Boston: Day 4

The alarm went off at 5:30 this race-day morning. I got dressed and packed up some post-race clothes and caught the shuttle to the subway along with a number of other runners. A fairly quick ride down to the Boston Common where we all caught school buses to Hopkinton. The organization was fantastic, but I guess after 112 years of practice, the race organizers have this part pretty much down pat.

I had about 2 1/2 hours to kill in the "Athlete's Village" so spent most of it sitting around, drinking Gatorade and eating bagels and bananas. It was a bit chilly when I arrived but by the time the race started, it had warmed up to the 50's.

The race started off well enough. I had hoped and planned to try to run around 10 minute miles for the race, based on my 9 1/2 minute/mile pace for the 3M half-marathon that I ran in January. I kept this pace up for the first 10 miles or so, but given that these miles were comprised of a series of rolling hills, by the time mile 11 or 12 rolled around, I was feeling the effects of those hills and was pretty much certain that the rest of the race was going to be difficult.

The temps warmed up to around 60 with very light winds but unfortunately the breeze, which was cool when it got through to the runners, was blocked by the dense trees along both sides of the course most of the way. With sunny skies, it was definitely warmer than I would have liked.

I managed to struggle along until mile 16 when "Heartbreak Hill" loomed. Actually Heartbreak Hill is a series of four hills over a stretch of four miles, the first and fourth being the most difficult. Well, Heartbreak Hill broke my heart (and a few other things). I really struggled up the fourth section and this pretty much ruined me for the last six miles. Ostensibly the last six miles are "all downhill" but that is not entirely true and even if it were, the ups-and-downs earlier in the race tends to take its toll on the quads so even downhills are no piece of cake.

The last three miles were particularly excruciating. They were mostly flat with crowds long the side of the road cheering but it seemed that they went on and on and on. I found that several Melanoma Foundation team members agreed. The worst part was a small (but it seemed very big) hill followed by a left-hand turn after which the finish line came into view seemingly several miles away (actually it was about 600 meters). Those were the longest 600 meters of my life but eventually I managed to negotiate all 600 of them and finished in 4:52.

That time is, obviously, slower than I had hoped for but given the nature of the course, I really can't be disappointed. I did, after all, receive a finisher's medal.

After having some water, a banana, receiving my medal and retrieving the clothes that I had checked at the start, I managed to hobble the two blocks to Jury's Hotel where the Melanoma Foundation was having a post-race get-together. Connie was already there when I arrived.

Trish, the race coordinator for the Foundation, had found out that the hotel had made some rooms available for runners to shower and change. I had to wait a few minutes for a room to be available, but after showering and changing, I felt several hundred percent better. I then went down to join the group and have something to eat. I visited with several of the other runners and compared notes on the race. It was really a lot of fun and quite an experience. Afterward, Connie and I went back to our hotel and spent the evening relaxing and watching TV.