Boston Marathon Part IV-The Final Five Miles
Once you reach the crest at BC the crowds are enormous and while I was relieved the hilly five mile stretch that comprises Heartbreak Hill was now behind me, my relief was tempered by the fact that I still had five miles of difficult running left. I also noticed the wind picking up and many in the crowd were now wearing hats and jackets.
We descended over the trolley tracks and onto Chestnut Hill Ave and then into Cleveland Circle before taking a left onto Beacon Street. It is at this point in the race you realize you are now actually in Boston. While running in Wellesley and Newton you feel far removed from the city but the apartment buildings and brownstones lining Beacon Street along with the trolley tracks immediately to your left, let you know you’re a long way from Hopkinton and heading down the home stretch. I passed through this difficult 5k stretch from 30k -35k in 24:40, a just a little over a minute slower than my six previous 5k splits through 30k (23:22 avg.) and only about 1 ½ minutes over sub 3:20 pace. Despite being close to my goal I knew I was starting to run out of gas and was about to hit the proverbial wall. When I hit the wall it involves a sensation of losing my regular steady cadence and rhythm and each running step starts to feel wobbly and unsteady as my feet hit the ground. I kept reminding myself that we had done nine training runs in excess of 20 miles in preparation for this race with four of those 23 milers on terrain (with the exception of Central Park) far more difficult than Boston. This helped me handle the unpleasant sensation of being completely depleted of glycogen or expressed in simpler terms, running on dead legs. I told myself that as long as I could see pavement moving underneath my feet, I’d be ok and eventually get to the finish line.
I passed through Coolidge Corner in Brookline within a block of where I lived while attending law school in Boston and right by one of the T stops I would take to class every day. It seemed like forever before I could see the famous Citgo sign. Finally, it appeared far off in the distance next to Fenway and immediately after spotting the Citgo sign and approaching the Mass. Pike overpass I could see the Hancock tower slightly off to the right. You’d expect to feel a sense of relief when you see these landmarks but they look so far away my spirits sagged a bit so I decided to keep things simple so I kept my focus on the ground and the pavement moving underneath my feet. I ran miles 22, 23 and 24 at 7:50, 7:57, and 8:08 and I then passed the 40k (24.8m) mark at 3:10:18 (25:21 5k split) my slowest mile of the day at 8:30 for mile 25. I needed to be 3:08 at the 40k mark to have any shot at 3:20 and knew I had about 10 minutes of running left. Then within a few minutes of passing 40k I got a big boost when I saw the “One Mile to Go” sign. When I coach my cross country runners on the Granite State Flash we usually try to have the team visualize how far they are from the finish based on laps on a track. Before the race we always walk off as a team the mile to go (1600 meters), 1200 meters, 800 meters and 400 meter marks. Usually we pick a tree, stonewall or other landmark so even if they are near the end of the race and can’t see the finish line (which is very common in cross country) they know exactly where they are in relation to the finish by equating it to laps around the track. So when I passed the mile to go sign I knew I had just four laps around the proverbial track and felt my legs come back to life (somewhat) and pressed as hard as I could and suddenly arrived at Hereford Street where I took a hard right and where the screaming crowds were literally five deep and then about 150 meters later a sharp left onto Boylston where I could see the finish line in the distance. Cathy's brother Phil was in this area and took the great photo of Cathy above and I'm disappointed I missed him. I could see the finish line and timing clocks as well as the hundreds of other runners approaching the end at the same time. The crowds are so loud down this final stretch you can’t even hear yourself breathe. Finally, I crossed the timing mat and it was over: 3:21:15. While I was about 75 seconds over my goal I was happy and relieved as this was 6 minutes faster than my last Boston in 1982 (age 23) and a PR. Literally seconds after coming across the line I ran into fellow Strider Steve Moland who was working the finish line and he grabbed me (and 10 minutes earleir Cathy) for the brutal pictures posted above. About two minutes later I received a text from my friend Roy Seliber who was following me in Seattle, Washington who texted me Cathy’s time of 3:11:59, 4th overall in the women’s 50-54 age category. After 13 months and more than 3000 miles of training, it was all over.
