couple of Seminars, including the always entertaining Bart Yasso, and the crew of Runner’s World. I also went shopping at the expo, which was a zoo, as expected. However, it was so much worst than last year. I believe that the reason was that this year Adidas was not only the major sponsor for the race but also was the company selling the “race jacket”. Last year, the other company was selling the jacket at the other end of the hall and Adidas was selling gears further back. Thus, this year, people were buying the jacket and other stuff all in one place. The cue to the cashiers was ridiculously long, meandering through the Adidas area. One other point was that the quality of the jacket was much worst than my 2008 jacket. Other people were commenting on it too. Finally, they ran out of men’s medium in many items, as early as Saturday morning. I wanted to buy a yellow and blue top, but none were to be found on Sunday morning. While we are made of all sizes, after all we are runners, and having a full rack of XL clothing does not reflect this.
The Event
The night before, I sorted everything that I needed and created the “flat” Chris, so that I would not forget anything. I am not too bright in the morning. I got up at 5:00AM, took a shower, ate 2 packs of instant oatmeal, a banana, got dress and walk out to catch the bus. As expected the bus loading service was as efficient as I expected. While waiting for the bus, I saw a woman, which was a spitting image of Lesley (La). I guess we all have a twin somewhere in the world.
It was freezing cold in Hopkinton. I waited for half an hour for a bathroom, talking to other runners. At 9:45AM, I went to my Wave 1 corral (12). I love this walk; it allows you to focus on the race. I took me over 9 minutes to cross the starting line, an eternity, but being almost in the back of the first wave, it did not take long before I was not too crowded and was able to set my own pace. Last year, being in the first corral, I felt crowded for quite a while. This was much better. I did not have a goal set, but enjoying the race. Actually, my only time goal is to requalify. Within the first couple of miles, I was a bit too slow to reach 3:36, my qualifying time. I was on pace for a 3:40 run and since it is almost impossible to have a negative split, I decided to run it just above an LSD pace and finish under last year run of 3:56. The wind was relentless. I wore arm gathers for the entire race and never was warm.
I stop at mile 17 or 20 for a pee break. I thought that with no one in front of me this would have been a quick break, it ended up costing 5 minutes. That, I am not happy. The rason for the pee break is that I over hydrated again. Unless very warm, I do not sweat a lot. I need only 750 ml of GU2O for a 37km LSD and do not use gel anymore. So, by taking water at everystop, with GU2O at 15 minutes and gel every half-hour, I drank too much. I need to work better on my hydration.
At mile 18 or so I passed Rick and Dick Hyot. It is amazing to see him push his son. Truly amazing. I also passed a few athletes with various disabilities with guides. Those athletes are amazing, so are the guides.
The support from the population is amazing; the girls at Welseley as loud as ever. A lot of them were having signed like “Kiss me I am single”, “Kiss me I am from Texas”, “Kiss me yadi yadi yada…”. Why did girls not having signs like this when I was in University??? Oh yes, I was not running the Boston marathon… move on…
This is a tough course; the hills are so deceiving, and maddening. They are not so much physically difficult as they are mentally difficult. They grind you down.
For Boston, all my training was on Long Runs, no speed work, no hills, no intervals… I now know my speed limit using only slow runs. My surefire techniques to improve my speed were to use steroids and an aliens-based time-expanding machine. But since A-rod has not phoned back and the machine somehow does not work (I want my $50 back), I guess I will need to do speed work to get faster. I might rely on some of the Maniacs to give me some help with this.
I finished in 3:50:59, which is 6 minutes faster than last year. If I deduct the pee break, I could have done a 3:45. Overall, I am satisfied.
To requalify, I need to do a 3:36. Last year, I did a 3:31 in Ottawa, a month after Boston. Could this be accomplished again this year?
Conclusion
This race was a blast. It was cold, I got a sunburn, but it is so much fun. I told myself that I would forgo going next year; I am doing the goofy in January, I want to ski, etc. But if I qualify again, it I going to be tough to say No…
