For a recap of my weekend in Boston and the lead up to the race please click here.  This is my race report for the race itself.

As Marathon Monday approached it became very clear that the weather was going to be historically bad.  Temperatures in the 3-4 degrees range, driving rain, and 25MPH winds.  These were obviously not ideal conditions and would require a slight change of strategy for what I was going to wear on race day.  I opted for my Shanghai Marathon training shirt, arm warmers and my normal shorts as well as magic gloves and a toque.

I had also heard that the Athletes village was very muddy so brought an extra pair of shoes to change in to as well.  As I approached the start line I had a hoodie, poncho and pants on to stay warm and about 5 minutes before I shed my warm clothes and got ready for the race.  Another las minute change I made for this race was my show choice.  My initial plan was to wear the Brooks Launch 4 shoes I had worn at the California International Marathon, which is a nice relatively light neutral shoe for races.  However, when I was in New York, I stumbled across a place that had 10.5 Nike Vapor Fly 4% shoes and figured it was meant to be despite the price tag.  These shoes were developed for the Nike Breaking two project and are reported to improve your time by up to 4%.  In my case that means close to SEVEN MINUTES.  I decided to take the plunge and give them a try for Boston.  I changed into the magic shoes about 10 minutes before the start of the race then headed to the start line.

The national anthem was recorded, which I thought was strange and the flyover by the F16s was canceled due to visibility so the start was actually pretty ho hum.  It didn’t really pump me up very much and there was limited opportunity to warm up.  So starting the race was starting pretty cold.

I tarted in Corral 4 of Wave 1 which meant I was surrounded by around 3 hour marathoners which meant the start started out at approximately the pace I was looking to run.  The first mile was tough as there were a lot of people and the road was not that wide.  Things were moving though and I was actually happy that I was being forced to slow down because I historically start too fast.

However,  at mile 2, I identified a problem with my right shoe.  I had tied it too tight and was experiancing some pain.  I knew that if it was hurting at mile 2 that it would be agonizing at Mile 26, so I took my gloves off, pulled over and worked on the triple knot I had tied earlier.  With freezing cold hands, they were not very dexterous and so I struggled to get the laces untied.  I finally managed and guess that I lost about a minute or so but was in good shape to continue as I know longer had any pain.  This also had a psycological impact as I felt the need to “catch up” and so I increased my pace for the next mile or 2.  This was probably a bad idea as my right glute started acting up at mile 8 which is much earlier than one should start to feel any discomfort during a marathon.

I felt pretty good despite the weather and was putting up decent splits in line with a 3 hour marathon.  The shoes felt good and the crowd was out in force.  I had read many tips that depsite the cold, you still need to remember to hydrate during the race and so I kept a similar hydration plan to what I am used to.  Unfortunately, I really did not sweat as much and as a result had to pee decently early in the race.  Since it was raining pretty heaviliy, I honestly contemplated just letting it go while running and have the rain wash away the pee, but I knew pretty early on that I wasn’t getting any PRs that day and opted to visit a porta potty instead.  Another issue I battled the entire time was some GI problems.  In had rolling gas make it’s way through my system almost the entire race and fwlt like I may need to pull into a port o potty at any moment.  Luckily it never got that bad and I was able to finish the race without a number 2 stop, but did need to stop to pee one additional time near mile 18.

The first half of the race felt pretty decent and I crossed the half mark at 1:30:XX which was in line with what I was aiming for, however mentally I knew that the second half was not going to go as well.  My legs were already fatiguing and I was already starting to slow down and in addition the second half of the course has a lot of hills which I have not been training for.

One notable section that I really enjoyed during the course was Wellsely college and “The Wall of Sound”  It’s an all girls college that lines the course and every year the students line the course to cheer on the runners.  When they say wall of sound, they weren’t kidding.  You could here the section a half mile away and it really got the adrenaline going.  The thing I did not know about in that section is that many of the girls are holding signs inviting the runners to give them a kiss.  I made sure to move over to the side of the course for about 150 high fives but also swooped in for a kiss or two, how could one pass up an invitation like that.

