I flew out on Friday afternoon and on the same flight was Mahlon Hellman and Heather O'Brien and I had the opportunity to meet Betty Joe Saylers, who was just featured in that day's Hendersonville newspaper.
Saturday morning I went to the expo to get my bib and packet and waited my wife's arrival on Saturday afternoon. I did get a 4 mile run in Saturday morning in the Boston Commons.
I was constantly watching the weather forecast, hoping that the rain and heavy winds would be removed from the forecast. I started worrying about how I was going to stay warm and how the rain and wind would affect me. After soliciting some advice from HRC, I had a plan for what to wear.
I decided to get some CVX compression shorts, which would repel the rain better than the shorts I had brought. Then I decided to get some long compression socks as they would repel the rain and keep my legs warm. I've only worn long compression socks a few times last fall after a calf strain, never tried them on a long run.
I also found a nice Boston Marathon stocking cap I could actually put my visor over. That way my head stays warm and the visor keeps the rain off of my glasses. Never ran with both a visor and cap, but I thought it was best.
They say nothing new on race day and here I'm planning on running the Boston Marathon with a completely new outfit. I even bought a new shirt on Sunday to race with.
Sunday my wife and I had an early 6 PM dinner. I took my Benadryl around 7:30 PM and went to bed around 8:30 PM.
It took me a long time to get to sleep, but I knew laying there was getting me the rest. I would wake up here and there during the night, but always got back to sleep right away. My alarm was set for 6 AM and while I was awake at 5:15 AM, I felt nice and relaxed. I knew I had slept enough during the night that it was a non factor. I finally got out of bed at 5:50 AM and started getting ready.
At 6:45 AM I walked to the Boston Commons to get the bus to Hopkinton. Just as the bus arrived, it started to rain. It was still just around 8:15 AM, so I had over 2 hours to the start. I had a poncho on that Marathon Tours gave me on Saturday, so it helped keep my running clothes dry. I went under one of the tents and shortly after the rain stopped and then I made the usual porta-potty stops.
At around 9:50 AM they called my corral 6 for wave 2 to go towards the starting area. I walked down there, which felt like I was in a heard of cattle. They had more porta-potty's waiting so one final pit stop.
You could feel the electricity in the air. I could hear them announcing the elite runners and heard the big cheer for Meb. And then you could hear them start.
Soon it would be my turn. I waited until the last possible moment to take off my sweatpants and sweatshirt that I had planned to discard.
At 10:25 AM, they finally released wave 2 and about 5 or so minutes later I finally made it over the start line and was off and running.
With the first 15 miles downhill, my coach's instructions were to not go under 7:45. The first mile was so crowded, all I could do was an 8 minute mile. Finally some space opened up on mile 2 and I was able get closer to 7:50, not letting it get under 7:45.
The winds were really not bad at the start compared to the forecast. It did start to rain a few miles into the race, but it was tolerable. Temperature wise I was feeling pretty good.
I made it to the half way point in 1:44:07. This was 5 seconds faster than the first half at Grandma's Marathon, where I qualified for Boston with a 3:26:21. However, Boston was heavily downhill the first half.
You could notice the winds were getting stronger and were straight into us when I got started on the second half . I could notice it slowing me down slightly on miles 14 and 15 and I hit paces of 8:06 and 8:14. But I knew the Newton hills were starting after 16 miles, so I didn't want to exert more energy. Mile 16 had a nice downhill before Newton so I was able to sneak back under 8:00.
You could feel the winds picking up the further I went into the race. I didn't feel too bad about miles 17-20 in the hills (8:26, 8:27, 8:12, 8:31 paces). But the wind going up heartbreak hill was tough. I barely got under 9:00 for mile 21.
My initial thought going into this race was just get me to mile 21. Then the hills were over and I had some down hill and level miles to the streets of Boston.
I did some quick calculations after 21 miles and I pretty much knew that getting under 3:30 and re-qualifying for Boston wasn't going to happen. But my plan is to run London in April 2016, so I went for goal 2, which was sub 3:35. It was feeling decent running 8:10-8:15 pace and that would secure the sub 3:35.
With about a half mile to go, I was thinking it might be possible to get a 3:33:33 time, but overshot it by 5 seconds. For me, taking home a 3:33:38 time on my first Boston Marathon in those conditions was very rewarding and I feel truly blessed to have been able to run Boston just two years after taking up running.
It was nice to be able to finish those last miles while feeling pretty good and not hanging on for dear life. I enjoyed every step down Boylston Street to the finish line.
I'm hoping for another date with Boston in 2017.
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