My previous post was a
race report for the Newport Rhode Races Marathon. This post picks up where that one left off.
Saturday, April 18
After driving from
Newport and returning my rental car, I walked across the street to the Hilton
Park Plaza Hotel, where I stayed for the next three nights in Boston.
On marathon weekend, it’s
tough to find a room at any of the hotels that are close to the finish
line. I was able to get a room at this
hotel by booking through a travel company called Fit 4 Adventure. I learned about them from a friend in the
Boston Squeakers group. They always have
a large block of rooms at this hotel.
Hilton has a loyalty
program called HHonors. Because I booked
through a third party, my reservation didn’t include my HHonors number. When I gave my number to the guy at the front
desk, he saw that I have Diamond status with Hilton, and he immediately gave me
two water bottles and asked if I wanted a chocolate chip cookie. He was then apologetic that there weren’t any
larger rooms available. The room I
booked was the smallest type of room. He
wanted to upgrade me to something larger, but nothing was available.
The important thing to me
was getting into a room right away. I
had driven from Newport in the same clothes I wore for my marathon that
morning. After two hours driving in sweaty
running clothes, I was eager to take a shower and change into clean clothes.
When I was ready to
venture out, I stopped by the Fit 4 Adventure desk to check in with them. Besides hotel rooms, their package included
several options, such as a pre-race pasta dinner, city tours, bus transportation
to the start of the marathon, or post-race massages. I didn’t book any of those things, but they
gave me one of their T-shirts.
Boston Marathon weekend
is always a social occasion. On Saturday
afternoon, I always go to a meet-up of Boston Squeakers. We met for a couple hours at Time Out Market,
which is near Fenway Park. Going there,
the trains were crowded, because most of the people on the trains were on their
way to a Red Sox game. After our
meet-up, a few of us went to dinner together.
Sunday, April 19
I know a few good
breakfast spots in Boston, but it was drizzly, so I ate breakfast in the
hotel’s restaurant.
Sunday was the last day I
could pick up my race packet. As usual,
the expo was held at the Hynes Convention Center. Lines can be long, so I made a point of
getting there when they opened for the day.
There was a long line to get into the building, but the line moved fast.
Once inside, there were
different routes through the building depending on which wave you were in, or
if you were just there to attend the expo.
It was a lot of walking, but the packet pickup process was efficient.
I didn’t spend a lot of
time at the expo, but I made a point of stopping by the Marathon Tours &
Travel booth. I learned about a couple
of new tours that are in the works for next year.
When I left the expo, it
was starting to rain again. I went back
to the hotel and did a strength training workout. There’s large fitness center under the hotel,
and hotel guests can use it.
The finish line is always
a popular place for people to meet and take pictures. Marathon Maniacs always has a group photo in
front of the finish line at noon on Sunday.
When I left the hotel to go to the finish line, I was pleased to see
that the rain had stopped.
After that group photo, I
was talking with friends until it was time for another group photo with the
Boston Squeakers.
It was starting to rain
again, so I found a nearby place where I could get a bowl of clam chowder.
The other group I always
meet with on Sunday is the 50sub4 Marathon Club. They also meet at Time Out Market. I saw several familiar faces there, and I
also met a few new ones.
For dinner, I went to
Night Shift Brewing at Lovejoy Wharf.
They have Detroit-style pizza.
This has become my favorite pizza place in Boston.
All day I had been
finding walking around town to be uncomfortable. My feet were sore, and my Achilles tendons
were tight. I tried to stay off my feet,
often taking the “T” instead of walking, even if it was only for one stop. In spite of that, I still put in about 11,000
steps on Sunday.
Monday, April 20
Monday was race day. For the last several years, I’ve been getting
to the start in Hopkinton on a motorcoach chartered by Marathon Maniacs. The bus loads right outside the Hilton Park
Plaza, which is why it was so convenient to stay there.
The race has several
waves, with start times ranging from 10:00 to 11:21 AM. I was in one of the later waves, but we all
needed to be ready to leave Boston at the same time. The buses started loading at 6:15, and they
left at 6:45.
It was a chilly day. When I boarded the bus, the temperature was
in the 30s. My wave didn’t start until
11:01, and by then the temperature would climb into the 40s. I don’t think it ever got up to 50. It was also quite windy. In conditions like these, I wear tights. This was a day to wear the cheetah outfit.
The bus ride to Hopkinton
took about an hour. After we got there,
I had about two hours before I needed to leave to walk to the start. That’s a long wait, but we were able to stay
on the bus in relative comfort.
