Alright, I'll see if I can't add some details to the race. I should've remembered some of your guys' bib numbers for a hello and hi-five. That would've been great.
Original goal was 2:52:59, thought I was probably in 2:48-2:50 form. Finished in 2:50:51. I wouldn't have believed that was possible one yr ago, but now it's in the books baby.
Felt good at the start, took it out a little too slow at the gun but whatever. Was running with the Japanese guy dressed as Minnie Mouse for a while. There was a hippie dude running barefoot. It was fun to look around, check out all the kids wanting hi-fives and handing out orange wedges, the signs, the national guardsmen who were out. It was a beautiful day to be out in a race. Wellesley was incredible. I ran through there just smiling, it was awesome. One girl had a sign that read "Kiss me, I'm a senior". Sadly, I have no pics. One guy ran through with hi-fives and the pitch of the screaming went up a notch. You could still hear those ladies long after we'd passed on.
Hit the half in a PR, 1:24:40. Felt good, spot-on with the pacing. The crowds really started to build at 16mi where the first metro-stop was. I was scanning the crowd for my wife and began to realize the weight creeping into my legs. For some reason I just started to zone out on all those faces and the clapping and begin to not notice the runners I was passing or running with. I felt the strain in my legs on the hills but passed loads of guys that were beginning to move backwards. I didn't notice Heartbreak until we were on it. People had told me it was nothing, all hype, but it was pretty big. The crowd was just hollering and screaming at us. A couple of guys ahead of me just broke and started walking. It took me a moment after I'd passed them to think 'Did those guys just stop running?'. Wow.
After Heartbreak I started to worry that collapse wouldn't wait for 26mi. There was considerable carnage going on around us, people pulling out into the road to stretch a hamstring, people just stopping in the water stations to get their fluids down. Lots of people moving backwards. I had imagined myself smoking past all these guys after 30K and gaining strength from it, but instead it was freaking me out that somehow it was contagious and the legs weren't going to make it.
I looked up at one point and saw a sweet looking coed with a sign that read 'Run faster bitches'. That just cracked me up and I snapped out of it a little. Unacceptable level of speed - copy that. Some guy in front of me must've been wearing a Yankees hat, or Yankees shirt or something and the students at BC just laid into him. I was only running with him for a hundred yards or so, but he had to have been cursed at for the entire 26mi. Not clever taunts or curses, just hatred. I'm not sure what the motivation for that guy was.
AKMarmoset - I didn't hear you at 22man. That would've been awesome though. It was awesome to read that you saw us all go by. I was real focused at that point on the ground in front of me and the repetition of my foot-strikes. Just mentally willing the pace, clinging to the idea of breaking 2:50 and not burning up into a fireball of doom. The crowds at this point were just screaming. I was in serious pain, but it was incredible. Better than I would've imagined. I probably passed a couple hundred runners over the last three miles but it was a very fine line between the surrounding implosions and one of my own. Turning onto Boylston my watch read 2:48:30. I was flailing at top speed, trying not to fall flat on my face since the legs were getting wobbly. Checked my watch 30sec later and the finish line was no closer, so I knew it wasn't going to happen. Got passed by a guy that looked about 55+ and was fine with letting him go, then thought F* that, and kicked past him to the line. I know it's all chip time but my last memory of that race was not going to be some old guy pipping me at the line after running all that way. Had to go Clubber Lang on that dude.
So, strong race. Incredible experience. Great day. Congrats to all and best of luck to those running in the coming weeks.
mi 1 6:49 whoops
mi 2 6:20
mi 3 6:20
mi 4 6:20
mi 5 6:37
mi 6 6:26
mi 7 6:28
mi 8 6:29
mi 9 6:22
mi 10 6:31
mi 11 6:27
mi 12 6:27
mi 13 6:26
mi 14 6:28
mi 15 6:34
mi 16 6:21
mi 17 6:40
mi 18 6:46
mi 19 6:29
mi 20 6:44
mi 21 6:52 Heartbreak
mi 22 6:34
mi 23 6:43 this one had me worried
mi 24 6:33 I'm back! I'm also mostly blacked out
mi 25 6:34
mi 26 7:34 (6:18 pace) old guy punchout