Prerace: Bonnie and I drove to Rochester, New York on Friday afternoon and on to Boston on Saturday morning. It was a pleasant uneventful trip. We arrived at the Expo about 2 PM on Saturday. The organization regarding packet pick up and shirt retrieval was superb. The expo was large, as expected. We spent about 2 hours there. The highlight was meeting the Hoyts. I purchased an official short sleeve race shirt and an official race jacket. I also have the 2013 jacket, but this one means a lot more to me. I was also able to buy a pair of Altra One Squared shoes. It is a new , very light, zero drop shoe from Altra.
We then drove on to Franklin, Massachusetts where we checked into the same Hotel as last year. On Sunday, we took the commuter train down to downtown Boston and did a leisurely walk about for a few hours.
Race Day:
Getting to the Athlete's village was as easy as last year. Bonnie drove me into Hopkinton before the roads were closed and dropped me off a few hundred metres from the athlete's village. I arrived there about 7 AM and secured a spot to put down a Mylar blanket and I rested until about 10 AM. I read a paperback novel and actually had a couple short naps. After a last pit stop, I lined up and left the athlete's village for my starting corral at 10:45. It took about 15 minute to walk to Wave 3, Corral 7. I handed my throw away clothes to volunteers on the way. While waiting in the start area , there was a moment of silence for last year's victims. It was very moving. I was quite impressed with how quiet the start was. Not much chatter.
Race: The course is quite a challenge. The first 1 1/2 km of so are downhill, often an a steep decline. I tried to hold back, knowing that going out too fast is a recipe for disaster on this course. The first half is overall downhill but has pretty much a rolling terrain. I felt good and crossed the 10 km mat in 56:32 - too fast!! There were many more spectators this year. Some friends of mine from K-W were volunteering and I spotted three of them about 1 1/2 km in. Things went well and I really enjoyed the first half of the race. My chip time at the half-marathon mat was 2:02:16 ( about 2 minutes slower than last year ) Then the heat started to affect my running. The steady string of up hill sections start about mile 16 and go to mile 21 which is the top of heartbreak hill. I had a lot of difficulty navigating this section. The heat was bothering me, my breathing wasn't smooth and I felt tired. I took a couple of extra walk breaks on the hills. . Throughout the race, I was trying to follow a 10 and 1 pattern. Even after walking most of heartbreak hill, I wasn't able to get back a running rhythm. As a result I not only slowed down a bit while running the last part of the course, I also took extra walk breaks. I drank all my own Gatorade Endurance drink from my fuel belt and used the water stations for the last few km. I took a gel at 10 and 30 km and a Honey Stinger Waffle at 20 km. Despite this, I was feeling a bit nauseous and weak at times. The last part of the race was certainly the toughest that I have faced for some time. There were three very emotional points in this race. The start , the spot where I had been stopped last year, and the run down Boylston Street to the finish. The noise from the spectators was deafening. I was all choked up, both thinking of last year's events and feeling so good about running this year. I almost burst into tears when a volunteer put the medal over my head and said, " You are a Boston Marathoner".
Post Race: It is a long walk from the finishing mat to the end of the athlete's route past the food and water. A volunteer wrapped the new poncho around me and fastened it for me, another handed me a bottle of water and yet another a bag of food. Farther along I collected two bottles of Gatorade Recovery Shakes, one chocolate ( quite good ) and one Vanilla ( terrible ). Then I ( slowly ) made my way back to the Prudential Center where bonnie was waiting for me. Along the way my friends Janice, Sue, Sarah, Deb, and Dave saw me and Janice helped me get to meet Bonnie ( I guess I looked as bad as I felt!
) Then Bonnie and I took the commuter train back to our car and drove back to the hotel. There I iced my legs and then had a hot tub treatment.Results: My Garmin measured an even 43 km so my Garmin splits are a bit different from the official ones.
Here are the official ones:
5K - 28:24
10K - 56:32
15K - 1:25:58
20K - 1:55:52
Half - 2:02:16
25K - 2:26:26
30K - 2:57:46
35K - 3:31:13
40K - 4:03:51
Finish - 4:18:06
Overall - 21510/31931
Men - 12643/17575
M70-74 - 33/166
My Garmin 5 km segments were as follows:
#1 28:16 AP: 5:39 min/km - AHR: 145 bpm
#2 27:56 5:35 147
#3 29:13 5:50 146
#4 29:40 5:55 146
#5 30:12 6:02 147
#6 30:44 6:08 150
#7 33:03 6:36 149 ( heartbreak hill )
#8 30:54 6:10 149
#9 18:14 6:06 154
My "A" Goal was 4:15 - Missed it!
My "B" Goal was to qualify for Boston at Boston ( Under 4:25 ) - Achieved!!
This was certainly an event of many emotions. I am so very blessed to have been able to participate in it. I want to thank all my friends both in K-W and on runningmania for all their support!! I want to thank and acknowledge the tremendous help and support that I get on a daily basis from the love of my life - Bonnie - Youse da bees knees!!
That Bonnie is a Sherpa extraordinaire! 