We descended over the trolley tracks and onto Chestnut Hill Ave and then into Cleveland Circle before taking a left onto Beacon Street. It is at this point in the race you realize you are now actually in Boston. While running in Wellesley and Newton you feel far removed from the city but the apartment buildings and brownstones lining Beacon Street along with the trolley tracks immediately to your left, let you know you’re a long way from Hopkinton and heading down the home stretch. I passed through this difficult 5k stretch from 30k -35k in 24:40, a just a little over a minute slower than my six previous 5k splits through 30k (23:22 avg.) and only about 1 ½ minutes over sub 3:20 pace. Despite being close to my goal I knew I was starting to run out of gas and was about to hit the proverbial wall. When I hit the wall it involves a sensation of losing my regular steady cadence and rhythm and each running step starts to feel wobbly and unsteady as my feet hit the ground. I kept reminding myself that we had done nine training runs in excess of 20 miles in preparation for this race with four of those 23 milers on terrain (with the exception of Central Park) far more difficult than Boston. This helped me handle the unpleasant sensation of being completely depleted of glycogen or expressed in simpler terms, running on dead legs. I told myself that as long as I could see pavement moving underneath my feet, I’d be ok and eventually get to the finish line.
I passed through Coolidge Corner in Brookline within a block of where I lived while attending law school in Boston and right by one of the T stops I would take to class every day. It seemed like forever before I could see the famous Citgo sign. Finally, it appeared far off in the distance next to Fenway and immediately after spotting the Citgo sign and approaching the Mass. Pike overpass I could see the Hancock tower slightly off to the right. You’d expect to feel a sense of relief when you see these landmarks but they look so far away my spirits sagged a bit so I decided to keep things simple so I kept my focus on the ground and the pavement moving underneath my feet. I ran miles 22, 23 and 24 at 7:50, 7:57, and 8:08 and I then passed the 40k (24.8m) mark at 3:10:18 (25:21 5k split) my slowest mile of the day at 8:30 for mile 25. I needed to be 3:08 at the 40k mark to have any shot at 3:20 and knew I had about 10 minutes of running left. Then within a few minutes of passing 40k I got a big boost when I saw the “One Mile to Go” sign. When I coach my cross country runners on the Granite State Flash we usually try to have the team visualize how far they are from the finish based on laps on a track. Before the race we always walk off as a team the mile to go (1600 meters), 1200 meters, 800 meters and 400 meter marks. Usually we pick a tree, stonewall or other landmark so even if they are near the end of the race and can’t see the finish line (which is very common in cross country) they know exactly where they are in relation to the finish by equating it to laps around the track. So when I passed the mile to go sign I knew I had just four laps around the proverbial track and felt my legs come back to life (somewhat) and pressed as hard as I could and suddenly arrived at Hereford Street where I took a hard right and where the screaming crowds were literally five deep and then about 150 meters later a sharp left onto Boylston where I could see the finish line in the distance. Cathy's brother Phil was in this area and took the great photo of Cathy above and I'm disappointed I missed him. I could see the finish line and timing clocks as well as the hundreds of other runners approaching the end at the same time. The crowds are so loud down this final stretch you can’t even hear yourself breathe. Finally, I crossed the timing mat and it was over: 3:21:15. While I was about 75 seconds over my goal I was happy and relieved as this was 6 minutes faster than my last Boston in 1982 (age 23) and a PR. Literally seconds after coming across the line I ran into fellow Strider Steve Moland who was working the finish line and he grabbed me (and 10 minutes earleir Cathy) for the brutal pictures posted above. About two minutes later I received a text from my friend Roy Seliber who was following me in Seattle, Washington who texted me Cathy’s time of 3:11:59, 4th overall in the women’s 50-54 age category. After 13 months and more than 3000 miles of training, it was all over.
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