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ilanaramaSo. Gulp. The Boston Marathon. Yeah, I'm running.
Boston is held on Monday April 19th, which is the Patriot's Day holiday in Massachusetts (and Maine, I think, but nowhere else). I am starting about in the middle of the second wave, which starts at 10:30 EDT, although it will probably take me around 5 minutes just to cross the start line. My bib number is 20054.
You can track me on the http://www.bostonmarathon.org website, which will have tracking links on the front page that day. Tracking will be at start and finish, and every 5K (about 3.1 miles) as well as the half. There are also various options to get start, 10K, half, 30K, and finish times texted or emailed to you via this page, but you need to sign up before Monday, and I can't imagine anyone would care that much anyway. :-)
My ankle has been feeling pretty good for the past week, although I'm concerned about the fitness I lost while I was fighting the injury. Weighing all this, I have pinned down my primary goal as 3:35. This is somewhat ambitious (it would be a nearly 12-minute PR) but it's a little slower than my original pre-injury goal, and I think it's reasonable. If I can tap into my cache of magic pixie dust, I might get closer to 3:30 (or maybe even under; my 1:37 half predicts a 3:22, but the injury issues make this unlikely in the extreme), and I will be pleased with anything under 3:40. Then again, I might have lost more fitness than I thought, or my peroneal tendon might start complaining mightily, or it might be really hot, or my allergies might kick in; any of these things will slow me down, in which case my time will probably be a little more than 4 hours. (For comparison, the elite women will probably come in around 2:30, the fastest non-elite women in my age group around 2:45-3:00; to qualify for Boston a woman under 35 has to run at least 3:40 in a previous marathon, but at my age group, qualifying time is 4:00. There are older runners and charity runners who did not run qualifiers, and a few injured fast people who are planning to jog or walk it in, so the slowest runners will be coming in at the 6-hour limit.)
A 3:35 time means an average pace of 8:12, but I strive to run "even effort" as opposed to "even pace" - faster on the downhills, slower on the uphills. The Boston course is net downhill, although there are some significant hills (including the famous "Heartbreak Hill") in miles 16-20. I'm also expecting to start very slowly, since runners are seeded by qualifying time, and with ~25,000 runners it's going to be crowded. I qualified with a 3:54 so will be behind about 6000 people in the second wave, surrounded by people who are planning/able to run ~3:50 (8:47). And of course toward the end I'll be getting tired and fading a little, although hopefully not crashing hard.
Fortunately, there's a guy on the running forums where I hang out (Runner's World Online, or RWOL) who makes these nifty spreadsheets to take all of this into account, so I can give you a checkpoint list based on all these factors. I'm going to assume I'm starting at 10:30, although as I said above, I will probably not actually cross the start for a few minutes after.
I am pretty sure that the tracking page will give an average pace and a calculated finish time, as well. That plus the table above ought to give you an idea if I'm on pace, flying on pixie dust, or grimly staggering to Boston.
I've been watching the weather forecasts nervously, but it's still too far out to really tell. At the moment most forecasts are predicting low 50s and overcast (good), moderate wind from the N (not great, but not awful - it's a crosswind), 30% chance of rain (I'd prefer not). Tomorrow I drive to Albuquerque and stay with a friend (turned out I could get a far cheaper ticket that way), and on Friday afternoon I arrive in BOSTON!
Boston is held on Monday April 19th, which is the Patriot's Day holiday in Massachusetts (and Maine, I think, but nowhere else). I am starting about in the middle of the second wave, which starts at 10:30 EDT, although it will probably take me around 5 minutes just to cross the start line. My bib number is 20054.
You can track me on the http://www.bostonmarathon.org website, which will have tracking links on the front page that day. Tracking will be at start and finish, and every 5K (about 3.1 miles) as well as the half. There are also various options to get start, 10K, half, 30K, and finish times texted or emailed to you via this page, but you need to sign up before Monday, and I can't imagine anyone would care that much anyway. :-)
My ankle has been feeling pretty good for the past week, although I'm concerned about the fitness I lost while I was fighting the injury. Weighing all this, I have pinned down my primary goal as 3:35. This is somewhat ambitious (it would be a nearly 12-minute PR) but it's a little slower than my original pre-injury goal, and I think it's reasonable. If I can tap into my cache of magic pixie dust, I might get closer to 3:30 (or maybe even under; my 1:37 half predicts a 3:22, but the injury issues make this unlikely in the extreme), and I will be pleased with anything under 3:40. Then again, I might have lost more fitness than I thought, or my peroneal tendon might start complaining mightily, or it might be really hot, or my allergies might kick in; any of these things will slow me down, in which case my time will probably be a little more than 4 hours. (For comparison, the elite women will probably come in around 2:30, the fastest non-elite women in my age group around 2:45-3:00; to qualify for Boston a woman under 35 has to run at least 3:40 in a previous marathon, but at my age group, qualifying time is 4:00. There are older runners and charity runners who did not run qualifiers, and a few injured fast people who are planning to jog or walk it in, so the slowest runners will be coming in at the 6-hour limit.)
A 3:35 time means an average pace of 8:12, but I strive to run "even effort" as opposed to "even pace" - faster on the downhills, slower on the uphills. The Boston course is net downhill, although there are some significant hills (including the famous "Heartbreak Hill") in miles 16-20. I'm also expecting to start very slowly, since runners are seeded by qualifying time, and with ~25,000 runners it's going to be crowded. I qualified with a 3:54 so will be behind about 6000 people in the second wave, surrounded by people who are planning/able to run ~3:50 (8:47). And of course toward the end I'll be getting tired and fading a little, although hopefully not crashing hard.
Fortunately, there's a guy on the running forums where I hang out (Runner's World Online, or RWOL) who makes these nifty spreadsheets to take all of this into account, so I can give you a checkpoint list based on all these factors. I'm going to assume I'm starting at 10:30, although as I said above, I will probably not actually cross the start for a few minutes after.
| Split | Elapsed | Time EDT |
| 5K | 0:26:12 | 10:56:12 am |
| 10K | 0:51:26 | 11:21:26 am |
| 15K | 1:16:42 | 11:46:42 am |
| 20K | 1:42:01 | 12:12:01 pm |
| Half | 1:47:33 | 12:17:33 pm |
| 25K | 2:07:13 | 12:37:13 pm |
| 30K | 2:32:45 | 1:02:45 pm |
| 35K | 2:58:26 | 1:28:26 pm |
| 40K | 3:23:44 | 1:53:44 pm |
| Finish | 3:35:00 | 2:05:00 pm |
I am pretty sure that the tracking page will give an average pace and a calculated finish time, as well. That plus the table above ought to give you an idea if I'm on pace, flying on pixie dust, or grimly staggering to Boston.
I've been watching the weather forecasts nervously, but it's still too far out to really tell. At the moment most forecasts are predicting low 50s and overcast (good), moderate wind from the N (not great, but not awful - it's a crosswind), 30% chance of rain (I'd prefer not). Tomorrow I drive to Albuquerque and stay with a friend (turned out I could get a far cheaper ticket that way), and on Friday afternoon I arrive in BOSTON!
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-14 06:44 pm (UTC)Thanks for the info!!
Date: 2010-04-14 07:40 pm (UTC)Re: Thanks for the info!!
Date: 2010-04-14 07:40 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-14 11:18 pm (UTC)Eric W.
(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-15 01:56 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-15 04:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-15 06:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2010-04-17 09:46 am (UTC)Best of luck and success! Have fun!