BostonBound59

Just after passing the 13.1 mark in downtown Wellesley the course bears slightly left off of Rt. 135 onto Rt. 16 and then stays on Rt. 16 for the next 4 ½ miles. Miles 14 and 15 are relatively flat and I passed the 14th mile in 7:33 and the 15th mile (which passes in front of Marathon Sports in Wellesley and then immediately over Rt. 9) in 7:40, slightly slower than the 7:27 I had maintained through 13 miles but I knew that mile 16 had a large downhill section as the course descended into Newton Lower Falls. I made up some time and ran mile 16 in 7:20, still feeling pretty strong but I knew that a sub 3:20 marathon would be a very close call because the headwinds which had been blowing at a steady 10 mph for the first half of the race from Hopkinton had picked up considerably and were now in the 15-20 mph range. Despite the wind being directly in our face it actually felt good and the crowds were very large and enthusiastic throughout this stretch. Long time marathon race director Dave McGillvray says he finds this part of the course the most difficult because as you reach Newton Lower Falls you can see right in front of you that first long Newton hill which passes over Rt. 128. This is a tough stretch where you are wide open and exposed over Rt. 128 and contending with not only the first difficult hill but high winds and the knowledge that you haven’t yet even reached the heart of the course. I agree. Once you reach the top of this incline you pass by the Woodland Golf course on your left and then Newton-Wellesley Hospital on your right before swinging right onto Rt. 30 at the Newton fire house. It helped that Cathy and I had run this stretch of the course beginning at the hospital twice during our winter training but I'll concede fit feels quite different starting at that point on a Sunday morning with fresh legs versus having run 16 hard miles over the course of nearly two hours. Just before we reached the right hand turn at the fire station I felt I was still running strong when suddenly fellow Gate City Strider Steve Piper (age 54) blew right by me on my right as if I was standing still and I patted him on the back wished him well and soon lost sight of him (he was on his way ultimately to a fantastic 3:15). He said later he never even saw me. There was a live band playing at the fire station and now it was make or break time up to Boston College. I ran mile 18 at in 7:41 (still on pace) then got a boost when I saw one of our Flash runners Keith Thibault (now at Brandeis) right in front of Brae Burn. I knew I was now only one mile away from our Granite State Flash cheering section at mile 19 directly in front of Newton City Hall where I would be joined by two of our Flash runners, Alex Peck from Stratham and Cam Dumont from Hampton. I passed the 30k (18.6 miles) still on pace at 2:20 overall (7:31 pace). The crowds were much heavier than I ever remembered so I was worried that I might miss our group when all of a sudden I saw Kate Collopy (her husband Rick, a Flash coach was also running) jumping up and down and waiving (she had followed my splits on her cell phone) then I saw Annemarie Peck so I knew I was in friendly territory. This gave me a huge boost as Alex and Cam jumped out onto the course with their Flash singlets with Cam on my left and Alex on my right and off we went. This was by far the highlight of my day as I got a kick of adrenaline as the wall of kelly green ascended Heartbreak. While a few people had cheered for the Flash in the previous miles, once the boys joined me the cheers picked up ten fold (should I take something from that?) I could tell they were both amused by the crowd reaction as well as thrilled leading their 50 year old coach up the heart of the marathon course. Alex updated me on who was leading the race and told me Cathy had passed by about seven minutes earlier. I was also looking for my parents and cousin Joe and his family and was concerned I had missed them when all of a sudden I saw my Dad to my right as he snapped the picture posted above as well as the two earlier pictures of Cathy. These miles passed quickly but due to the size of the crowd I missed getting my split at the 20 mile mark at Centre Street but we made it to the top of Heartbreak in just under 8 minute mile pace. I also saw my Amherst running buddy and long time friend Charlie Lawrence and his son Sam (a sophomore at BC) on this final hill. Once we reached BC (the crowds were deafening at this point—aided of course by what I could see as beer kegs every 50 feet) I gave each boy a low 5 and they reversed back to return to their families on the carriage road that runs along the other side of the course. I was now on my own….a little more than 5 miles and 40 minutes of running to go….