Well, I made it back to Boston to try and earn some redemption from my race last year. For those of you who want to know how last year's race went, click here. The ultra-short version, I had my worst marathon ever, missed my goal time by 25 minutes, and was defeated by the beast of Boston.
But this year would be different. This year I would redeem myself…or would I?
I'm back, Boston! No not to tackle the marathon course again, but for the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) Annual Meeting. The meeting rotates locations around the US and this year it just happened to be in Boston where I was just a month ago. This is a meeting I attend every year to present my research and rub elbows with influential people in the exercise science world. It also gives me a chance to catch up with friends from other schools and try out lots of local (and delicious!) food :) There is also a 5k "fun" run on the last full day of the conference so I was looking forward to that too!
I had some lofty goals which included finishing in a time of 2:25:00 (avg. pace 5:32/mile)
I was coming off an injury that forced me to take almost 5 weeks off from running outside with just 6 weeks to go before the marathon
It was hot (71) and windy (10+ mph headwind)
I was CRUISING through the first 10k (avg. pace 5:32) and felt fan-freaking-tastic!
Everything fell apart right around the halfway point and I was just in survival mode after that, but I did NOT walk
Going slow did have it's perks. I got to enjoy the atmosphere and experience of THE BOSTON MARATHON!
Bostonian's have funny accents (you know you can pronounce the 'r' in words, right?!)
I had so many people who texted, called, posted, and everything else that it was beyond humbling and I am so thankful for all of you!
I finished in a time of 2:50:02 and missed my goal time by 25 minutes. This was my slowest marathon by 10 minutes since I started running marathons 3 years ago
I am nowhere near satisfied with this effort and I will be back to Boston for redemption
I know I'm going to have a lot to say about the race, so I want to write down the chronicles of what I go through before, during, and after the race. So here is the BEFORE.