For the second straight year, I decided to do the B.A.A. 5K race. This race is held on Saturday morning, two days before the Boston Marathon.
I arrived in Boston on
Friday. I couldn’t get a room at the
hotel where I stayed last year, but I found a hotel in the downtown area. I was excited about this location. It was close to T stations on all four lines. It was also just a few blocks from the North
End.
My race bib for the 5K race was
mailed to me, but I still needed to pick up my race packet for the marathon. After checking in at my hotel, I went to
Hynes Convention Center, where the expo was held. After picking up my race bib for the marathon,
I visited a few of the booths.
After the expo, I went back to
the hotel to drop off my race packet before going to dinner. For dinner, I went to a brewery at Lovejoy
Wharf that serves Detroit-style pizza.
They had one called “figgy piggy” that included prosciutto and a
tomato-fig jam. It’s the best pizza I’ve
ever had in Boston, and I’ve been to Boston 12 times.
After dinner, I was up later
than I planned. I was talking to other
runners in the hotel lobby, and I lost track of time. I was able to get to sleep quickly, but I
only slept for a few hours before waking up.
After that, my mind was racing, and I couldn’t get back to sleep.
I had to leave before the hotel
started their breakfast service. I
neglected to pick up anything for breakfast the night before, so my breakfast
consisted of Gatorade and Ensure that were in my race packet.
The 5K race started at Boston
Common on Charles Street. The race didn’t
start until 8:00 AM, but the corrals open at 7:30, and I wanted to have time to
make a bathroom stop, so I left the hotel before 7:00.
The temperature was in the upper
40s when I left the hotel. I dressed
warm enough that I wouldn’t get too cold before and after the race. They had a gear check, but I didn’t want to bother
with that. Instead, I wore a Tyvek
jacket and tied it around my waist before I started running.
Last year I race-walked the 5K. I was using it as part of my training for the
5K race-walking event at the National Senior Games. I’m competing at the National Senior Games
again this year, but in addition to the race-walking events, I’m also doing the
5K run. I decided to run this race, because
I haven’t run a 5K race in decades, and I needed to get a feel for how fast I
can run this distance.
When I lined up in the start
area, it seemed like I was a long way from the starting line. After the wheelchair athletes started, the
rest of us moved a little closer. By the
time the elite men, elite women, and Paralympians started, I was much closer to
the starting line.
I haven’t trained for a 5K
race, so I didn’t have high expectations.
I expected the first mile to be slow, just because of the
congestion. There were 10,000 runners in
this race, and it takes time for that many runners to get moving.
I expected to initially be held
back by the wall of runners in front of me.
My plan was to run as fast as I could without bumping into people. As the runners in front of me accelerated, I
would too. I planned to keep accelerating
until I couldn’t keep up any more. I was
surprised how quickly I got out of breath.
I wasn’t even around the first turn yet.
I was only a couple minutes
into the race when I realized I needed to back off a little. I didn’t have a good feel for what a
sustainable pace would feel like. I
found a pace that still had me feeling out of breath, but seemed like it would
be sustainable for at least a mile. I
had doubts about sustaining my effort for 5K, but I wanted to find out what my
limit was.
There are three sharp turns in
the first half mile: right on Boylston, right on Arlington, and then left onto
Commonwealth Avenue. After that, it was
mostly straight for the next mile. By
the time I negotiated there three turns, I had settled into my pace, and I was trying
to stay on pace by keeping up with the runners around me.
When I reached the one mile
mark, I looked at my watch. I was
curious to know how fast I was going. I
was crushed to see that I ran the first mile in 7:58. A few years ago, I was running marathons
faster than that, yet today I was completely out of breath after only one
mile. The worst part was not knowing if
I could sustain this pace.
Midway through the second mile,
we went under a bridge. We dipped down
briefly and then had to come back uphill.
That short climb was much more tiring this year than it was last year. Hills don’t slow me down as much when I’m
race-walking.
At the halfway point, we turned
to go around the median and then turned again to begin heading back on the
other side of Commonwealth. Now we were
following the marathon route. We went
under the bridge again, but this time it felt more familiar. I’m used to running this underpass in the
last mile of the marathon.
I made the familiar right turn
onto Hereford and ran toward Boylston.
Just before the turn onto Boylston, I reached the Mile 2 sign. I looked at my watch again. I ran that mile in 7:56. I still wasn’t happy with my pace, but I was
pleased that I wasn’t slowing down.
Now I could see the scaffolding
over the finish line for the Boston Marathon.
Everything for the marathon was already in place. Above the marathon finish line, a message
board kept repeating the following four messages:
Welcome B.A.A. 5K Runners
Keep Running
7/10 Mile to Go
This is Not the Finish Line
I knew this wasn’t our finish
line, but I felt like I was completely out of gas. I kept up my effort, but I didn’t think I could
make it all the way back to Boston Common without slowing down.
After crossing the marathon
finish line, it was three more blocks to Arlington Street. Each one was a struggle. Then it was one more long block to get to
Charles Street. As I entered that block,
I saw runners on the other side of the street who were in the second wave. I was almost done, and they were just getting
started.
When I finally made the turn
onto Charles, I could see the Mile 3 sign.
I thought I was slowing down in that mile, but I actually sped up. I ran it in 7:44. After that, I raced toward the finish line as
best I could.
I finished in 24:21. In my youth, I was able to run 5K races in
less than 18 minutes. I knew I would be
slower now, but I still didn’t expect to be this much slower. To be competitive in the National Senior
Games, I would probably need to be a minute per mile faster. I only have three months to train. I don’t think I can get there from here.
The finisher medal for the 5K looks
different from the marathon medal, but it still includes the familiar B.A.A.
logo.
After the race, I walked through
the finish area, where I was handed a bag of food. I forgot how much food they give you after
this race. The bag included a package of
four King’s Hawaiian rolls, a bag of pretzels, and a small package of Fig
Newtons. If I wanted, I could’ve also
picked up a banana and a water bottle.
Next, I went to the T-shirt
tent. You could pick up your shirt
either before or after the race. I didn’t
check a gear bag, so I waited until after the race to get my shirt.
When I got back to the hotel,
they were still serving breakfast. I had
a light breakfast at the hotel and saved the post-race snacks. They can be my pre-race breakfast for the
marathon.
I’ll be racing again on Monday. Stay tuned for my race report for the Boston Marathon.
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