Boston Marathon 2017

Introduction

Long-awaited race, this mythical Boston marathon! April 17, 2017. This marathon has the distinction of being world famous and also quite early in the calendar. Two good arguments to motivate me to go there. Last year I competed in the Ottawa marathon at the end of May and I burned my legs for the first triathlons because Ottawa is much later in the calendar!

Preparation

On the other hand, a marathon in April means winter preparation, so 90% of my training is done on a treadmill. The gym I go to does not have air conditioning or even good ventilation, the 16 weeks of training are going well, I flood the treadmills with perspiration at each session but I reassure myself by telling myself that if the day of the race it is hot and that surprises everyone at least I will be ready. On the other hand, a big doubt about my running speed outside. I will only do 3 outings at my marathon pace outside the week before the marathon (5 min to 20 min intervals at marathon pace which went well).

Pre-couse Saturday and Sunday

I spend the weekend with friends who live in Boston. They both know the course very well and have even done it a few times. They explain everything to me in detail, it sounds fantastic. We take our bibs from Saturday morning 9am (when the exhibition opens) after doing a special Boston run.

Link strava

Collecting your bib as soon as it opened was a great idea because when we came out of the exhibition the queue was so long that it stretched from inside the exhibition hall to the street!

We take advantage of the exhibition by testing a lot of products and buying clothes bearing the image of the race, then a little bike ride in Boston to do a little sightseeing and the day passes quickly.

Sunday, rest! We celebrate Easter with the respective families of my friends, and we eat all day! We don’t come home too late and we prepare our bags and things for the next day.

D-Day

The alarm goes off at 6.30 a.m. but I’ve been up since 6.10 a.m., a real child on December 26th. Usual breakfast, we take our things and we call Uber to take us to the organization’s shuttles. We drop off our bags after the race and then take a shuttle at around 8 a.m. (the organization advised me 6 a.m. for my starting wave, but arriving at 7 a.m. in the starting area and not starting until 10 a.m. is a bit absurd ). We arrive at the departure area at 9am, a quick group photo and a walk in the pee room which takes 55 minutes of waiting and it is by jogging at a good pace that I enter my departure box at 9:59 am!

I turn on the Garmin and the countdown for the last 10 seconds has already started.

The race

10 am pistol shot it goes nicely, a little too much, having arrived last in my box I suffered the rhythm so no choice to stay behind for the moment because the pack is really condensed. My goal is to stay around 4min per km for the first half and 3’55  » / km for the second half. But, it is clear that this will not be possible for at least the first two kilometers. The imposed pace is a little slower but nothing serious. From the 3rd kilometer I manage to run at my desired pace. So I try to stop my seconds behind. The sun is out, the weather is nice and warm, water supplies and sports drinks are there every mile. The kilometers go by at great speed. And I am surprised to see the 10km course already on my watch. The spectators are extremely numerous all along the course and howl at the top of their lungs. I slalom a lot to pass, sometimes to the right and sometimes to the left of the road. I tell myself that I will have more than 42.2km to zig-zag in this way.

I watch my lap times, I am constant, just 20 minutes for each 5km.

The course is pleasant, the weather is great and the spectators are tireless and they constantly encourage us. I cross the 21st kilometer in 1h24, then arrive the famous climbs of Heartbreak hill which go without problem. Then the last 5 miles, I stay in control, I watch the pace, everything is going perfectly. During the whole race I kept only one idea in mind “ I am in control ” I repeated this to myself many times from different angles and I remain convinced that I was and I stayed during the whole race in control.

Finally we enter Boston, my legs are heavy and painful, but nothing to do with my previous marathon where I counted the kilometers one by one. Here it goes, I’m really in control. We can see the finish line in the distance, I look at my watch 2:48:28 go 1’30  » to finish under 2h50 !! The line seems far but you have to try it so I sprint, my watch is already 42.2km and I run the last 300-500m in 3’25  » / km but that will not be enough and cross the line in 2:50:01. Tired and very happy, with a mileage of 42.4km (my friends also had a milage of 26.4 instead of 26.2 miles planned)

Strava link

Post race

A long walk awaits us to retrieve our bags left a few hours before, to be rolled up in a survival blanket, to be served a lunch on the go, a medal and a photo finish all with a lot of congratulations. I meet my friends, we congratulate each other and go to the steak house to all go eat a veggie burger fries with a beer. The Boston subway is free for runners, so we will return to the apartment by this means of transport before going out for a post Boston Marathon party.

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