Boston Marathon: race report

It has taken me a while to post this race report from the Boston Marathon, mainly because my day job keeps me very busy at this time of year. But I also needed some time to reflect on the race.

I set a small (22 second) PR of 3:06:04. Both the course and the weather (headwind and rain) were more difficult than I’ve experienced before in a marathon – certainly in comparison with my previous PR, which was set in perfect conditions on a mostly flat course in Philadelphia a year and a half ago.

Since I was on pace to finish 10 minutes faster than that last December in Pisa before dropping out at 35k, I can’t say I’m all that excited about the time itself, even if it is a PR. What I am very happy about, however, is that I felt and ran much stronger in the second half of the race than I ever have before in a marathon, and that I did it after missing a lot of training.

Here are side-by-side splits from the previous three marathons I’ve finished. On the left is my previous PR race in Philly. In the 16 weeks before Philly I averaged 64 miles per week. The erratic early pacing and my poor fueling strategy may have contributed to my falling off pace early in Philly, but at the time I was still pleased about not completely falling apart. After Philly I never fully got back into training mode and averaged only 36.8 miles over the 16 weeks before Grandma’s, which is in the middle column. At Grandma’s (another mostly flat course) I fueled much more wisely but eventually fell apart big time. In the 16 weeks before Boston, represented on the right, I averaged 38.7 miles per week – about the same volume as before Grandma’s, but my training is much smarter now that I’m working with Ryan Vail. (In the 16 weeks before Pisa I averaged 55.7 miles per week, but I don’t have mile splits from Pisa since my watch was set on km.)

Philly 11/17/13   Grandma's 6/20/14  Boston 4/20/15


mile 1:   7:04                   6:53                     7:11


mile 2:   6:37                   6:46                     6:54


mile 3:   6:42                   6:45                     6:55


mile 4:   6:44                   6:48                     6:52


mile 5:   6:48                   6:51                     7:15 (quick pee break)


mile 6:   7:07                   6:49                     6:48


[10k:     42:01                 42:29                   43:37]


mile 7:   6:34                   6:51                     6:50


mile 8:   6:55                   6:52                     6:56


mile 9:   6:45                   6:52                     6:56


mile 10: 7:05                   6:44                     6:57


mile 11: 6:47                   6:59                     6:59


mile 12: 6:46                   6:48                     6:57


mile 13: 6:55                   6:49                     6:57


[Half:    1:29:27              1:29:56                1:31:37]


mile 14: 6:49                   6:45                     6:57


mile 15: 6:49                   6:54                     7:04 (stomach trouble after gel #4)


mile 16: 6:55                   6:57                     6:53 (downhill then Newton hills begin)


mile 17: 7:17                   7:06                     7:18


mile 18: 7:36                   7:09                     7:14


[30k:     2:08:42               ------                   2:11:05]


mile 19: 7:29                   7:06                     7:04


mile 20: 7:36                   7:31                     7:15


mile 21: 7:36                   7:35                     7:39 (heartbreak)


mile 22: 7:34                   7:34                     7:00


mile 23: 7:41                   8:21                     7:13


mile 24: 7:32                   8:44                     7:05


mile 25: 7:39                   7:57                     7:15


mile 26: 7:42                   8:05                     7:21


finish:   3:06:26              3:10:33                3:06:04

During the first 10k, I just tried to warm up and get rolling comfortably, whatever my pace turned out to be. After a few miles I started settling into 3:00 pace, around 6:50 (not factoring in a quick pee break). From the start through 7 miles or so it was raining lightly and the wind was barely noticeable with all the other people running around and in front of me. 

But then around 8 miles it started raining more moderately and the wind became more noticeable. I maintained roughly the same effort level, but the worsening conditions meant that I slowed down to just under 7:00 pace. Things stayed this way through 14 miles or so. I remained comfortable and was deliberately erring on the side of taking it too easy. Instead of being bothered by the conditions, I was pumped up by the cheering crowds of spectators and looking forward to the second half.

I ate a gel with water around miles 4, 7, 11, and 15, usually taking another small swig of water at the next fuel station a mile later in each case. Everything went down fine until the fourth gel in mile 15, which caused me some stomach discomfort. Otherwise I still felt ok, but this worried me. I briefly slowed a bit in mile 15 and took a small swig of water at the next station in mile 16 to help settle things, after which I resolved not to put anything in my stomach for a while. Luckily this stomach issue seems to have worked itself out during the long downhill in mile 16 just before the Newton hills begin.

