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Boston Marathon weekend had finally arrived. One and a half years after Van qualified back in October of 2015, we set off to Boston for the long Easter weekend.
~Friday~
The sun was coming up to a clear day as the plane took off from Billy Bishop airport; a sign of the weather that we would have for the whole weekend. On arrival in Boston and collecting our rental car, we headed to South Boston, which Van termed "SoBo" (probably incorrectly) and grabbed some bagels with lox, and giant iced coffees to go with it. Yep, it seemed like we were back in 'Merica given the smallest size of the iced coffees was still pretty darned huge! The next stop was the Marathon expo to pick up Van's bib number. The security at the registration was the first we noticed the extent to which the city was making sure that the event was secure and safe. Our bags were searched and we made our way into the expo. Van picked up her number and then purchased an entire outfit of 'Boston Marathon' embroidered swag from the adidas store. We also had a swig of the Sam Adam's marathon weekend beer at the expo, which was quite good actually! Once we were all sussed with gear for Monday's race, we cruised over to Harpoon Brewery which had been recommended to Van by both Shelley, and Boston native Laura. There, we went through two tasting trays and had one of the delicious fresh-baked pretzels. Having satisfied our hunger and thirst and with the clock approaching about 1:30, we decided to head out to our hotel which was located approximately 20 minutes drive south of the city core. With the early departure to Boston, we took a couple of hours to rest and recoup before the evening's planned events. Dinner was booked for 5:30 at a restaurant/oyster bar near Fenway park. Given that we were at an oyster bar, Van tried a whole 2(!) oysters and determined that these strange-looking things were actually quite nice. After the Oyster bar we headed to Fenway park and found our seats which were in a pretty sweet location about 30 rows deep but behind the home plate.
~Saturday~
It was a relatively early start to the day as Matt was taking part in the 5km race that was part of Marathon weekend that morning. We took an uber to the Boston Common grounds and went and got Matt signed in for the race. Van then found a good posy to spectate and cheer from near the finish line. There were a lot of people doing the run and so the start of the race was a little frustrating for Matt just to get past a lot of people who had likely started in the wrong corral. Even with this minor hold up, Matt managed to finish sub 22 which was a pretty decent time given limited race-specific training efforts. After cooling down post-race we headed to Newbury street, which was a really nice shopping street downtown. We went to Georgetown cupcakes and sat outside savouring those and a couple of flat whites. We strolled along Newbury street and popped into a couple of stores on the way, including a Harry Potter themed gift shop which had some pretty cool stuff. We also popped into the Patagonia store and Van took advantage of the 25% off for runner's promo that was going on got herself a puffy jacket. Next, we headed to the Top of the Rock for a vino in Boston's tallest building then got back to street level just in time to see the 1-mile invitational races. For the men's race, it was cool to see NZ's own Nick Willis cross the finish line first. On the agenda for the afternoon was to walk some of the Freedom Trail, a walking tour which took us by many of Boston's significant historic sites and buildings. We got a lobster roll to share at Faneuil Hall and walked a little more of the trail before settling at Legal Seafood for some bites. We got a few oysters to share and then had a small clam chowder each with some salad. Feeling pretty weary after lots of time on our feet for the day, we headed back to the accommodation for a bit of chill out time and an early night.
~Sunday~
The main goal for Sunday was to not spend too much time on our feet and to have a fairly relaxing day ahead of race day. After a much-appreciated sleep-in, we made our way out to the Harvard grounds and explored those on foot for an hour or so. It was really cool to see the storied institution first hand. It was incredibly hot so we didn't stay outside too long before finding a reprieve in the Harvard book store. Sufficiently cooled, we grabbed a smoothie then headed back to the car to head out and drive a little of the Boston Marathon course and see what Van could expect in terms of the two steepest (relatively speaking) sections. After that, we had a failed attempt at visiting the Sam Adams brewery, as it was unfortunately closed on Sundays. Instead, we found a nice coffee shop where we had flat whites and played a few rounds of the Monopoly Deal card game. For the latter part of the arvo we refreshed back at the accommodation and went for a light jog (3k for Van and 5k for Matt) before going back downtown for a carb-loading style pasta dinner in Little Italy. Van had spaghetti with meatballs and Matty had a delicious seafood pasta. Then it was early to bed before race day the next day.
