I met Des Linden and her husband Ryan in Kona in 2016 I believe and later I saw her win the Boston Marathon on that cold miserable day in 2018. That fully inspired me wanting to go to Boston and I tried to qualify that June at a race called the New River Marathon. That course is quite tough but that is not what did me in. I knew I needed to run at least sub 3:25 (as a then 53 year old) and figured I would be able to do this on pretty much any course. I however tore my mensicus that day and really noticed it around mile 19. I ended up limping home in 3:37 and that was that. I was operated at the end of July and started running again in early October and then built up to another qualifying effort. I did the Tunnel Marathon in June of 2019 and by that time I needed 3:35 for my new M55-59 age group. I ran well and had a great negative split (1:43 and 1:34) and finished in 3:17. So I knew I was in, but then with Covid tere was no Boston Marathon in April 2020, September 2020, nor in April 2021. But finally it happened in October 2021 and I was in.
My wife and I left the kids with the grandparents and flew up on Friday during the day. Our hotel was very close to the finish because I booked it very early, and that was super convenient. Especially that amazing Tatte Bakery.
On Saturday morning I had a time slot where I had to show my Covid vaccination card to get my race bracelet and after that I could go to the package pickup. The Organization was incredible and there were tons of volunteers and I had to wait nowhere in line. The merchandise area was super popular and I was among very few black sheep without the famous blue and yellow Adidas Boston jackets. My wife snapped a few pics of me there and then we left.
I tried to be as mellow as possible as my legs still could feel the load from the Orcas Island SwimRun two weeks prior , but they were not too terrible. Somehow though we still managed over 20,000 steps each day. I ran 5 miles along the river on Sunday and spun a little on a Peloton bike in the hotel gym. And with the race time coming closer I was finally nervous. I knew that there was no way to finish up high overall in my age group, so that was not an issue, but the event is simply so big that it really grabbed me. Imagine Kona times 8 in terms of starters and families and friends. My goal however was to have fun and ideally run a negative split - two things I should be able to control. But I knew that negative split running on that course is very hard.
On race morning my bus to the start left at 8:15am so that allowed me a solid breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 6:30am and since I was super close to the bus departure spot I was able to stay in my room until late. Everyone on board of the bus I ended up on was super chipper and I felt ready. Interestingly our bus got lost and in the end we got dropped off at the 1 mile marker. That however wasn't a big deal, but I felt bad for the very flustered bus driver. The start was rolling so really it was no big deal. We then walked that mile pretty much all uphill to the start and that was the perfect warmup for me. After visiting the port-o-john and shedding my hoodie, I finally crossed the start line at 9:49am and then ran pretty steady around 7:50 pace. I ran for a long time with fellow slowtwitcher Stephen Helgemo and we had a fun chat along the way and it really helped. I started to push a bit harder at mile 16 and Stephen then dropped back. From then on it seemed I was mostly passing people but was rarely passed. The crowd along the course was amazing and it really helped. I saw my wife 3 times plus saw other friends on the course and at one point I thought why are so many folks yelling my name, but they were not saying my name, they yelled Go Harvard. :-)
The atmosphere was truly amazing, and when I came to the hilly part of the course I still felt great. By now i was running 7:20-7:40 pace and it became clear that a negative split might be possible. The 3 climbs were noticed but were not too bad. Coming into Boston itself was very special, but that last mile was surprisingly hard and I could feel my legs being tired now. Once that final turn onto Boylston came the finish line seemed really far away but it allowed my to soak it really in. The screams from the spectators were great, and I ran faster again and crossed the line in 3:22:46, with a 1:42:40 opening half and a 1:40:06 second half, and I was super happy.
That time also meant that I qualified for Boston again but this race in Boston was likely my last longer road race. Likely only trail racing, SwimRun, and gravel racing moving forward, but the Boston experience is great and I highly recommend it.
My wife and I left the kids with the grandparents and flew up on Friday during the day. Our hotel was very close to the finish because I booked it very early, and that was super convenient. Especially that amazing Tatte Bakery.
On Saturday morning I had a time slot where I had to show my Covid vaccination card to get my race bracelet and after that I could go to the package pickup. The Organization was incredible and there were tons of volunteers and I had to wait nowhere in line. The merchandise area was super popular and I was among very few black sheep without the famous blue and yellow Adidas Boston jackets. My wife snapped a few pics of me there and then we left.
I tried to be as mellow as possible as my legs still could feel the load from the Orcas Island SwimRun two weeks prior , but they were not too terrible. Somehow though we still managed over 20,000 steps each day. I ran 5 miles along the river on Sunday and spun a little on a Peloton bike in the hotel gym. And with the race time coming closer I was finally nervous. I knew that there was no way to finish up high overall in my age group, so that was not an issue, but the event is simply so big that it really grabbed me. Imagine Kona times 8 in terms of starters and families and friends. My goal however was to have fun and ideally run a negative split - two things I should be able to control. But I knew that negative split running on that course is very hard.
On race morning my bus to the start left at 8:15am so that allowed me a solid breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 6:30am and since I was super close to the bus departure spot I was able to stay in my room until late. Everyone on board of the bus I ended up on was super chipper and I felt ready. Interestingly our bus got lost and in the end we got dropped off at the 1 mile marker. That however wasn't a big deal, but I felt bad for the very flustered bus driver. The start was rolling so really it was no big deal. We then walked that mile pretty much all uphill to the start and that was the perfect warmup for me. After visiting the port-o-john and shedding my hoodie, I finally crossed the start line at 9:49am and then ran pretty steady around 7:50 pace. I ran for a long time with fellow slowtwitcher Stephen Helgemo and we had a fun chat along the way and it really helped. I started to push a bit harder at mile 16 and Stephen then dropped back. From then on it seemed I was mostly passing people but was rarely passed. The crowd along the course was amazing and it really helped. I saw my wife 3 times plus saw other friends on the course and at one point I thought why are so many folks yelling my name, but they were not saying my name, they yelled Go Harvard. :-)
The atmosphere was truly amazing, and when I came to the hilly part of the course I still felt great. By now i was running 7:20-7:40 pace and it became clear that a negative split might be possible. The 3 climbs were noticed but were not too bad. Coming into Boston itself was very special, but that last mile was surprisingly hard and I could feel my legs being tired now. Once that final turn onto Boylston came the finish line seemed really far away but it allowed my to soak it really in. The screams from the spectators were great, and I ran faster again and crossed the line in 3:22:46, with a 1:42:40 opening half and a 1:40:06 second half, and I was super happy.
That time also meant that I qualified for Boston again but this race in Boston was likely my last longer road race. Likely only trail racing, SwimRun, and gravel racing moving forward, but the Boston experience is great and I highly recommend it.