Am I living in the twilight zone? The Boston Marathon weather was terrible!

I started blowing up at mile 10-11, Half marathon split was 8 minutes slower than what I ran a month ago. By mile 13 I was running my easy run pace and by mile 14 I was cramping and walking. Heart rate was 20BPM high at mile 6 vs all the runs i've done at that pace/effort in cool conditions.

I would add that I have heard temperature reports from Hopkinton and Boston but none from in between…I would wager it was even hotter in Natick, Wellsley, and Newton b/w 11:00-2:00.

The forecast looked hot to me going in. Didn’t run this year but I was confused why people said it was perfect leading up.

My pr is Houston 2022 which was a mid 30s to low 40s gusty day and my hands went numb for the first 5 miles. More ideal conditions imo

I found it weird weather. the start was warm, not hot. not ideal but not terrible. some parts of course felt warm when there was little wind and sun was out beating down.

lots of people passed me early and were sweating a good amount.

other times the clouds blocked the sun and there was a cool side breeze and those periods it felt like good conditions.

seemed like more people than usual were walking the last three miles. Lots of carnage.

at one point a kid was spraying people on the course with a hose and lots of people moved over to get sprayed.

Not ideal conditions but not terrible conditions either. think a good number of people thought/were convinced it was going to be good conditions and got carried away early on and paid later in the race.

Buncha pansy azzes.

Coming from the south it's been warm for 2+ months so maybe that has helped. For me I usually run horribly in humidity even compared to those that live in dryer or colder climates. it was a bit warm however, it wasn't that humid (low dew point). A lot of this comes down to adjusting plans not necessarily pace... I took extra fuel during the race not for the calories but for the extra sodium. I drank at least 2 cups of water at each water station and started dumping it on my neck as early as the 2nd water station. I was getting constantly passed from 5k-15k despite running very even paced then passed almost everyone the last half. Most people around me didn't seem to be taking as much fuel as me. this is something I have noticed in road runners or those that come from college track and xc is they fuel for marathons as if they have perfect conditions every time. tri-athletes and ultra runners fuel as if they are running badwater or kona even if they have perfect conditions... the reality is you need to know what your body will do based on the dew point and sun and adjust your fueling accordingly and like others have mentioned that changes based on the seasons for many (unless you live in a place that has constantly the same weather like CA/mediterranean or altitude in the tropics (Kenya, Mexico etc)). I've got this wrong many times.. seemed like the majority of people got it wrong as well.

The heat in 1982 ruined my running career…or was that the sexual assault?

I closely analyze the results data every year. Even though the cutoff to get into this race was faster than last year(when the weather was extremely fast for Boston) the average time was 3 minutes slower for the better athletes(sub 2:45 crowd) and at least 5 minutes slower for those above 3 hours.

Also, field size was similar but 1000 fewer people finished, indicating a bunch more people DNF'd.

This is my 4th time at Boston. 2018 was the slowest weather I've ever seen. This wasn't THAT bad, but it was definitely the slowest weather since then. There was a ton of carnage. I started seeing fit athletes from wave 1 walking at mile 10. More walkers than I've ever seen at the newton hills.

The combo of the warm temps, direct sunlight, humidity and tailwind made this race very uncomfortable. The tailwind was absolutely a disadvantage in this weather as it removed convection for cooling.

If you don’t prepare for the heat as much as you prepare for the hills you might as well not show up. Look at the weather history, almost every other year is now above average temperatures. Follow a heat training protocol 10 days out, overdress on all your runs. Stop spending 500 bucks on shoes and join the Y for month to get in a sauna.

I have done it 15 times, learnt the hard way.

This exactly. It’s easy to hit the wall in perfect conditions in Boston. I adjusted my pace by 12-15 seconds, started at the back of my corral and got passed by at least 1000 people in the first 16 miles.

I finished 4500 places better than my bib number (with a time 5 minutes slower than my BQ). It was not a good day to PR, but it was fine to run a controlled race.

Exactly my experience, I’m ashamed to say

Boston is just a different beast than what it was 20 years ago. Even if you were just marginally talented (like me), you didn't have to run as hard in your qualifying race to make it into Boston. Qualifying times were easier and applications were first come, first served, so there was no imaginary cut-off time to worry about. Hell, they would even give you up to 59 seconds past your QT and still let you in. Basically, you could run your qualifier, then go race Boston.

Because of faster QT times and the 5+ minute cut-offs, those marginally talented people (like me) now have to push themselves to (or past) their talent levels to get in. Others are using downhill courses to qualify, and then not adjusting their pace appropriately for Boston's hills. In any case, lots of these runners could use a year's rest, but instead, they're running Boston 6 months after a hard marathon effort and they are semi-cooked. Couple that with temps they're not ready to run in, even if those temps don't appear to be overly warm, and you're going to get a lot of blow-ups.

Having run in 2006 and 2019, I can see the difference as I described above. My advice... race your qualifier, then go have fun at Boston.

Did not know they allowed you to be +0:59 above your baseline. I always assumed it was a hard 3:05/3:10 whatever, and then the imaginary cutoff (4-6 mins.) on top of that.

If I ever make it to Boston someday that's good advice. Jog it and take in the experience...it does not seem like a good PR course regardless of weather.

I really thought I'd be ok because there was an aid station every mile...but boy was I wrong. I live in northern Minnesota and train at 6am (only time i can with work/family), and it's been about 25-35 with the sun not up when I start. I ran a comfortable 10mi tempo at 6:05 pace (goal MP) a few weeks ago with an average HR of 150 or so...and couldn't even hold sub 7 pace for 10 miles in BOS. Think I split a 1:45 second half or so and I was working for it. If you aren't ready for it, that heat kills you. The air temp alone was 30 more than I've run in all spring, and then add in the direct sun...yikes. I was pretty much bed ridden with a wet rag on my head the rest of Monday

out of any marathon- Boston will have the most complainers. The weather was not ideal, but it wasn't that bad as 117 guys were under 230. If you were prepared for the race physically, and could manage the heat, it was fine

People aren't mentioning the Boston start time enough. Running from 10am-1 pm is much different than 7am-10am like most races. That's easily a 15 degree average temp increase. Don't think we would have seen nearly as much suffering if Boston was a typical start.

apple weather sucks ass dude.

Minimal wind out there

Been mentioned before in this thread, but the logistics of getting everyone to the start line and the volunteers in place make it very difficult to get everyone into place at an earlier time. The long term solution is moving the race off Patriot's Day, but races are notoriously stubborn about moving their historical dates. Except Chicago, which decided a couple decades ago that it would rather risk heat stroke in early October rather than hypothermia towards the end of October.