When I travel to Boston for the marathon, I usually arrive on Saturday and fly home on Tuesday. I’m in the loyalty program for Hilton hotels, so I started my hotel search by checking rates at the various hotels in the Hilton portfolio. At first, it looked like none of the close hotels had rooms available. Then I tried changing my dates. If I arrived on Friday, I could get a room at the same hotel where I stayed last October. It seems they had rooms, but there was a four-night minimum. I decided to arrive a day earlier, so I could stay at a convenient location.
There’s a 5K race on
Saturday called the BAA 5K. This was the
first year I’ve arrived in Boston in time to do this race, so I registered for
it. I’m signed up to race-walk a 5K race
in May, but my training has been hampered by a lower back injury. If I race-walked this 5K race, I could use it
as an opportunity to evaluate my progress.
To participate in the BAA
5K, you need to be vaccinated for COVID-19.
After I registered for the race, I received an email from CrowdPass. I uploaded a photo of my vaccination card,
and they sent an email with a QR code.
After that, my race bib for the 5K race was mailed to me. I received it about two weeks ago.
I arrived in Boston on
Friday afternoon and took the subway to my hotel, which was just a block away
from the Hynes Convention Center. I
already had my race bib for the 5K, but I still needed to pick up my race
packet for the marathon. While I was
there, I explored the expo. There were a
lot more exhibitors this year than there were last year.
For dinner, I discovered
a brick oven pizzeria that I had never been to before. It was only a few blocks from my hotel, but
it was just far enough off the beaten path that it wasn’t crowded.
After dinner, I went to
Mike’s Pastry in the North End to buy some pastries for pre-race breakfasts. Apparently, it makes a big difference which
day you go there. The last time I went
to Mike’s, it was a Saturday evening, and the line went all the way down the
block and around the corner. This time,
there was a line inside the store, but it didn’t extend outside. I got my food in less than 10 minutes.
The 5K race started at
8:00 AM. The hotel’s breakfast service
didn’t start until 7:00, so I didn’t feel like I had time to eat breakfast
before leaving. Instead, I made a cup of
tea in my room and ate the limoncello cannoli I bought at Mike’s Pastry.
The course for the BAA 5K
is a loop. It starts on Charles Street,
which is the street between Boston Common and the Public Garden. The course goes around the south end of the
Public Garden before turning onto Commonwealth Avenue. After an out-and-back on Commonwealth Avenue,
the course follows the last kilometer of the Boston Marathon Course. Instead of finishing where the marathon does,
the 5K route continues along Boylston until we’re back to Charles Street, where
we started.
The temperature was in the
upper 50s. That’s warmer than I was
expecting it to be. I wore short sleeves
and tights, but I would’ve been fine wearing shorts. I wore the same shirt I always wear when I’m
walking, but other people are running.
It’s the shirt from the We Walk Marathon.
They had a gear check
near the start, but I didn’t use it. To
save time, I brought a space blanket from another race and used that to keep
warm until the race started.
This race was large
enough that they started the race in two waves.
I was in wave two, which didn’t start until 18 minutes after wave
one. Before my wave started, the elite
runners from wave one had already finished.
Figuring out where to
line up was tricky. I might have been the
only person race-walking. I wanted to
line up behind the runners, but I didn’t want to be behind anyone who was
walking at a casual pace.
I knew I wouldn’t be as
fast as I was walking last summer, but I was hoping to get my pace as close as
possible to 10 minutes per mile.
As soon as I crossed the
line, I tried to work into a fast pace.
The people in front of me were all starting at different paces, so I had
to look ahead to make sure I wouldn’t get boxed in behind someone going
slower. That was a big concern going
around the first turn. At times, I had
to walk over some rough pavement to go where I knew there was enough room to
get through.
Almost immediately, I
felt like I was getting out of breath.
That was a good sign that I was starting fast enough. In this short of a race, the pace should
never feel comfortable. Other than that,
I didn’t have a good feel for how fast I was going.
I had to negotiate three
turns in the first mile before getting onto Commonwealth Avenue. I thought by then, I would be done weaving
around slower walkers and runners, but it took a few more blocks. Then I finally had room to get into my own
rhythm.
Before the end of the first
mile, I saw an aid station. I stayed in
the middle of the street to avoid the congestion. I couldn’t imagine slowing down to drink
water in such a short race.
I finished the first mile
in 10:19. I was pleased with that
start. That’s not quite as fast as the
pace I was hoping to average for race, but I expected the first mile to be slower,
just because of congestion on the course.
