Boston Initial Thoughts

My marathon PR is 3:18:31 set at Boston 2009. 3:18:31 is not what I had hoped for. 3:18:31 is not what I will settle for. However, I still won several battles yesterday that will serve me well in my war for sub 3. First and foremost, I listened to Steve, adjusted my goals and executed the race plan perfectly. My objective was sub 3:10 with even splits. An easy pace to target was 7:10 per mile or a 3:08 pace. No matter how much I felt like taking advantage of the downs, I was determined to keep myself in check for the first 15 miles. Here are the splits:
7:41 7:09 7:04 7:04 7:13 7:05 7:08 7:10 7:08 7:12 7:11 7:08 7:12 7:12 7:12 7:15 Average pace for 15 miles: 7:11 per mile. For Geezer, that folks is HUGE.

So what happened next? I was determined to NOT slow down during the hills but to actually pick up the pace. At the start of the hills, I began to push and immediately felt nauseated. I tried relaxing my stride, opening up my breathing, but my pace slipped to 7:25 7:26 7:36 7:29 7:53 for the Newton Hills. My goal was in danger but still attainable. I was on a 3:10:50 pace with 6 miles of down or level roads ahead. After topping Heartbreak Hill, I began to gather for a push. One, two three dry heaves. I had to back off. Steve joined up with me somewhere along here and he could tell I was in deep shit. There wasn't much he could say as he matched my pace for awhile. I told I was going to throw up. I told him I needed to be able to drink. He let me go. I knew now that my goal was out of reach but I was not going to stop. I was not going to walk. I was going to push as hard as my GI system would allow and finish this thing out. 8:28 8:05 8:38 8:17 8:36 and a final time of 3:18:31. A new PR.

So what now? I have done the same thing before every race since October 6, 2007. Small coffee 2 hours before the start and NOTHING else. I blew up at CALI but I think that was greed. With the 10am start at Boston, I chewed on several bites of bagel and sipped water while riding the bus and waiting at the start. I wish now that I had simply stopped with the small coffee and run hungry. Going forward though, I am going to keep a detailed log and begin introducing foods and water into my pre-run and during-run routines. Then I am going to renew my assault on 3 hours.