On April 19, I ran the Boston 5K. This race was formerly known as the B.A.A. 5K. This is the fourth straight year that I’ve done this race. It’s held two days before the Boston Marathon, so it’s convenient.
They changed the course
this year. The race used to start and
finish on Charles Street, between Boston Common and the Boston Public
Garden. The new course starts on
Boylston Street, next to the Boston Public Garden. The new starting line is around the corner
from the old one.
The bigger change was
moving the finish line. The race used to
finish where it started. Now, it
finishes at the Boston Marathon finish line.
I like this change. The last kilometer
of the 5K route is now the same as the last kilometer of the marathon.
A lot of the people doing
the 5K race are local runners who have never run the Boston Marathon. The new course gives them an opportunity to
finish a race at the Boston Marathon finish line, which is among the most iconic
finish lines in the world.
I
arrived in Boston Friday afternoon and took the subway to my hotel. I stayed at the Hilton Boston Park Plaza,
which is only a block from where the 5K race starts. It’s also a convenient location for the
marathon. I’ve stayed at this hotel
twice before. The last time I stayed
here was 11 years ago, before it was a Hilton hotel.
After
checking in, I walked over to the Hynes Convention Center, where the marathon
expo was held. My race bib for the 5K
race was mailed to me, but I still needed to pick up my race packet for the
marathon. I had good timing and arrived
at a time when there wasn’t any line to get in.
After
bringing my race packet back to the hotel, I took the time to do some strength
training exercises. This hotel has a
huge fitness center, although it took me a while to find it.
For a
marathon, I usually have pizza as my pre-race dinner. For the 5K race, I wanted something that wasn’t
as heavy. I found a place where I could
get veggie tacos and sweet potato fries.
That seemed just right at the time, but may have been too much fiber. More on that later.
I got to bed early enough to
get a full night’s sleep. I slept well,
only waking up a couple times. I
typically wake up every hour or two.
The race was divided into two
waves. I was in the first wave, so I
needed to be in the start corral by 7:30 AM, even though the race didn’t start
until 8:00. My alarm was set for 6:00, but
I was already awake. As soon as I woke
up, my mind was on the race.
I didn’t have time for a sit-down
breakfast, and I wouldn’t have wanted to eat a full meal anyway. I made do with food that was in my race
packet for the marathon.
Before leaving the hotel, I
spent about half an hour in the bathroom.
It seems like everything I ate in the last three days was going through
me. When I finally left for the race, I
wasn’t sure if I was done.
The temperature was about 60
degrees. I could’ve run comfortably in
shorts, but I chose to wear tights. I was
going to be in the start corral longer than I would be running, and I
remembered how windy it was when I was walking to and from the expo.
Although the starting line was
on Boylston, the start corrals were around the corner on Charles Street. The only people who could line up on Boylston
were the wheelchair athletes and the professional athletes. After they started, the rest of us gradually
moved forward. After moving forward, I
was right at the corner. I could see the
starting line, but it was still a good distance away.
This is a large race. I would guess there were about 10,000
runners. Inevitably, with that many
runners, it takes a while for everybody to get up to speed. I was held back a bit by the congestion until
I got around the first turn.
I kept accelerating until I was
getting out of breath. I don’t do many
short races, and when I do, I’m usually race-walking. Running a 5K feels different than
race-walking one. When I’m race-walking,
I can only move my legs so fast. This
morning, I knew my legs could go faster, but I also knew I was close to my
aerobic limit. I had to make an educated
guess how fast of a pace I could sustain for the rest of the race.
After the second turn, we were
running west on Commonwealth Avenue.
Here, we ran straight for a while.
I still needed to pass a few runners who lined up too far forward, but
there was enough room to get around them.
I started to settle in and run at the pace of the runners around me.
I didn’t have any idea how fast
I was running until I finished the first mile.
I got there in 7:30. That’s
comparable to my pace in other recent 5K races.
I think my best recent starting pace was 7:22, but congestion at the
start made it impossible to start that fast.
Next, we angled to the left and
went down a ramp to go under Massachusetts Avenue. I accelerated going down the ramp, but struggled
to hold my pace going back uphill on the other side. By the time I reached finished that short
climb, I was intensely out of breath.