In the second mile, I
found myself keeping up with most of the runners around me. That was both good news and bad news. The good news is that it automatically kept
me on a reasonably consistent pace. The
bad news is that it allowed me to get a little bit lazy. I was no longer continually asking myself if
I was walking as fast as I possibly could.
Going west on
Commonwealth Avenue, I noticed a headwind.
I wasn’t too concerned, as I only needed to go into it for another half
mile before reaching the turnaround.
The road dipped down and
back up as we went under Massachusetts Avenue.
Now I could see runners coming back in the eastbound lanes. Looking ahead, I could see where we would
make the turnaround.
After the turn, we were on
the Boston Marathon route. I could see
the familiar blue line that marks the route.
The next kilometer would be familiar.
I’ve run it nine times, and I also race-walked it last October.
As I was coming back
under Massachusetts Avenue, two different runners said, good job,” and gave me
a thumbs up as they went by. They could
see that I was walking, but maintaining a pace similar to a lot of the runners.
As I made the right turn
onto Hereford, I looked ahead and saw the two mile sign. It was right at the corner of Hereford and
Boylston. When I got there, I was
disappointed to see that my second mile wasn’t quite as fast as the first
one. I slowed to 10:21 in that
mile. I was disappointed that I allowed
myself to get lazy, and I worked to pick up the pace over the last 1.1 miles.
Ahead of me, I could see
the Boston Marathon finish line. The
sign above it read, “0.7 miles to go.”
That was helpful information.
Just before I got there, I heard my name and turned in time to recognize
a friend I met last year. I told him I was
walking today, but I was able to run again, and I would be running the marathon
on Monday.
Shortly after passing the
Boston Marathon finish line, I saw a runner wearing a shirt that said, “Don’t
Suck” Without knowing the story behind
that shirt, I chose to interpret it as a personal message. I reminded myself that I shouldn’t get lazy
in the last 0.7 miles.
I focused on maintaining
my effort the rest of the way down Boylston.
After crossing Arlington, I saw the Public Garden on my left. Farther ahead, I could see people making the
last turn.
When I made the turn
myself, I saw the three mile sign. I
looked at my watch, and I was pleased with my time. I sped up to 10:08 in that mile. That’s the fastest I’ve walked a mile since
November. Now I just had to get to the
finish line.
For most of the race, I
was keeping up with the runners who were near me. Now they were all passing me. They were all putting on a strong
finish. I couldn’t match their
acceleration. I pressed on and got to
the finish line in 31:51.
I rarely wear a GPS watch
for running, but I almost always do for race-walking. It helps keep me focused on my pace, and it
also gives me some useful data, such as my cadence. My average cadence today was 173 strides per
minute, with a peak cadence of 193. That’s
pretty close to what I was doing last November, before my training was
disrupted by a lower back injury. Here’s
the map of the route from Garmin Connect:
I’m still not used to
getting finisher medals for races as short as 5K, but it’s always cool to get a
medal with the B.A.A. logo on it.
I didn’t drink anything
before or during the race, so now I was thirsty. I eagerly accepted a water bottle from one of
the volunteers as I walked through Boston Common. I also picked up a banana, which was all the
food I needed. A few minutes later, I
saw other runners carrying food bags with an assortment of snacks. This 5K race had more post-race food than
most marathons.
After picking up my T-shirt, I made my way to the nearest T station for the trip back to my hotel. On weekends, the hotel’s breakfast service doesn’t end until 11:00. Even after taking the time to get cleaned up and change into clean clothes, I still had plenty of time for breakfast.
The purpose of this race
was to evaluate whether I can be ready to compete in the 5,000 meter race-walk
event at the National Senior Games in May.
I signed up for it several months ago, but I wasn’t able to do any
race-walking during the winter months.
It’s only in the last few weeks that my back has improved enough that I could
walk at a fast pace without aggravating my back.
There were two things I
was hoping to learn today. The first was
how fast I could walk 5K after missing about five months of training. My average pace today was 10:17. That’s not as fast as I was walking last
summer, but it’s as fast as I could hope to be with so little recent
training. I was originally hoping I
could break 30 minutes at the National Senior Games. At this point, I don’t think that’s a
realistic goal, but I still have hope of placing high in my age group. In the most recent National Senior Games, the
third place time in my age group was 31:50.
The other thing I wanted
to evaluate was whether I could train and race hard without re-injuring my
back. I didn’t have any lower back or
sciatic nerve issues during or immediately after this race. I’ll have to wait and see how I feel over the
next day or two.
My next race is the
Boston Marathon on Monday. Stay tuned
for another race report.
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