Boston Marathon

3:01:06 - have to be happy with that!

Rob and I got on an early bus and chatted nervously for the 45 min drive to Hopkinton.
Had a bagel, muesli bar, coffee and gatorade before the run. The 3 hours at the village went fairly quickly as we tried not to freeze and took turns going to the toilets. They must have improved on last year as the longest I had to wait was 5 minutes, and that was just before we left.

We split at the clothes drop-off and made the long walk to the start - got to the corral 20 min before the start, just in time for the anthem and flyby. Two guys next to me peed on the ground in the corral - just as Sugar described last year.

Suddenly we were off, and I was surprised to be on a good pace within a few hundred metres. My thigh was aching on the initial downhill kms, but there was too much going on to notice.

I ran at the pace of those around me - and before I knew it it was 8km. There had been a continuous wall of people lining the roads. The kms kept coming fast as I looked out for the various landmarks described by others -Ashland, Framingham, Natick, the mirror to check out your form.

I have to thank Sugar and B'man for their suggestion re putting my name on my singlet. I had large clearly printed Craig/Australia on my singlet and had pretty much continuous callouts and cries of AussieAussieAussie. Initially I was calling back OiOiOi, later just Oi, later just raising my hand, towards the end just grimacing. I think I gave out more high fives than I have in my entire life. Especially at Wellesley - where I didn't stop for a kiss, but did high five continuously for about 500m.

I knew I was likely to hit the wall in the second half, but decided to enjoy feeling good for as long as it lasted. Initially that was to do a decent half, then 25k, then 28k, then get over heartbreak hill. I managed to do all these, to my great surprise.

I ran into Newton xpecting 3 hills, and thought they were a long time coming. Finally there was a decent hill and I got over it OK, expecting 2 more. But someone on a microphone called out that we had got over heartbreak hill! They really were little hills.

After 35k is when I started to really stuggle - and it was my quads that went. I was kind of hoping that it was all downhill from here and I had enough in the bank to go sub3. But there was enough flat and uphill to make me struggle. First I walked through a drink station and started cramping up as I got runnng again. Then over the last 5k I stopped 3 or 4 times. Each time the crowd would scream at me - dont stop Craig! another advantage of my labelled singlet, and when I started shuffling again they would cheer. I suspect if this was Perth I would have ended up doing 3:05-3:10. I still held out hope of scraping under 3hrs until 40k, but the little underpass around that part was too much for me and I walked a little again.

As Clown described, turning in to Boylston I felt a surge of excitement, but the finish line seemed to be like a mirage until I finally passed it.

At the finish I realised how cold it was, and started to shiver. I went and sat on one of the chair in the medical tent before getting my gear and meeting Rob and the girls. Had a quiet afternoon and a fun dinner. Have to say that my legs are the sorest they've been since my first marathon - driving is going to be a challenge.

Congrats Rob on a PB, although it wasn't quite what you hoped/deserved, it will happen!
Personally I am ecstatic I ran as fast as I did on the prep, and have no regrets. With that little training in my legs over 4 months I knew I was going to hit the wall and am only amazed I got as far as I did in good time.

More holiday for me now - hope to see all in the coming weeks. Many thanks for all the support.