Goal time: 2:47
Official time: 2:51:19
I ran Boston in October of last year as my second ever marathon. It was an awesome experience but I didn’t put in serious training and treated it more like a vacation than a race. I still tried my hardest during the run, but I ran a stupid race and blew up spectacularly enough that I didn’t even re-qualify. Thankfully I was still able to use my 2019 time to get into the 2022 race.
This time, I swore I was going to put in a great training block and get a big PR. I did all the work, putting in more miles than ever this winter and felt really strong going into the run. I ran much smarter this time, not getting caught up in the excitement. I coasted the early down hills and didn’t spend extra energy navigating around people early on. After the initial crowd thinned, I was able to dial into my goal pace of 6:20. I made it though the half in 1:23 and felt completely fresh, but I knew that the big test comes in Newton between mile 17 to 21.
I hit the first Newton hill and was passing people left and right. I felt strong and happy that I had stuck to my plan and it was paying off. Second hill was fine and my pace had only dipped to 6:30 which was about what I was expecting. I gave Heartbreak Hill its due respect and my pace slowed to 6:50, but once I crested and started the downhill, I was getting back into a rhythm and closing back into 6:20 pace by mile 22. Mile 23 came and went at 6:30 pace and I was starting to hurt but felt like I still had enough pop in my legs to close out strong and nab a 2:46 high or 2:47 low. I picked up the pace a bit for the first 800 meters of mile 24 and then….the wall.
I had never experienced anything like it before. Over the course of about 200 meters my vision got blurry and tunnelled and it felt like I had lost all coordination in my legs. I was like being drunk without the fun parts. I went from feeling like I was going to close out a sub 6:00 pace to wondering if I could finish at all. I knew that if I stopped, I probably won’t be able to start running again so I just kept going trying not to fall down or swerve into anyone who was trying to pass me. I had built up several minutes over my old PR so I was hoping I could still limp in with a slight PR, but I kept looking at my watch seeing my 2:46 finishing pace slowly creep up and up until I realized that I would not be PRing at all. When I made the final turn onto Boylston, I just wanted it to end. Crossed the line at 2:51:19 and downed as many Gatorades as I could.
I ate the same amount of Gu’s during the race as I did when I ran a 2:49 in 2019, but I think the issue was that Boston started at 10am, and I left the hotel at 6:30am to catch the bus and just didn’t consume all the calories in the morning that I needed to sustain for the full race.
It’s hard to be totally satisfied when I was so close to big PR just to bonk it away two and a half miles from the finish, but I ran a smart race, conquered the Newton Hills, beat my last Boston time by 17 minutes, got a time good enough to requalify for Boston and NYC, and generally had the best race of my life for 24.5 miles.
It was awesome to participate in the non-covid protocol “real” Boston Marathon on Patriot’s Day. I honestly can’t imagine a better race exists anywhere in the world.
And my wife negative split the damn thing and came in at 3:19 which was an 11 minute PR!
So in the end, I’m so thankful for the experience and will take my hard earned lesson about pre-race nutrition with me as I train for whatever’s next.