Most people get to
Hopkinton on school buses that pick them up at Boston Common and drop them off
at the Athletes’ Village at Hopkinton High School. They wait outside, rain or shine, until it’s
time to walk to the start corrals. There
are hundreds of port-o-potties in the Athletes’ Village, but with tens of
thousands of runners, the lines get long.
Club buses like ours park
about a quarter mile away at Edward J. Hopkins Elementary School. We had a few dozen port-o-potties, but there
were far fewer runners at the elementary school, so the lines were short. There was also a bathroom on the bus.
For the last several
years, the race has been divided into four waves of roughly equal size. This year, there were more waves, with fewer
runners in each wave. There were six waves,
not counting the earlier starts for elite athletes and athletes with
disabilities.
I was assigned to wave
five, which was the last wave of time qualifiers. The sixth wave included runners who got into
the race through some other method, such as a tour group, a sponsor, or a
charity.
At the appropriate time,
those of us in wave five left the elementary school to walk to the Athletes’
Village at the high school. From there,
we had to walk about a mile to get to the start corrals.
In the past, everyone
followed the same route to get from the Athletes’ Village to the start
corral. This year, they had two
different routes, depending on which corral you were in. Runners in corrals 1-4 of each wave took the
new route along Church Street. Runners
in corrals 5-8 took the traditional route along Grove Street. I assume they did this so we could get to the
appropriate start corral quicker and with less congestion.
Each route went past a
parking lot with additional port-o-potties, so we could make a last-minute
bathroom stop on our way to the corrals.
I was in the corral three, so I was taking a different route this year.
My friend Jolene, who was
on the same bus, was also in corral three, so we walking to the start corrals
together.
After my race on
Saturday, I felt like a train wreck. I
wasn’t even going to try to run at a fast pace in Boston. Instead of starting the race with a time
goal, I planned to go at a slow pace and stop to take pictures.
The start is sharply
downhill. I didn’t try to race it, but the
downhill start made it easy to get started.
I wasn’t going as fast as the runners around me, so I was getting passed
by most of the other runners.
Right at the
one-kilometer mark, the road briefly turns uphill. I was tempted to walk this hill, but I didn’t
want to be the only one walking. I ran
it, but I slowed down significantly.
Even still, it was tiring.
Everyone was passing me on this hill.
Mile two was
similar. It’s mostly downhill, but
there’s a brief uphill section. Again, I
took the uphill section slowly, but it still felt tiring.
My pace for the first two
miles was faster than 10 minutes, but only because they were downhill. Starting with mile three, my pace was between
10 and 11 minutes.
My cheetah outfit made me
easy to spot. A few friends who started
farther back greeted me as they went by.
First, it was Kristen, then Erin, and then Jeff. I also got shoutouts from random
strangers. A few people told me I had
the best outfit.
The next several miles
had a gentle downhill trend, but they were closer to being level. I did my best to run a pace that wouldn’t
tire me out, although I was tired anyway.
I felt like this race was just a continuation of the race I ran on
Saturday. I had no energy at all.
The weather was
fickle. It was mostly cloudy, with a
strong wind that was mostly at our backs.
Occasionally, the sun would come out, and I would briefly feel
warm. At other times, there would be a
strong wind gust, and I would get cold.
A few times, I felt raindrops.
Fortunately, there was never any persistent rain. Cool weather with a tailwind is something
people dream of at this race. It’s the
first time since 2011 that it’s happened.
I never noticed this
before, but every one of the early miles has a brief uphill section, even
though the overall trend is downhill. I
found myself getting tired on every small rise, even though I wasn’t trying to
maintain my pace.
In mile six, my pace
slowed to 11 minutes. I had expected my
overall time to be slower than it was on Saturday. Now I knew for sure.
In mile eight, I finally
decided to walk an uphill section.
There’s a guy who always watches the race dressed as Santa Claus. Since I was walking already, I took my phone
out to take a picture of him.
To use my phone, I had to
take off one of my gloves. In the short
time my glove was off, my fingers started to turn white. Because of that, I didn’t take as many
pictures as I had planned to take.
The runners in my wave
all had race bibs with green backgrounds.
By now, I started to notice that I was surrounded by runners with orange
race bibs. Those were runners from the
last wave. They started about 20 minutes
later, but the faster runners from that wave had caught up to me by now.
I was drinking at every
aid station. Starting with mile two,
they had aid stations every mile. It was
a cool enough day that I didn’t need to be drinking that much. After nine miles, I made a bathroom
stop. After that, I cut back to only
drinking every other mile.
