boston update

for those who don't want to read any further, here is the brief summary: 3:31:46 marathon time, which is my second fastest marathon and a pr at boston by ~20 seconds.

for those who do want to read further: it has been an awesome weekend here in boston. the beautiful weather has continued. i spent most of saturday and sunday moving between coffee shops and libraries so i could work on my term project. i'm feeling much better about the next week and a half now that i have more head way made on it. i picked up my number on sunday morning. there is strategy involved to accomplishing this. the marathon expo, where you pick up your number, tshirt, timing chip, etc, is one of the most energy depleting experiences you can possibly have. for some reason, i had forgotten this. i headed into the city with my backpack and my laptop with the intention of going to the boston public library (bpl) and working after getting my number. well, i got to boylston, remembered that there were 20,000+ people running this race plus all their family and friends in town and decided that i needed to attack the expo then get out of the city asap. i picked up my number and packet, bought my gels and headed back to mass. ave to take the bus back to cambridge, where i found another coffee shop and promptly commenced studying.

monday morning (race day) i got up at 4:45a and had some breakfast. i have now confirmed that me, races and peanut butter and banana sandwiches for breakfast are a combination that should never occur again. training is no problem, but races are just trouble...but i digress. i had an uneventful walk to the t-station and got right onto a bus out to hopkinton when i got off the t at park street. i sat next to a guy who was about my age who, it turns out, had ridden his bike from sf to portland to chicago with some buddies a few years ago. he offered me some sage advice dealing with discomfort the first couple weeks of the ride and camping in town squares before warning me about wide open spaces. he said they were the most difficult part of their ride. good to know.

we get out to hopkinton where i meet a bunch of people from hawaii (i was wearing my uh sweatshirt) and stake out a spot under the tent to sit and wait. you end up sitting outside on race morning for about 3 hours before its time to actually walk down to the starting corrals. next year i need to bring garbage bags. this year i packed more warm clothing than i did my first year, but i was still cold. at least it didn't rain like last year. if you look around at the athlete's village as it's called, you can tell who has done boston before and who is new. the newbies haven't brought any warmups or anything really to keep themselves warm before the race. the veterans on the other hand have brought blankets, bed rafts to sleep on, hats, scarves, trash bags, you name it. one of these years, i'll get it right.

just as the race was about to start, it warmed up several degrees and the sun came out...much to my dismay. it was so cold in the morning i was going to run with a long sleeve dri-fit top over my tank top so i hadn't bothered to put sunscreen on my shoulders. i'd only put it on my face. well, let's suffice it to say i was able to keep that shirt on for, oh, 3 miles of the race max and then it had to come off. it was just too warm a day. i get ahead of myself though. this year was the first year i had secured a coveted blue number. if you're a female, you likely know what i'm talking about, but if you're male and my age, you're too fast to know. the boston marathon now starts in two waves spaced 30 minutes apart. the faster half of the entrants start first and everyone else starts second. well, the last two years, i had been in the first 1000 or so people in the second wave. once the race gets started, everyone spaces out and it's not overly crowded. well, this year, i got to start in the first wave, though i was towards the back. racing from this kind of start is a different animal. the crowd never really thinned out that much and by the time i reached heartbreak hill, i was still swerving around people, which is annoying and wastes a bunch of energy. oh well. it also means though that the start is even faster than the already fast start that i had been used to. my first mile was about 7:45, which in the greater scheme of life isn't terribly fast, but as far as marathoning goes, your first mile should be slowest, not your fastest. oops. i tried to back off a little bit and came through the half marathon in about 1:45 and change, which is an 8 minute/mile pace or a few seconds over. i thought that might have been a little fast, but i figured i would just hold on and see what i could do. i came through the 30k in about 2:30. i was pretty happy about that split. three years ago, i ran a 30k race in 2:32. the good thing about endurance racing in your 20s is that you get better with age. i have at least 10 or 15 more years to go until i start hitting my peak. i realized too at 30k that i was on par to break my previous boston pr if i maintained an 8 minute/mile pace (although in my head thinking the hardest miles were still to come). at 40k i was pretty sure i had it. at that point, you're passing fenway park, which is always fun. the crowds get thicker and the streets get wider. rounding the corner you come through kenmore square, which is where i lived during part of college. the mit undergrads were out in force as per usual. no one ran in with me this year, which is fine although it's always fun to have some company that last mile. i have been told that no one will run with me anymore because the pace is too fast (even for a mile). i found that amusing. i'm tired at that point and have given people a 25.2 mile handicap. i rest my case.

i crossed the finish with an official time of 3:31:46. i still haven't looked up the stats for my place overall, but that is my second fastest marathon time and my fastest boston time. i didn't think i was rested or in shape enough to pull it off. i had been shooting to simply break 3:40 to qualify for next year. well, i will be back in boston for the 2009 113th running of the boston marathon. you should all be there too...and run the last mile with me.

today i am writing from bates hall at the bpl downtown. i did eventually get here. when you sit in this hall, you feel as though you could be in oxford or cambridge or a harry potter movie (with better lighting). the goal is to have my term project even further along before breaking for lunch. at which point, i will venture forth to one of my favorite boston establishments. it's a little place called the otherside cafe. seven or eight years ago when i found it, it was a quirky, skater whole in the wall type place. now everyone seems to know where it is. last year it still had some of its usual charm (if you can call it that). at this point, all i know is that the outside has had a face lift, but it still remains to be tested whether the ambiance and food have also changed.