Boston Marathon: Fantastic, evil, not that tough, fickle, memorable!
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10, 2019
I have been thinking a lot about the Boston Marathon this week: The race is on Monday. Here are some thoughts that new Boston runners (and even those who have run it) may find helpful.
Boston first and foremost is a fantastic experience. Soak it up, Enjoy it, Relish it. I call it the Super Bowl of Running. The course is epic and historic, and the crowd support is unequaled! In each of my seven Bostons, I have been overwhelmed by emotion when I made the turn from Hereford Street left onto Boylston Street and saw the finish line banner looming way down the street near the John Hancock Tower in Copley Square.
Boston is an evil course. It sucks you into going out of the gate too fast and then makes you climb and descend tough hills late in the race. DO NOT overrun the initial five miles, which are mostly downhill. If you do that, you will trash your quads and you will have to pay the piper big time in the Newton Hills from 17.4 to 21 and thereafter on the long way home on Commonwealth and Beacon Avenues. If you are conservative on your pace through Wellesley and to the Newton Fire Station, you will thank yourself over the last 10 miles.
The Newton Hills are not that tough. The grades are manageable. It's just where they are placed on the course and their length that makes them hard. My advice: Don't overthink them or fear them. You can handle them, no problem.
Boston weather is fickle! I have run it in rain, heat, cold and perfect weather. This year the forecast is for cold rain (last I heard). Not fun but I would guess nothing could be as bad as it was last year. The lesson from last year that many runners learned is to overdress for the rain and cold. You can always shed clothing and plastic covering if it turns out the weather is not that bad or if you are overdressed. You can't add it once you start if it turns out you are under dressed. One year my friend John Duffy, a tremendous runner who ran XC for Marquette, did not account for the wind in what he wore and became hypothermic coming over Heartbreak. Very bad race for him after that!
Hopkinton is a little town that Boston runners overwhelm. Give yourself much more time than you think you need to drop your gear at your gear bus and to get to your starting pen. Having to rush this is a real problem. One year I did not realize that gear bus parking had changed and finding my bus took way too long. I was still fighting my way down Grove Street to Main Street when the F15s flew over and the race started. I burned way too much adrenaline getting to my pen (but I did make it in time). Another problem is that the field where the tents are set up at the high school (where you will wait before race start) is grass that will get very wet and muddy, especially if it is raining. Be sure to bring something waterproof that you can stand and sit on. If you have room for a pair of shoes in your gear check bag or have an old pair that you can toss, wear those and change into your racing shoes right before you go to gear check.
Look for these fun or at least memorable points on the course. The initial downhill in the first mile. The biker bar with the party already underway on your left in Ashland. The train depot in Framingham at 10k (nearly 25% done!). Lake Cochituate on your left at 15k. Natick Town Common at 10 miles (40% done!). Wellesley College with the girls pressed up against the fence yelling and offering kisses at mile 12 - very loud! The halfway point (50% done!). 15.5 miles, where you have a steep descent and then a climb (a fellow coach long ago cautioned me not to overrun this - she was right, don't kill it, save yourself!). The turn on to Commonwealth Avenue at the Newton Fire Station at 17.4 miles, which marks the start of the four Newton Hills (2/3 done!). The Johnny Kelley (the first and only member of the BAA running club to win the BAA Boston Marathon) Young at Heart Statue at the base of Heartbreak Hill. The crest of Heartbreak Hill at 21 miles (80% done!); on the backside Boston College students cheer incessantly, may run with you and offer you beer and brats, and you run by the old cemetery ("Where all the marathoners are buried!" says my friend Margaret Ford). The left turn at Coolidge Corner, crossing the T tracks, on to Beacon Avenue, which is packed with cheering spectators, at 24 miles (90% done!). The right turn on to Hereford Avenue and then almost immediately the aforementioned left turn onto Boylston Street and the run to the finish line.
Bottom line. You are privileged to be racing the best and second oldest marathon in the world! Enjoy it, immerse yourself in it, and respect it! Remember, however you run it, you will have run Boston, every marathoner's dream!