Looking ahead, I could see the
Citgo sign in the distance. In the
marathon, you see it late in the race, but today, I was seeing it from the
opposite side.
As we reached Charlesgate Park,
we had to made three quick turns. First,
we turned right to run along the east edge of the park. Then, we turned left onto Beacon Street. After running through the park, we angled to
the right to turn onto Bay State Road.
These were all streets that I had never run on before.
Along Bay State Road, I left
like I was running a consistent pace, but then I started to notice that some of
the other runners were passing me. I
wanted to challenge myself to keep up with them, but I knew I couldn’t sustain a
faster pace. I thought about how far
away the Citgo sign was when I saw it earlier.
I knew we would have to go past it before we started coming back.
We followed Bay State Road as
far Sibley. After making two left turns
in rapid succession, we were back on Commonwealth, but now we were running in
the opposite direction.
As I reached the two-mile mark,
I was curious to know if it was faster than the first mile. The first mile included a congested start, so
I was hopeful that this mile would be faster.
It was, but only by a few seconds.
As we ran through Kenwood
Square, I knew we had one mile to go. I expected
the last mile of the 5K race to be identical to the last mile of the
marathon. There was one small
difference. Commonwealth Avenue is a divided
parkway. The marathon route follows the
eastbound lanes. We were on the opposite
side, in what are normally the lanes for westbound traffic.
Ahead of me, I could see the Charlesgate
Bridge, which is painted with the words, “Boston Strong.” Just before we got there, we turned to cross
over to the other side of Commonwealth Avenue.
Now, with one kilometer to go, we were on the marathon route.
I could see the triple blue line
that’s painted in the street to show elite athletes where to run to follow the
most efficient path. I stayed close to
this line the rest of the way.
For days, I had imagined how I
would feel at this point in the race. I
knew the rest of the course like the back of my hand. I imagined myself deep in oxygen debt, but
pushing myself hard to the finish. The
reality was different. I felt like I
expected to feel, but I just couldn’t push myself to go any faster. Physically, I was probably capable of running
harder. I just couldn’t motivate myself
to do it.
It briefly got easier as I went
down the ramp to go under Massachusetts Avenue again. It was tough coming up the ramp on the other
side. As the street leveled off, it got
easier again. Then I made the right turn
onto Hereford.
Hereford is slightly uphill for
two short blocks. I had imagined
charging up that hill. I couldn’t force
myself to do it. I maintained the same
effort.
As I made the final turn onto
Boylston, I had a different problem.
Since the second mile, I had felt pressure building up in my intestines. You never know if it’s just gas, and you don’t
want to find out the hard way. I was
within sight of the finish line, but I had to hold back. If I ran any harder, I risked having an “accident.”
I didn’t actually slow down on
Boylston, but I wasn’t giving it my best effort. That was frustrating. In the distance, I could see the large
digital clock just beyond the finish line.
It was counting up, but I couldn’t risk going any faster.
I finished in 23:23. Comparing that time to other 5K races that I’ve
done in recent years, this one falls somewhere in the middle. I’m satisfied with my time, but I’m
disappointed that I wasn’t able to push myself harder on Boylston. The good news is that I’ll get another chance
on Monday, when I run the marathon.
The finish area for the 5K is
similar to the finish area for the marathon.
It stretched on for the next three blocks. After crossing the line, you need to keep
moving forward. That was fine with
me. I was motivated to get back to the
hotel, and I was moving in the right direction.
About a block after the finish
line, I reached the volunteers handing out food bags. They give you as much food after the 5K race
as they do after the marathon.
Just beyond the tables with the
food bags, there were a few tables with bananas. I skipped those. I already had more food than I needed.
In the next block, I got my
finisher medal. The medals for the 5K
race feature the B.A.A. logo, so they’re similar to the marathon medals. I now have 18 of these unicorn medals.
The next block had our
T-shirts. After picking up my shirt, I
kept on walking, so I could get back to the hotel for a much-needed bathroom
stop.
The Boston Marathon is Monday. Stay tuned.
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