Hopkinton wrote:
[quote]Soft Landing wrote:
If you're tougher than the rest, they'll wilt in the heat while you improve your finishing position. Let them worry about the heat. Draw on your experience and tenacity to run the smartest race you can given the conditions.
Understood. But tenacity is perfectly useless if you haven't had the opportunity to train in warm temps since last September, while others have.[quote]
That is a risk with all spring marathons. You train through the cold of winter then hope it doesn't heat up come race day, which is why I prefer fall marathons. If it's hot you're acclimated, and if it's cool you're set for a fast day.
One of the recent Boston's I ran in (can't remember if it was 08 or 10) was misty and cold in Hopkinton all morning until about 15 minutes before the race went off. Then the mist cleared, out came the sun, and it felt like it went from 50 to 70 in a matter of minutes. I throttled back my race plans and went out conservatively. Probably a little too conservatively, but it felt great over the last 5 miles feeling like I was running through a group of joggers. That was as memorable as a fast time would have been.