Post by Nick Reynolds on May 10, 2015 13:51:08 GMT
Courtesy of Geoff Turner:
Land of the free ?
Home of the brave ?
Or, an Aussie, too far from home ?
Fiona and I flew out to Boston last Thursday to take part in the 119th Boston marathon.
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in Greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is always held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and is one of six World Marathon Majors.
Of the 30,000 runners, about four-fifths of entries are reserved for runners who meet good for age qualifying standards (that are similar to the London GFA), so I thought a good idea to run Boston while I still qualify.
Because the course drops 459 feet from start to finish and the start is quite far west of the finish (it is virtually point to point), allowing a helpful tailwind, the Boston Marathon does not satisfy two of the criteria necessary for the ratification of records. Still, I'll leave the records to Bob and just enjoy the day out.
We did plenty of sightseeing, ate plenty of food and sampled as many Samuel Adams beers as pre race hydration allowed. We saw the Boston Red Sox play Baltimore in the baseball and Furious 7 (the sort of film my sons watch) to give the legs a rest.
The weather leading up to the race was chilly with a mixture of sun and light rain, however on race day the weather deteriorated somewhat with a temperature of about 8C, heavy rain and a 20 mph headwind (yes, I know it was nice and sunny in TW).
We were bused out from the finish area to a school 0.7 miles from the start line in those delightful yellow school buses (no suspension, no leg room and plenty of time to ponder how on earth you are going to run all the way back).
The was only one start line and I was in the second wave of 4 and in corral 2 (no gun fights !) at 10:25am. The waves set off at 25 minute intervals.
The first 4 miles are "quick" as the route drops 300ft and runners set off too quickly - me included. The route goes through country side and small towns as it heads into central Boston.
My training had been a bit patchy so I was unsure of what sort of time I could do. I thought if I headed out at 3:30 pace I could see how I go and adjust it later if needed. Despite actually running at more like 3:15 pace, I kept on being passed by runners - probably thousands of them and was never able to settle in with a group going at my target pace. I have to say, that in the 20 marathons I have raced, I have never seen a quality field like this.
Approaching the half way point, as the initial euphoria had well and truly worn off, you run past Wellesley College, a women's college. It is traditional for the students to cheer on the runners in what is referred to as the Scream Tunnel. For about a quarter of a mile, the students line the course, scream, and offer kisses (I declined their very kind offers but did more than my fair share of hand slapping). The Scream Tunnel is so loud it can be heard from half a mile away.
The heavy rain and wind had well and truly kicked in and the roads were very wet. My pace started to ease a little as I shifted into self preservation mode. Heartbreak Hill is the last of 3 hills around mile 21 mile. Fortunately my TWH Wed night runs (those who set the routes - you know who you are) held me in good stead as I went comfortably up the hills. Although I was still being passed by some, I started overtaking quite a few which gave me heart despite the increased chafing in sensitive places.
The crowd numbers are not quite on the scale of London but they are very noisy and their support and enthusiasm great. I pushed on and at mile 24 did the math on my likely finish time and worked out that if I picked up the pace I might just dip under the 3:20 mark, which, although 7 minutes over my PB, is the London GFA qualifying time, so a worthy target.
I dug deep and pushed for the finish line. I saw Fiona at mile 25 which helped. You can see the finish line from about half a mile out, which adds to my pace, although as many of you will know, that last 0.2 miles can go on and on and on ...
Anyway, I finished in 3:19:32, came 6,880 out of 26,610 finishers and 427 out of 2,058 in the men's 50-54 age group.
Of the 30,251 that entered, 88% started the race, and of those, 98% finished - most impressive. 46% of the runners were women and I'm sure I was passed by more of them in this race than in all my previous 20 marathons combined ! To top it off, I even beat Tara's effort the day before by 4 seconds (well done Tara).
At the finish they had plenty of food and drink and the helpers were extremely kind. I somehow made it back to the apartment we were staying in and had a nice warm bath and by 9pm that evening we were on the red eye back to Heathrow. So, I was very happy with both the race and the city of Boston but not happy with the weather, still, they were under a metre of snow a month earlier.
If you fancy taking part in one of athletics most iconic events and spending some time in the good old US of A, then head off to Boston - you won't regret it.
Entries open some time in the Fall.
www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon.aspx
Good luck to the runners on Sunday.
I'm leading the 9 minute mile group tonight .... could be interesting.
Geoff
Land of the free ?