In mile 12, I needed to
take another walking break on a short hill.
Then, in the next mile, I reached Wellesley College. I chose to walk all the way through the
Wellesley “scream tunnel” so I could take pictures of the signs.
That mile took more than
12 minutes, but it included a long walking break. Then I ran the rest of the way to downtown
Wellesley.
I reached the halfway
point in 2:26:20. That was already 20
minutes slower than my last race, and I knew I would only get slower in the
second half. For the past three years, I
managed to run negative splits on this course, but that’s hard to do. The first half is much easier than the second
half. This year I was struggling, so I
knew I’d slow down on the tougher sections.
In mile 14, I brought my
pace back down under 12 minutes. As I
started mile 14, I noticed a change in my gait.
I was still running, but it was more of a shuffle. It felt like it was somewhere between running
and walking.
Sure enough, mile 15 was
slower. That mile was slightly downhill,
and I didn’t take any walking breaks, yet it was slower than 12 minutes.
Halfway through mile 16,
I reached a half mile section that’s sharply downhill. That enabled me to bring my pace back down,
but only temporarily.
At the end of that mile,
I crossed the Charles River and entered Newton.
This is where the race gets tough.
There are four noticeable hills in Newton. In the past, I’ve taken pride in being able
to run strong on these hills. This time,
I needed to take walking breaks.
The first hill is the
most gradual, but it’s long. I didn’t
think I could run the whole thing, but it’s too long for me to walk all the
way. There’s an aid station right at the
beginning of this hill. I slowed to a
walk while drinking a cup of Gatorade.
Since I was already walking, I walked a bit farther. Then I forced myself to run.
I could only run so far
before I needed another walking break. I
paced myself up the hill by running until I needed to walk and then walking
just long enough to recover. I ended up
taking five short walking breaks on that hill.
After reaching the top of
that hill, I was able to run until the next one. The next hill is at 17.5 miles. It starts right where we make a right turn in
front of a fire station. This hill isn’t
as long, but it’s steeper.
The hill started out
gradual, so I ran until the grade got more tiring. Then I walked the rest of the hill. It was longer than I remembered. Perhaps it just seems longer when you’re
walking it, because it takes so much longer.
Because I walked so much
on the hills, miles 17 and 18 both took more than 13 minutes. Mile 19 was mostly downhill, and I was able
to bring my pace back down, although it was still slower than 11 minutes.
The next mile had another
hill, but it’s the easiest of the four hills in Newton. I had hoped to run it, but I still needed to
take a walking break.
When I reached the
20-mile mark, I was almost to the beginning of Heartbreak Hill. On this hill, I needed to take multiple
walking breaks again.
After heartbreak hill,
there’s a short downhill section, followed by one last uptick in the road. I had to walk that too.
I was almost to the
21-mile mark. Now, I was at the
beginning of a long downhill section that took me past Boston College. As long as it was downhill, I could force
myself to run. The next time the road
leveled off, I had to start taking walking breaks. Not counting the “scream tunnel,” this was
the first time I had to walk on a section that wasn’t uphill.
I ran the downhill
sections, and I did a run/walk mix on the flat sections. I was past all the major hills, but I was out
of gas.
Between 22 and 23 miles,
I made the left turn at Cleveland Circle.
There are multiple sets of train tracks in the street, so I always have
to watch my footing carefully there.
After that turn, I
focused on intermediate goals. The first
one was reaching the banner where we leave Boston to enter Brookline. Next, I focused on getting to the 23-mile
mark.
I did a time check at 23
miles. This is where I realized for the
first time that I would be slower this year than I was in 2016. That was hard to take. In 2016, I didn’t run at all in January and
February, because of injuries. When I
started training, it was only six weeks before the Boston Marathon, and I was
totally out of shape. I managed that
year to finish in about 5:08. This year
was going to be slower, even though I’m in much better shape.
The last few miles were
agonizingly slow. I was now needing to
employ the same run/walk pacing on flat sections that I used previously on long
hills. I took frequent walking breaks,
but I tried to keep them short, usually walking just 16 quick steps before
forcing myself to run again.
At 24 miles, I made
another bathroom stop. By now, the sun
had come out, and I was getting warm.
While I was stopped, I took my gloves off.
It was about this same
time that I got my first glimpse of the iconic Citgo sign. Then it disappeared behind the trees.