~Monday~
Matty drove Van into town to drop her off at the Boston Common grounds, from where the buses were transporting the runners out to the start line in Hopkinton. From here, we'll each speak of our experience of the day:
Van - the energy in the bus out to Hopkinton was buzzing with excitement, as you could tell that every single person on that bus was totally pumped to be on the way out to the start line of the famed marathon race. From the conversations on the bus that I could hear, there was a good mix of folks who had run Boston numerous times, and those, including myself and the girl next to me, running it for the first time. Once the bus came to a stop after about an hour's ride, I stepped out into the Hopkinton school grounds, which had been converted to 'Athlete's Village' for the weekend. I took a couple of snaps of the entrance sign and made my way toward the area where I would spend around an hour and fifteen before the corral wave that I was in was due to be called up. Most of that time was spent in the queue for the porta-potty, the 'standard fare' before any long distance run event. I also layered on some sunscreen; made sure the right songs were queued up for when I would later turn some music on at the 32km mark, and placed my extra 'donate-away' clothes aside before heading to the start line. The race was well organized in that I easily found my way to my starting wave. As we stood getting ready to start there was some hand-shaking and fist-bumps as we awaited the starting gun. I re-tied my laces four or five times before realizing that this was just nerves. It was a beautiful morning in Hopkinton with the sun shining and before the heat had gotten up too much. The gun went off and off we went. My race strategy, which was the same as my qualifier, was to run a 5-min k for the first half and then try to 'open it up' (or speed up) for the second half, to run a negative split. The first part of the course was downhill and the road was brimming with runners. In the excitement of running in a mass-pack, it was difficult to keep the tempo to plan and I did those first few kilometres a little faster than I had planned to; probably around 4:45-4:50 before taming it back and settling into a 5-min k pace. Right from the start, I gained an appreciation of how huge this race was, both with the number of participants all around me, and the amazing crowd support lining the sides of the road, sometimes several folks deep when passing through the town centers. The first place that Matt had indicated he would be was around the 10km mark but unfortunately neither of us saw each other here as it was one of the most dense spectator spots along the whole way. Towards the half way mark my legs were starting to get pretty tired, and I began to realize that while my earlier race strategy had worked really well for my qualifying race, the much lower training volume I'd put in ahead of this race meant that my legs just didn't have it in them to run a negative split today. My main goal for the race was to enjoy it, and once I had taken away the idea of trying to speed up on my tired legs, I felt a positive shift in my attitude to the run. I took in the sights around me more than I had before, heard the crowds cheering out for anyone and everyone "Go Canada, Go Blue, Go 13941" etc, and pushed on through the ache in my legs with warmth in my heart. At the half way point I was stoked to spot Matt and run over to quickly embrace him before heading onward. Even armed with this relaxed attitude and positive vibes, the last half of the run was still really freaking hard! I had not adequately prepared for the rolling hills nor the distance and my legs were feeling it. I watched as my pace decreased, especially up the hills, but didn't let it dishearten me. By each timing mat, which were approximately every 5km, there was a clock that was ticking the time since the first corral had started and thus did not show my time, but my time plus 25 minutes. While I could have worked out my time by adding those 25 minutes, it actually took some willpower to stop myself from doing the math and remind myself to enjoy it and not worry about the time any more! Generally, when the going gets tough in a race, I start setting mini-goals for myself. From kilometer 23 for example, there was 'just 7 k' til 30km, then 'just 2km' from there til when I would put in my earphones for a music boost, oh and 'at the 26km mark I'll have a shot block energy candy'. It's much easier to think in terms of just doing the next 3 km, than thinking 'oh gosh, I just ran 23 km, my legs feel like lead, and I still have to do almost the same distance again'. I guess this is the stage of the run where mental fortitude starts playing an important role in the outcome of the race. In my qualifying race, it wasn't until the 32k mark that I had to be mentally tough to keep up to my planned pace. In this race, it was at the 21k mark that I had to actively use my mindset to keep pushing and finish in what I considered a 'respectable' time. It's funny the kind of thoughts you can have creep in to your mind during a run that exceeds 3 hours. At one point, I was sure I could re-qualify and finish the race in 3:30-ish; at another point, the thought crossed my mind "wouldn't it be nice to just pull into the med-tent and get transported back to the finish (that thought was quickly pushed along and out!!). I saw Matty one more time just as I was going through the first set of hills and before 'heartbreak hill' which provided another boost. I was really happy that while my running pace was probably not that far in excess of a fast walk up the hills, I didn't slow to a walk once on inclines. I was pretty stoked when I saw a sign confirming that I'd gotten to the top of heartbreak hill and the worst of the hills were behind me. By this point, I'd thrown in my earbuds at the 32k mark and the beats helped me through to 40km. At this point, it was time to take the earbuds out and soak in the atmosphere to it's fullest for the final 2km. I was battling at this point, and some of the photos along this stretch certainly show it. While my body was battling, my heart and mind were overjoyed to have reached the finish. Even had a little emo moment about 1k from the finish line where some happiness tears were shed. One and a half years after running the qualifier in Toronto, I finished the run in just over 3:47, around 23 minutes above my qualifying time but still a time that I was very pleased with given both my training volume and the elevation profile of this course versus my qualifying race. As I crossed the finish line I threw my hands up… mistake! After holding my arms by my sides for the entire run, and probably with some bad form and tension for the latter part of it, I managed to pull something in my shoulder to the extent that I couldn't move my arm without significant shoulder pain. I stopped by the med tent on the way and got treated with some ice which was really helpful. It was then a bit of a mission to find Matt as there were just so many people around. Eventually he was able to reach me and we headed out to the airport for the trip back to Toronto.
Matt - what an awesome experience supporting such a historical race! Van said that 30,000 people ran the race and 500,000 people came out to support! This made it pretty tricky supporting Van, but I reckon I did a pretty good job. Made it to the 10km mark in time, but unfortunately the support was 2-3 people deep and then the runners were still very condensed so both of us didn't see each other. After about 15 minutes passing when Van should have appeared, I cut my losses and boosted off to the halfway mark. This time my fluoro pink top and sign stood out enough for Van to see me, yippee! J all of these stops take about 25 minutes to drive to, then another 5-10 minutes to find a park, then another 5-10 minutes to get to an opening viewing spot which leaves just enough time to get into position before Van races past. Would've been much easier on me if Van was running 6 minute kilometers ;-) next stop was the 30km mark where I managed to call out to Van before she zoned out to her music and then I edged my way to the finish line. Couldn't believe the amount of support for the race. It was amazing!
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