Hitting Newton brought on the hills and they slowed me down a lot.  I was not the only one though as I passed a lot of people walking.  I kept running despite a slower pace and actually found the first hill much longer and harder than the famous heartbreak hill.  By the time I got to heartbreak it was the last of the hills and went pretty quickly.  I felt pretty decent despite the slow pace, because not that many people were passing me.  In Chicago when I started to slow down, I was getting passed left and right where during this race, I was basically staying in line with the pack.  I think a lot of people struggled in the second half due to the weather.

After heartbreak, it was all downhill and I had extra motivation as my family was posted up at Mile 22 at Cleveland circle.  Unlike chicago, we had agreed on a very specific spot that they would be and so I knew exactly where to expect them.  Coming down the hill and seeing the Canadian Flag and your family, takes away any pain you are feeling at that moment and gave me a great push for the next hundred meters or so, but then it was back to reality and the realization that I still had 4 miles to go.

Running into Boston was pretty cool because there were lot’s of people and you start seeing landmarks which mark the end of the course.  The taller buildings of Boston, the Citgo sign and Fenway as well as a more “city” vibe.  All made the last few miles bearable.  The crowds were also out in force despite the rain and that provided a lot of motivation.

The last few miles I tried my best to pick up the pace as much as possible and luckily I did not cramp up this year.  I was able to speed up slightly into the finish due to the amazing feeling of finishing the Boston Marathon as well as the crowds and atmosphere that Boylston street provided.  Making that final turn and seeing the finish line, as well as the thousands of spectators cheering you on to the finish was an unforgettable feeling.  It was pretty emotional, I just finished the Boston Marathon…People dream about being where I am right now!  I made sure to soak it all in as I crossed the finish line.  Unfortunately the below photo was all i got from the finish line photo.

The amazing feeling lasted a few more minutes until the reality of the weather sunk in.  Once I stopped moving, things got cold and miserable really fast.  I could hardly feel my hands or my arms and I started to shiver pretty quickly.  I was given a space blanket and was encouraged to keep moving, but the shivering would not go away.  I kept asking for the warming area and was directed further and further away.  Eventually I found the building they were using for warming up but were controlling access so I had to wait in line.  After about what felt like forever (10 minutes) I was allowed in and I did my best to warm up.

I will cover the details of getting my race gear and stuff in my other blog post HERE as it does not really need to be in the race report.

All in all the Boston Marathon was a magical experience.  The start was a little disappointing from a pump up perspective, but I was also starting much further back than a typical race I run and the weather was crappy which may have had something to do with it.  I also heard that despite the thousands of people that showed up to cheer us on, it was a lower turnout due to the weather so on a typical Monday, it would be EVEN BETTER.  I guess I will have to come back next year to experience a true Boston Marathon crowd.  I am not sure how much of a roll the shoes played in my 3:11:48 time.  If I had worn another pair I may have been slower, who knows.  I checked my result vs my seeding and it turns out I only dropped about 200 spaces from my seed.  I was seeded 3422 and placed 3643 which shows that most people had difficulties.  Looking at the elite field can show that as well.  Many dropped out and the times were historically slow.  I am going to continue running 3-4 days a week while traveling in Asia over the next two months or so and will stay in running shape.  I applied to New York through Movember and was not selected, so there is a high probability that I will do the Amsterdam Marathon in October.  I am also going to see if I can find an interesting half marathon to do somewhere in the world (Banff is looking promising).  This got really long so I am going to stop now.  Check out my other blog post for pre and post race rambling.  I am currently on an airplane on my way to my next adventure.

As you can see by the below Strava post, my moving time was 3:09:59 which means I lost just under 2 minutes in the bathroom and tying my shoe.

If you have any questions or comments about running while abroad or any other topic, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Peace out.