My first Boston... First and foremost...bottom line best racing experience ever...meeting fellow Dm'ers, the race, the people, the organization of the event, etc. Pretty darn pleased with my finish time even though it wasn't my sub 3 goal...great just chilling with the other DailyMilers.

Chaz will weave a far better tale of Chuck our taxi guy from hell (excuse me--livery service person) who hoodwinked us into a drive all the way to Hopkinton versus to the busses...not cool at all...but then again we got Rock Star treatment all the way to 150 yards from the piece of grass we'd call home for the next 2-3 hours; pretty funny being the first one's to arrive--so early in fact that the pine tree air freshners had hardly been hung from each of the port-a-potties. Found a spot at the backstop of the ballfield at the Athletes Village and just totally had a great time being some of the first to get to the powerbars, bananas, coffee, etc. Great time being in the company of Chaz, Steve, Caleb, and Jim C. Before we split up, these wise fellas mentioned to me to just remember that all of the training had been done!--no worries, run smart, and produce a great time--pretty inspiring hearing this all face to face and 'in person'.

Honestly, I wasn't nervous at all...the whole time! Neither at the hotel, at the dinners, at the A. Village, getting into the corrals, etc. Weird but awesome!

We walked towards the start corrals and then we broke off as there was over 4,000 runners between me and da boys! Note: I did try to sneak into a higher up corral but the monitors had everything but electric cattle prods at their disposal--no way Jose!

I chatted with my fellow 6,000 corral folks till I found by luck a fellow who wasn't snickering or laughing at my sub 3hour goal...also he happend to currently live 5 miles from where I lived for many years in Milwaukee.
Ben, my new best friend for the next few hours, had a little faster pace in mind but close enough. We pretty much followed the crowd at the start (no choice) but soon we able to do a bit of weaving around some; NOTE: never weave unless necessary...I truely believe this weaving and streching my neck back to find Ben in the crowd caused a hip pointer pain which never left me from the 10 mile mark on....(not very wise!) Also, around the 10 mile mark my one flask of just Hammer expresso gels flew out of my pocket...luckily I didn't lose my Perpetuem flask as that would have been fatal; I knew I wasn't or couldn't go back with the torrent of people behind me.

Nonetheless, Ben and I were hitting our 6:50 goal pace quite well but possibly banking time we didn't need to.

The Wellesley girls did not dissappoint...to break up the overconcentration and way to 'earnest' focus I made an effort to high-five quite a few gals as well a few small children dressed up in different outfits from halloween. A guy next to me made the effort of french-kissing every 30th Wellesley girl...obviously he had other priorities but yet still caught back up to our little posse of roughly 10 runners.

I do feel my taper was managed quite well and felt very rested even at this point in the race...going into the halfway point we saw the 1:34 time and quickly referred to our watches to find that we hit a 1:29 at this half point so I knew that a great race was unfolding especially as we felt loose--outside of the hip. At this point I reminded myself of the issue which ate into a bit of the Marine Corps Mar. as I had to do a nature stop (and get chased by a cop), but this time out I had no inclination to stop and really felt like I ate and fueled correctly for such a late morning race start. Plus, the experiment of not going with a fuel belt was working wonders as I there were so many opportunities to hydrate that I was borderline hypoglycemic and burping a little bit. Check!--no need for the fuel belt in races! YEAY! Mission accomplished.

At this halfway point, we concentrated on the road ahead as well as our heart rates which were getting higher but realized that the Newton hills were beaconing...

Still in the groove at this point but I was starting to test whether I wanted to stay with Ben much longer as I wanted to leave something for hills and for the final 4+ miles. I wasn't kicking myself for having stayed with him and didn't think I went out all that fast but was just starting to think more about my race versus his. But I also knew that I normally do better in direct 'side by side' competition--than on my own... so I stuck with him.