Home of the brave ?
Or, an Aussie, too far from home ?
Fiona and I flew out to Boston last Thursday to take part in the 119th Boston marathon.
The Boston Marathon is an annual marathon hosted by several cities in Greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts, United States. It is always held on Patriots' Day, the third Monday of April. Begun in 1897, the Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon and is one of six World Marathon Majors.
Of the 30,000 runners, about four-fifths of entries are reserved for runners who meet good for age qualifying standards (that are similar to the London GFA), so I thought a good idea to run Boston while I still qualify.
Because the course drops 459 feet from start to finish and the start is quite far west of the finish (it is virtually point to point), allowing a helpful tailwind, the Boston Marathon does not satisfy two of the criteria necessary for the ratification of records. Still, I'll leave the records to Bob and just enjoy the day out.
We did plenty of sightseeing, ate plenty of food and sampled as many Samuel Adams beers as pre race hydration allowed. We saw the Boston Red Sox play Baltimore in the baseball and Furious 7 (the sort of film my sons watch) to give the legs a rest.
The weather leading up to the race was chilly with a mixture of sun and light rain, however on race day the weather deteriorated somewhat with a temperature of about 8C, heavy rain and a 20 mph headwind (yes, I know it was nice and sunny in TW).
We were bused out from the finish area to a school 0.7 miles from the start line in those delightful yellow school buses (no suspension, no leg room and plenty of time to ponder how on earth you are going to run all the way back).
The was only one start line and I was in the second wave of 4 and in corral 2 (no gun fights !) at 10:25am. The waves set off at 25 minute intervals.
The first 4 miles are "quick" as the route drops 300ft and runners set off too quickly - me included. The route goes through country side and small towns as it heads into central Boston.
My training had been a bit patchy so I was unsure of what sort of time I could do. I thought if I headed out at 3:30 pace I could see how I go and adjust it later if needed. Despite actually running at more like 3:15 pace, I kept on being passed by runners - probably thousands of them and was never able to settle in with a group going at my target pace. I have to say, that in the 20 marathons I have raced, I have never seen a quality field like this.
Approaching the half way point, as the initial euphoria had well and truly worn off, you run past Wellesley College, a women's college. It is traditional for the students to cheer on the runners in what is referred to as the Scream Tunnel. For about a quarter of a mile, the students line the course, scream, and offer kisses (I declined their very kind offers but did more than my fair share of hand slapping). The Scream Tunnel is so loud it can be heard from half a mile away.
The heavy rain and wind had well and truly kicked in and the roads were very wet. My pace started to ease a little as I shifted into self preservation mode. Heartbreak Hill is the last of 3 hills around mile 21 mile. Fortunately my TWH Wed night runs (those who set the routes - you know who you are) held me in good stead as I went comfortably up the hills. Although I was still being passed by some, I started overtaking quite a few which gave me heart despite the increased chafing in sensitive places.
The crowd numbers are not quite on the scale of London but they are very noisy and their support and enthusiasm great. I pushed on and at mile 24 did the math on my likely finish time and worked out that if I picked up the pace I might just dip under the 3:20 mark, which, although 7 minutes over my PB, is the London GFA qualifying time, so a worthy target.
I dug deep and pushed for the finish line. I saw Fiona at mile 25 which helped. You can see the finish line from about half a mile out, which adds to my pace, although as many of you will know, that last 0.2 miles can go on and on and on ...
Anyway, I finished in 3:19:32, came 6,880 out of 26,610 finishers and 427 out of 2,058 in the men's 50-54 age group.
Of the 30,251 that entered, 88% started the race, and of those, 98% finished - most impressive. 46% of the runners were women and I'm sure I was passed by more of them in this race than in all my previous 20 marathons combined ! To top it off, I even beat Tara's effort the day before by 4 seconds (well done Tara).
At the finish they had plenty of food and drink and the helpers were extremely kind. I somehow made it back to the apartment we were staying in and had a nice warm bath and by 9pm that evening we were on the red eye back to Heathrow. So, I was very happy with both the race and the city of Boston but not happy with the weather, still, they were under a metre of snow a month earlier.
If you fancy taking part in one of athletics most iconic events and spending some time in the good old US of A, then head off to Boston - you won't regret it.
Entries open some time in the Fall.
www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon.aspx
Good luck to the runners on Sunday.
I'm leading the 9 minute mile group tonight .... could be interesting.
Geoff