Boston Marathon

As much as I love trail racing and the ultra marathon distances, I’ve always felt like I had unfinished business with the road marathon.  I just never could put it all together and run a time I was happy with.  So in May of last year I ran “one last marathon” near the Koepke’s home town in Minnesota.  The plan was to run a 2:49 and then retire from road marathons forever, but once again, I had a few mishaps, some unseasonable warmth, and ran 2:54.  So I signed up for Boston 2018 to get my 2:49 at the legendary race, and retire with a bang.

However, as chronicled within the race reports on this blog, my training took a nosedive somewhere around last fall and hasn’t recovered.  I thought I’d come back from New Zealand in February and get back to my dedicated ways, so as to have a decent Boston, but somehow I trained even less!  So the 3:10 finishing time I churned out today (halfs of 1:30, 1:40) was definitely no worse than I deserved.


Happy to see my family at mile 14!

The weather was horrendous - low-mid 40s, pouring rain the entire time, and a 20mph easterly (head) wind.  Julie saw me off in the rain at the start, then was there with my extended family at mile 14, and again with my dad at runner pick-up after the race.  They used some quick thinking and strategery to bypass the security line and meet me in time to prevent hypothermia from setting in too much.  Worst spectating conditions you could imagine, so I definitely felt loved!  Actually a really amazing turnout in general; people really must love this race, which is pretty special.  Thanks Julie, Dad, Nancy and Laura Leigh for braving the elements!


Where is that guy??


We rode a rickshaw back to the car after the race!


Dad got my coverup..after giving me 4 layers of dry clothes

3:10 is the slowest I’ve run this distance since 2011, the year I ran my very first marathon, just over a year after I took up running.  So I’m in bad shape, but since I was in great shape only 1 year ago, I know this is fixable.  It means making running a priority again.  Sitting here writing this report though, I couldn’t tell you if that’ll happen.  I’m not embarrassed, nor extra determined after that - still relatively indifferent.  Running is dead last on a list of priorities that include my new marriage, my kids, my increasingly-time-sucking job, sleep, and even just sitting on my butt doing nothing when I get the rare opportunity to do so.

I think I’ll find the inspiration eventually.  But not yet.

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