I must agree with da Bulldog that the crowds in these middle miles were really motivating and helped my mental edge. Like Steve, I was feeling the effects of the Newton hills and definitely suffered a bit (not on mile 16) but miles 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 (heartbreak hill was my worst split at a 7:31). Even though I lost Ben at this point, I plugged away and felt good due to the crazily cheering crowd and the momentum of passing people; at these hills, I was watching the medical folks coming out and checking on a couple folks as well.

I knew I had to keep my focus after heartbreak on regaining full composure and checking my energy levels and whether I could manage a final surge. The mile on the downhill was a 6:38 for mile 22--composure regained, but I knew I was potentially in trouble on the sub 3 hour goal as I had a 6:53 ave. pace and needed to bring this down.

Like Bulldog, the crowds from the other colleges, the frat boys, etc. just really were doing everything but literally pushing you along.

I knew I had trained for a massive long gradual kick and my energy level was there but then the cramps started ever so slightly. But I could also see that many many runners were big time suffering and I was glad to not be in their boat.

I started getting a cramp or two around my right knee so I just tried to put it on autopilot; unfortunately, this autopilot meant a 6:59 pace--not good enough to pull down the 6:53 ave pace...I didn't lose out hope.
I pushed ever so slightly again and my right calf started tightening and I was feeling some small popping of muscle tissue in the calf as it was becoming irritated--my surge helped get me to a 6:57 pace at mile 24 and I knew that the pace was still good but the sub 3 hour was almost out of reach entirely. Ugggh!
I tried to let the down hill and the upcoming Citgo sign (Fenway!) help me crank for the home stretch of mile 25 but then cramps started Behind my right knee (mile 25--7:10 pace)...at this point I realized the mind wanted a sub 6 finish for the last mile or two but my body wasn't going to let it happen. I could push a bad thing and knock myself out of the race or do a mix of autopilot and pace pickup in the final few blocks...I could feel the surge of people pushing for the finish and tried to stay with a few of them...I pushed a 6:48 pace the last .2 and didn't feel any shame.

I finished in 3:02:42 (the Garmin said I added .25 of a mile--gotta watch the weaving!) and gave it everything my muscles would let me crank out. All in all, I cut 11 minutes off my Marine Corps time just this past October and 19 minutes in the past year when the NC Marathon is taken into account last May. So nothing but happiness for a pretty well run race by all accounts. By the way, Ben (my running mate) finished in a 3:01:30--didn't make it to sub 3 either.

Also, looking forward to any official photos. Wishing congrats to all the other DM'ers who competed this weekend in Boston or other events. Many thanks also to all who sent me well wishes or called me to amp me up...Without your support I wouldn't be the runner I am today.

My Overall Splits:

1 -- 7:10
2 -- 6:51
3 -- 6:40
4 -- 6:43
5 -- 6:53
6 -- 6:43
7 -- 6:45
8 -- 6:42
9 -- 6:40
10 -- 6:41
11 -- 6:47
12 -- 6:38
13 -- 6:42
14 -- 6:39
15 -- 6:50
16 -- 6:47
17 -- 7:17
18 -- 7:25
19 -- 7:04
20 -- 7:14
21 -- 7:31
22 -- 6:38
23 -- 6:59
24 -- 6:57
25 -- 7:12
26 -- 7:10
*--6:48

5K -- 21:28
10K -- 42:50 (21:22)
15K -- 1:03:43 (20:53)
20K -- 1:24:38 (20:55)
Half --1:29:12
25K -- 1:45:45 (21:07)
30K -- 2:08:22 (22:37)
35K -- 2:30:40 (22:18)
40K -- 2:52:53 (22:13)

Overall Pace: 6:58, Overall Place: 1563, 194th in 40-44 age division.

1st half -- 1:29:12
2nd half -- 1:33:30

Fuel: P/B Clifbar, bottle of sustained energy, bottle of Ultra/Success, carried 8oz foldup flask of Ultra/Success, flask of Perpeteum with 2 hammer expresso gels, flask of hammer expresso gels (lost at mile 10), endurolytes every hour (3 before race).