Boston Marathon – 17 April 2006

The Boston Marathon is the oldest annual marathon, this years being the 110^th. It takes place on the third Monday in April, which in Massachusetts is Patriot's Day, a legal state holiday to honour the start of the American Revolution. The race attracts more than one million spectators and 20,000 runners.

Marathon day started for me at 8.00am by boarding a yellow school bus at Boston Common, which transported us to the start in Hopkington, 26 miles from Boston. This year was 2 wave start, the first wave starting at 12 midday and the second wave 30 minutes later. I was in the second wave, so there was a lot of waiting time in the competitors village. Luckily the ‘entertainment’, coffee and bagels, and hundreds of ‘porta-potties’ helped to pass the time.

I had read a lot about the course before hand and was worried as much about the long downhill stretches as well as the 4 mile stretch of uphills starting at the 17 mile mark, culminating in the infamous Heartbreak Hill. On the day, the first 19 miles seemed to pass by in a flash, helped by the thousands of very supportive and vocal Bostonians who lined every inch of the route, and admiring the quaint New England buildings as we ran through the rural villages. After this point the downhills took their toll on my legs and I began to tire very quickly. Heartbreak Hill, which on a normal Tuesday night training run wouldn’t be too much of a problem, lived up to its name, and it took every ounce of my willpower to keep on going. Although the last few miles into Boston were downhill, everything started to hurt and I wondered as I usually do at this point in a marathon why on earth am I doing this? The crowds got denser (and louder) as we approached Boston, and their encouragement kept me going to the finishing line which I crossed in 4:01:30. Not bad for such a tough course.

So no sub 4 for me this time, but I have entered Berlin in September and it’s as flat as a pancake!