I was back in Boston
now. In the distance, I could see a
small hill. I recognized it as the place
where we come up to a bridge over the freeway.
The 40K sign is right at that bridge.
The 25-mile sign is just a bit farther.
I had to walk up to the
bridge, but then I forced myself to run again.
At the 25-mile aid station, I saw my friend Mary, who was volunteering
there. She had read my previous race
report, so she understood why I was struggling.
She gave me a hug and told me to finish strong.
Just past that, I reached
the one mile to go sign. Ahead of me, I
could see a bridge painted with the words, “Boston Strong.” I forced myself to run to that bridge. From there, it’s one kilometer to go.
As I ran under that
bridge, I could see the next one. I knew
from past experience I would go down a ramp to go under that bridge. On the other side, I would need to go up a
ramp. I forced myself to run until the
road turned uphill after the bridge.
Then I had to walk until the road leveled off again.
There were two more
turns. As I made the right turn onto
Hereford, I knew it would be the last hill.
We only run two short blocks on Hereford, but it’s slightly uphill. I forced myself to run the first half of
it. Then I needed to walk the second
half.
When I made the left turn
onto Boylston, I knew I would run the rest of the way. I could see the finish line in the distance,
but it was three and a half blocks away.
I had to run a block and a half just to get to the “26” sign. Then I just had two blocks to go.
I ran the rest of the
way, finishing in 5:16:42. It was my
slowest Boston Marathon by about eight minutes.
As soon as I stopped
running, I got cold. As I continued
moving through the finish area, I put on my gloves again.
There were volunteers
with water bottles, but I didn’t take one.
I was only a few blocks from my hotel, and I had plenty of water
there. I kept moving until I reached
what I really wanted, which was my finisher medal. This is the most coveted finisher medal a
runner can get, with the possible exception of a six-star medal.
Another volunteer was
handing out bottles of Gatorade. I
passed on that and kept walking to get to the volunteers with heat sheets.
In the next block, I
reached the post-race food. Most of the
food was in pre-assembled bags. Other
volunteers were handing out bananas, but I didn’t need any more food. The bag already had more than I could
eat. I was disappointed to see that the
food bag also had a bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade. After a race where I was usually cold and
drank plenty of fluids, I didn’t need that much more liquid.
It was one more block to
the end of the finish area, and then another block to get to my hotel. Before going up to my room, I stopped at the
hotel bar. I had noticed earlier that
they had the Samuel Adams 26.2 Brew. I
could think of no more appropriate post-race beverage.
While I was paying for my
beer, I set my food bag on the floor.
When I got to my room, I realized I had accidentally left my food bag it at
the bar. I wanted something to eat, but
my hands were turning white now. Before
doing anything else, I needed to take a hot shower. It took a long time for the color to return
to my hands.
After getting dressed, I
went back down to the bar to retrieve my food bag. It was still right where I left it. By the time I got back to my room again it
was already 5:30 PM. I wanted to get
some dinner before it got too much later.
Eating some of my snacks now would just spoil my appetite for dinner, so
I saved them for later.
I wanted to go to Night
Shift Brewing for dinner, but I needed to take the “T.” That was easier said than done. The trains get crowded after the marathon.
I needed a green line
train that would go at least as far as North Station. The first train to come into the station
would’ve gone there, but the train was so full that it didn’t even stop. The next train was only going as far as
Government Center. The one after that
was going far enough, but it was also packed.
I managed to squeeze on, but with so many trains backed up, it took a
long time just to get to the next station.
I needed to go four more stations after that. Then I had to walk a few blocks in the cold
wind.
When I got to Night Shift
Brewing, the place was packed. That
caught me off guard. When I was there on
Sunday, the place was practically empty.
It would have taken an hour to get a table. Around the bar, it was standing room
only. I got exceptionally lucky, and I
was able to get the seat of someone who was just leaving. That was a relief, because I was tired, it
was cold outside, and it was getting late to find someplace else.
I slept poorly the
previous three nights, but Monday night I crashed hard.
Tuesday, April 20
I flew home on
Tuesday. My flight wasn’t until 11:55,
so I was able to take my time getting ready to leave. My breakfast consisted mostly of post-race
snack foods, but I ate real food when I got to the airport.
I had time Sunday morning to catch up on the Facebook posts of several friends who also did the race. Because of the cool weather and the tailwind, most of them ran fast times. These were the best conditions I’ve ever seen at this race, but I wasn’t able to take advantage of it. This is probably the last time I’ll run another marathon on the same weekend as the Boston Marathon.
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