Boston recap, 135th overall, 2:34:09

I ran the perfect race for what shape I was in. Just look at my 5k splits through 40k, and you will see that I never hit the wall and consistently kept up the same intensity level. The few outliers (17:32 is mostly downhill, while the 30k and 35k splits include the hill portions of the course. All in all I'm most excited about the strength I held throughout the entire course.

5k 0:17:32
10k 0:35:25 (17:53)
15k 0:53:28 (18:03)
20k 1:11:36 (18:12)
25k 1:29:37 (18:01)
30k 1:48:09 (18:32)
35k 2:06:32 (18:23)
40k 2:24:51 (18:19)

Unfortunately my hamstring locked up in a massive cramp, which unleashed cramps in both calves, so I had to walk for a little over a minute before I calmed them down enough to hobble jog on in. Going into the last mile I was projected to get 2:32:50, so the cramp really put me in the hurt locker. I finished 8 seconds off my PR, which I ran at Boston two years ago.

In the team competition, the Knoxville Track Club men finished 5th overall against some pretty stout competition. Ethan ran 2:34:23 and Elijah ran 2:37:50 to close out the scoring, both of which were PRs.

Boston 2011 is finally here!!!

It is Boston weekend and I'm excited to run it. I didn't get to run Boston last year due to an injury, so I'm even more eager to run the course this year. I feel like training went as well as it could. I didn't get to run in as many races during this training season as I would have liked, but I got in some quality long runs to make up for it.

I'm shooting for a personal record and feel like I have a great shot at running sub 2:34. I plan to run the first 10k faster than I normally have in past Boston's because I got in several downhill specific trainer long runs and feel my quads can withstand the extra abuse and still be able to last 26 miles. I plan on running the first half around 1 hour 16 minutes, and the second half in 1:17.

Lets hope for excellent weather, which it looks like it will be. I will post a recap after the race.