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I'm home and it's late, but I can sum up the Boston weekend in one word: Wonderful.
Spending the special weekend with wonderful friends was the main thing. Having the opportunity to watch the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials then run in the most famous marathon in the world was an incredible experience.
Racing-wise, I confirmed any doubt I had about the difficulty of the Boston Marathon. It's a tactical course that will magnify any small pace miscalculation. Start the first half too slow and lose precious time to the clock. Go too fast in the first half and the Newton hills, albeit not very big as far as hills go, will magnify any early mistakes. In my first Boston in '06 I took the conservative approach, starting slow and finishing evenly. This time, I pressed on the gas early and suffered a slight blowup in the late miles.
I'll hold the details for a race report, but below are some splits to show how I went out a little too fast with an overall goal of 7:00 per mile pace. After the descent and climb out of Lower Newton Falls from mile 15.5 to 16.5, my legs became heavy. I did not have a flying finish similar to last year in Grand Rapids or at the Flying Pig. As a result of my early exuberance, I begged for the appearance of each and every mile marker to the finish. The last 10k wasn't pretty, but I held on for a course best and a time ranked #2 out of 21 lifetime marathons (11 raced, 6 as pace leader, and 4 as training run.)
Checkpoint: 5k split, (per mile pace), cumulative time
5k: 21:31 (6:56)
10k: 21:23 (6:54) 42:54
15k: 21:21 (6:53) 1:04:15
20k: 21:22 (6:54) 1:25:37
25k: 21:20 (6:53) 1:46:57
30k: 22:23 (7:13) 2:09:20
35k: 23:23 (7:33) 2:32:43
40k: 23:54 (7:43) 2:56:37
1st half: 1:30:10 (6:53)
2nd half: 1:36:44 (7:23)
20 miles: 2:19:19 (6:58)
Last 10k: 47:35 (7:40)
Finish: 3:06:54 (7:08)
Spending the special weekend with wonderful friends was the main thing. Having the opportunity to watch the Women's Olympic Marathon Trials then run in the most famous marathon in the world was an incredible experience.
Racing-wise, I confirmed any doubt I had about the difficulty of the Boston Marathon. It's a tactical course that will magnify any small pace miscalculation. Start the first half too slow and lose precious time to the clock. Go too fast in the first half and the Newton hills, albeit not very big as far as hills go, will magnify any early mistakes. In my first Boston in '06 I took the conservative approach, starting slow and finishing evenly. This time, I pressed on the gas early and suffered a slight blowup in the late miles.
I'll hold the details for a race report, but below are some splits to show how I went out a little too fast with an overall goal of 7:00 per mile pace. After the descent and climb out of Lower Newton Falls from mile 15.5 to 16.5, my legs became heavy. I did not have a flying finish similar to last year in Grand Rapids or at the Flying Pig. As a result of my early exuberance, I begged for the appearance of each and every mile marker to the finish. The last 10k wasn't pretty, but I held on for a course best and a time ranked #2 out of 21 lifetime marathons (11 raced, 6 as pace leader, and 4 as training run.)
Checkpoint: 5k split, (per mile pace), cumulative time
5k: 21:31 (6:56)
10k: 21:23 (6:54) 42:54
15k: 21:21 (6:53) 1:04:15
20k: 21:22 (6:54) 1:25:37
25k: 21:20 (6:53) 1:46:57
30k: 22:23 (7:13) 2:09:20
35k: 23:23 (7:33) 2:32:43
40k: 23:54 (7:43) 2:56:37
1st half: 1:30:10 (6:53)
2nd half: 1:36:44 (7:23)
20 miles: 2:19:19 (6:58)
Last 10k: 47:35 (7:40)
Finish: 3:06:54 (7:08)
2 Comments:
I think that's a well run race, and hopefully will be followed by enough of a recovery to allow for a good ultra 12 days later.
It was such an amaziing experience!
Great job on a tactical course!!!
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