Wow, it’s almost July and I never wrote anything about Boston 2018!   Well, better late than never.

Most of you know the story this year was the weather — cold, windy, and rainy.  I estimate we got at least 2″ of rain during the run and fought 20-30 mph head winds almost the entire way.   For most roadies, it was probably a downer.  For me, someone who doesn’t run road marathons more than once every couple years, it added to the adventure.  🙂   Also, as a mountain ultra runner, we are pretty used to conditions that can be quite bad for long periods of time.

My friend and co-worker offered a place to stay in Hopkinton the night before, which I jumped at.  I also asked if my good NC friend David could crash too, and he was welcomed.   We jumped at the chance — the ability to skip the long bus lines in Boston and not have to hang in the athletes village for a few hours — especially in that weather, was incredible!   My family had come to Boston for the weekend, but Sunday night I left them after we had dinner with Matt and family, and headed to his place.  We were able to sleep in and have a leisurely morning before Matt drove us to the secondary shuttle spot in Hopkinton, which was then just a 10 minute bus ride from the village.

As we were getting off the bus in the village, I heard them calling my wave already!  So I shuffled through the village, which took a very long time as everyone was trying to stay on the pavement — the grass was a total mud pit.  Much of it must have been 4-6 inches of mud.  People had extra shoes or were wearing trash bags or grocery bags on their feet, but it was still a disaster.

I eventually got out of the village and was walking towards the start, but now time was a bit short and I had to skip the port-o-pot lines.  I got to corral 3 and was surprised to make it to the very front just 2-3 minutes before gun time.  I stripped off my throw away pants and trash bag top, and was ready to go.

Side note:  I was really amazed, however, by the clothes some people were wearing.   Singlets, sports bras, short shorts…  Wow!  For sub 30F feels like with the wind and the rain, I thought that was crazy.  I had on Ruhn compression shorts, and then a 200 weight ice breaker top, arm warmers, gloves, and a rain shell.  Also, a hat to keep the water out of my eyes and a buff.

Due to the weather, I have just one photo of me:

As for the run, I had really dropped all expectations.  I had been really inconsistent since Haiti — really more bad runs than good — but just went in with the intent of having some fun.  Especially with the added adventure of the weather!  (And the headwind meant that running a fast marathon was likely out anyway!)

There’s not much more to write.   I was never that cold (until after I finished and had to wait about 10 minutes for the family to bring my warm clothes — I had no clothes at the finish due to my Hopkinton start), and ran pretty steady.  I had one long mile split (8:34) when I hit the port-o-pot at mile 9.  This was the same spot Shalane was in and out of in something like 10s, while it took me considerably longer (but I had been holding it for a long time!)  I ran a 3:26 and change, which while 8 minutes slower than my qualifying time, I was pretty happy with considering the conditions and my running state heading in.

Here’s some strata data:

And overall data from BAA:

That min/mile at 25.2 has to be a mistake — I was moving the last couple of miles!