Boston Marathon 2014

April 14 - 21

M - 8

T - AM 5 PM 5, gym

W - 9 - 3 miles on track in 16:50 (5:38)

Th - 7

F - 6

S - 5, with Adrian in Boston

S - 4, with Todd - out and back from the starting line

Me # 918 & Dix # 393, Boston shake out complete. pic.twitter.com/w8Ne4YvJoS
— Todd Lippin (@liprides) April 20, 2014

Monday, April 21, Boston Marathon: 2:38:37, 254th. 

I think I captured my feelings about the race pretty well in what I wrote to Mike Unger, a writer for American Magazine.

Everything up until 17, actually, could not have been better. Up in Boston, I was feeling really relaxed. Race morning was great. A group of us met up at the buses, and then we even got to chill at Reaves' father-in-law's house in Hopkinton rather than sit on the ground in the athletes village. They announced the temperature at the start as 54 degrees, with a tailwind. The sun was warm, but I figured we'd feel great once we got moving. The opening mile was pretty jammed; I didn't force it. Mile 2 I started to settle into a rhythm, and from there I was running relaxed, feeling like I was holding back. Around 10k, I linked up with Reaves, who ran a new pr of 2:29, and when he started to pull away around 13, I didn't want to force myself to go with him; I could tell he was having a great day. Plus, he has a very, very strong record at Boston. I knew I just had to run my own race - until 17, when it all unraveled.

I do believe I was in 2:28-2:32 shape. I really do. Along those lines, going through the half in 1:14-flat or so was according to plan, and I did it without at any point seeing a slow split and thinking, uh oh, better pick it up. Twice, rather, I saw fast splits, south of 5:30, and pumped the brakes a bit. That said, had I understood that the conditions were not exactly perfect, as advertised, as we all thought, would I have gone out a bit slower? Maybe. I also think I would have run slower, too - because nothing I have ever done to beat warm conditions has ever worked.  

It is a frustrating thing, truthfully - the unraveling - but not because it results in a slower time than I had initially hoped. It is frustrating because I am not able to run the marathon the way I want to - to really celebrate it, in a sense. That feeling that sets in during the back half when things get tough.  And you start throwing your chips in.  And then 20 comes, and it's gloves off, and you're running all out, as hard as you can, to maintain a pace that two hours earlier - when you were fresh, when the adrenaline was pumping - felt almost like a jog. In just two and a half hours or so, it's like you go on this wild spending spree, throwing down months and months and months of training.

That is how you run the marathon. And when I run the marathon that way, no matter the time, I am happy. But lately - my last three, actually - it feels as if my body just shuts down on me; it won't let me do it. Is it random? Is it something physical? I don't know. 

This year, the sun did affect me. The medics had to scoop me up at the finish. And during the long walk to the family meet-up area, one after another kept coming up to me and suggesting I visit a medical tent. But how much was the sun? I'll never know - and frankly, I don't plan to dwell on it, either. I am going to focus the next year on the 10k. In 2015, I'll look to strike again at 26.2 on a flat-and-fast course on a cold day. In the shorter term, I will recover, race the Spring Lake 5 in a few weeks, and then take another week off. 

Boston, for three years in a row now, has both humbled and inspired me; it has been nothing less than an emotional roller coaster. I love the race, the city, the people. So darn much. There's nothing like it.

My cousin Anna took this photo of me at 22.