Notes
My second Boston Marathon. I didn't want to set any lofty goals for this race. I planned to run by feel, going out very conservatively and maybe picking it up after the halfway point if I felt strong. My main concern was leg cramps since they had caused me problems the year before, so I planned to take a salt pill every hour and Gatorade every 2 miles.
The beginning of the race was very crowded and felt like a slow jog. I made a point not to waste energy passing people in the crowd. I finally eased into a comfortable pace of 8:05-8:20/mi around mile 4. I felt like I was running very easy, a conversational pace. In fact I was talking to some of the people around me and having a great time.
I got to the halfway point around 1:48:30, about 30 seconds ahead of last year, and I was very surprised given that I felt like I had been jogging the whole first half. I didn't feel tired at all and started looking forward to picking up the pace in the second half. At mile 16 I decided to open it up a bit and dropped two sub-8 miles, including one over the I-95 bridge. I felt fantastic and started thinking about a 3:35 finish.
Unfortunately, the leg cramps hit me around mile 19. Unlike last year, they came on slowly but never got better. I ran-walked the last 7 miles or so. Still finished under 4 hours.
I'm actually pretty happy with this race because of how strong I felt for the first 19 miles. If I could figure this cramping thing out, I would have run 3:35 even with my conservative start, and I think I could do 3:25 on an easier course. Maybe we'll see at Philly in the fall.
Official splits:
5k 0:27:09
10k 0:52:54
15k 1:18:05
20k 1:43:07
Half 1:48:36
25k 2:08:08
30k 2:33:33
35k 3:09:37
40k 3:41:11
Official time: 3:56:09