Bethany's Boston Race Report

OK, this is better late than never, right?? Here is a summary of my race recap, I'll keep it short, don't want to bore you all.

   This was my 5th Boston marathon and as most of you know, I live right in Boston's Back Bay right near the marathon course. 98% of my long runs were completed right on the course, I know every little hill, every little turn etc. My goal for Boston was somewhere around 3:30 and the thought of running 8 minute miles sounded like a piece of cake to me. While training I ran the Martha's Vineyard 20 miler and averaged 7:58pace, and the New Bedford Half Marathon where I averaged 7:29 pace, so I was fairly certain that 3:30 would be doable.
      I felt great in the days leading up to Boston, I slept great the night before and felt great that morning and headed to the start line feeling great and very relaxed. This was my first year in the first wave, I was in the 11th corral. When the race started it was WONDERFUL because there was no hold up, there was no weaving, there was no pushing and shoving (like 2 years ago). It was great, i got to run MY pace right from the start. My first mile was 8:25. My goal was 8:45 for the first mile as I like to warm up slowly and I also wanted to be cautious of that long downhill at the start. My plan was to average 8:10 for the first 15 miles and then speed it up from there.
        At the 10k mark I was averaging 8:06 and at the half I was averaging 8:02. The fastest average pace I ever got was 8:01 and I held it to mile 16. Starting around mile 10, the bottoms of my feet started to BURN. It continued to get worse with each step but I ignored it. Starting at mile 12 I started to get a crampy feeling in ALL of my toes! hmm, that's never happened before. The cramps spread from my toes to my feet and eventually to my ankles. It felt like I had no circulation. I started thinking really negative things and then I started getting annoyed. I was ready to be done. My legs started to get tired, I was feeling hot and kept dumping water on my head at every water stop. I was also feeling dehydrated but all I could drink was water, the Gatorade was just too sweet!
         Miles 17-24 pretty much sucked. for the first time during a marathon I wanted to see the finish line, I was ready to be done. Not to sound like a brat, but usually during a marathon it's like 'oh there's the finish line, ok, guess I'll stop now.' During Boston I was like where's the $#@!$% finish line?!?!
         Also, I made the mistake of putting my name on my shirt. It was great for the first 17 miles but then when I walked through some water stops (4 to be exact) the drunk college kids at BC were really making me angry! YES I KNOW I CAN DO IT THANK YOU. YES, I KNOW I AM WALKING RIGHT NOW. JEESH PEOPLE, GET OFF MY BACK, I'M JUST TAKING A LITTLE WALK BREAK, I'M NOT QUITTING, CALM DOWN, STOP YELLING AT ME.
         Once I got to mile 24 I started feeling better knowing the end was near. I had coworkers, family and friends starting at mile 24 to the finish. While I was feeling like crap, I refused to let it show because I did not want anyone to know I was suffering.
       My Garmin said I was averaging 8:17 pace as i turned onto Boylston st. so i knew I was set for sub 3:40(I'm already qualified for next year anyway so it didn't really matter). As i got closer to the finish line I realized i wasn't going tomake it sub 3:40 so i took off sprinting. My official finish time was 3:40:02 for 26.2 miles, 8:24 pace. My Garmin read 8:17 pace for 26.52 miles. (Damn I added on a lot!) Once I took my shoes off i noticed that my socks were all bunched up under my toes, hence the cramps and feeling of no circulation. Hmm, that's never happened before either.
        Running for Team in Training was awesome! That was my favorite part! I raised $1,600 and the team as a whole raised $700,000! WOW.
         All in all it really was a great day despite struggling through. No, I didn't get the time I wanted but I don't really care. I still ran a great race and I'm very content with my time. :-)
I was more sore than usual for the 2 days after Boston. Everything is fine now and I'm getting ready/excited for our next big adventure, our first Ultra at the end of May.

Thanks for reading. Ryan will post his recap soon. He has AWESOME pics from the race. I have none. sorry.