Once I hit the hills, the race was on, the crowds were loud, and I was pumped again. Supposedly there are four major hills, but I found the first and last (heartbreak) to be the hardest and was surprised by how much downhill there was during that 5 mile stretch as well. On the first hill I pushed a bit and was passing people, but it went on long enough and I was tired enough at the top that I decided to take it easier on the next couple hills in order to save something for heartbreak. My splits don't seem to reflect this, perhaps because the next two hills weren't as hard and there was a lot of downhill to balance them out. By the time I reached 20 miles, before heartbreak, I knew that I had judged my energy reserves well and was feeling stronger than ever before at that point in a marathon. Heartbreak is the steepest of the Newton hills but not radically steeper than the others and not longer. I put in about the same effort as on the previous two hills, which meant I slowed down even more because it's steeper, mainly just making sure my form held together and biding my time until I reached the top. By this point I had started drinking a little gatorade at some, not all, of the fueling stations.

After heartbreak I felt euphoric but remembered people saying that the last 5 miles can be the hardest on this course. They're mostly downhill, but you still need to run 5 more miles after already having run 21. You expect and want the finish line to come sooner than it does. So I got back into a rhythm and resisted the urge to push too hard. This was the first time, in my ninth marathon, than I still felt solid and smooth after 20 miles. Knowing this, I was pumped but didn't want to screw it up. Soon the weather worsened further - again both the rain and the headwinds picked up. Perhaps that's why my 23rd mile split is slower, but I maintained the same effort level. Around 23 miles, I hazarded eating half a gel with water, which went down fine. I figured that I was on 3:04 or 3:05 pace, which is faster than I had hoped going into this. But most importantly I wanted to stay strong all the way to the finish. I concentrated on just keeping my form together and getting through one mile at a time.

It wasn't until I saw the Citgo sign, which is a mile from the finish but which you first see about a mile and a half from the finish, that I allowed myself to think that I was almost there. With the heavy rain and strong headwind, though, and after running 25 miles, I wasn't able to speed up at all. I just held it together and kept on going. After 25 miles I realized that in fact I was only on 3:06 pace. So it was really only during the last mile that I thought about time, when I was aiming at least to get under my then-PR of 3:06:26 and maybe to get under 3:06 if possible.

I did set a small PR, which always feels good. But the time isn't what feels best about how my race went, even when I speculate about how much faster I could have run on a flatter course in better conditions. Again, what I feel best about by far is how strong I stayed in the second half, which was my main goal going into this race. In every one of my other eight marathons (well, seven, not including one that I just jogged) I fell off pace somewhere between 13 and 19 miles and never recovered. In my better marathons, before Boston, I fell apart later and slowed down less than in my worse ones. But in Boston, for the first time, I merely had a low point (in miles 15-16), from which I recovered. Otherwise my pace variations mostly correspond to terrain and weather. This is a big deal for me. 

It came just in time too, because I was starting to sour on the marathon. If Boston hadn't gone well, then I may have finally concluded that I just don't have the capacity to store enough fuel for the marathon. But apparently I do after all. So that's not what's keeping me from running a marathon faster, so far.

I’m not sure why I was able to hold it together better than ever before in Boston of all places, on tough hills and in rough weather, and after less-than-optimal winter training, with precious few long runs in particular. Maybe the slower first half enabled me to run stronger in the second half. Maybe the hills actually helped me avoid muscle tightness. Maybe the incredible crowds carried me along. Or maybe my training is just sinking in and I’m starting to get better at this stuff. Perhaps it’s some combination of these factors. In any case, I think this race justifies me (and my coach) in expecting a big PR in my next marathon, which is going to be Philadelphia (again) in November. 

Before then I’m going to switch my focus to shorter distances over the summer. I’ve already set a marathon PR in 2015. Now I want to take a crack at my 5k PR of 17:58, my 10k PR of 37:23, and then my 10 mile PR of 1:02:49 in early Fall. My upcoming races are listed on the right, and I’ll post an update on my training before the PRR Twilight Festival 4 miler on June 13.