Time for a little Boston Marathon recap action! I always start writing the recap with a ton of backstory and realize that should just be its own dang post. So here it is! Setting the stage for the actual race.
PRE-RACE GOALS:
My primary goal during this build has been to get fast enough that I could run at least the first half of this race with Kindal. Our dream has always been to run the whole thing together, but I knew that might not be in the cards yet. See, while I spent my first 18 months postpartum with the twins getting 3-4 broken hours of sleep a night and running 2-3 miles @ 10 minute pace on my treadmill after 11pm just to keep any sort of base... Kindal was *crushing* workouts. We had quite the speed disparity heading into this training cycle!
In 2019, Kindal was in Boston to cheer for me. She'd been trying to get pregnant for awhile and had a bad long run the day before the race (as in, she took an uber back instead of finishing) and I just had a feeling. So Charlie and I detoured to CVS after our pre-race dinner and I bought a pregnancy test, and tossed it to Kindal when we walked back into the hotel. Race morning was chaotic so she didn't take it... but then called me when I was on the bus to say that she was pregnant!!! I found her and Charlie in the crowds in front of a little shop just past the halfway mark in Wellesley, and we laughed and cried and celebrated for three minutes in the middle of my race. We said we'd run back to that spot together next time.
Well, this was our "next time" in Boston together -- hence really wanting to run that first half marathon together! Thankfully, my twins finally started sleeping through the night (well, 80% success rate between the two) in January, so I finally felt like my body could handle some effort. Operation: Keep Up had begun haha.
Kindal’s PR is 3:16:07, so her # 1 goal time for the day was a 3:16:06 or faster. Her stretch goal was closer to 3:10. The pacing plan was to run even effort (not negative split unless the stars aligned for that stretch goal), and with a headwind and rain forecasted to hit us in the Newton hills, we accounted for those miles being slower. Then if things were feeling great after Heartbreak, open it up and see how far under 3:16 she/we could go (assuming I hadn’t blown up at that point — I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel). Kindal ran a 1:27 half tapered in Mesa in February and a 1:31 on a hilly course at the end of a high-mileage week in March, so she certainly had the fitness to go after that marathon PR.
My personal goal -- had I been running the whole thing solo -- would have been sub-3:20. But the altitude conversion & race equivalency calculators said 3:15 was doable, so I thought maybe on a perfect day I could bury myself and hang with Kindal the whole time. But I just really didn't know -- I think if I had already been at normal running fitness before we moved to 7200 feet altitude, I'd have a better handle over the difference and therefore have more confidence in where my running fitness is at. Trying to build back from having twins WHILE at this new crazy high altitude has just made me really unsure of my abilities. In a way, Boston was going to be my scientific experiment -- now that I'm finally in marathon shape, just how accurate are those conversions? I'm a nerd so I was excited to find out.
So yeah, I felt like maybe on a perfect day, I could hang. If that first half was too hot and I blew up, I'd fight for a sub-3:25. And for both of us, the absolute worst-case scenario was a BQ, preferably with a 5-minute buffer (so a sub-3:30). I have a BQ for 2024 already, but our summer triathlon plans would be ruined if Kindal had to go race another marathon before September (when you register for Boston 2024). Alternatively, we could check the BQ box and then target a faster corral placement time over the winter.
RACE MORNING:
The weather forecast had been all over the place and as of race morning, it still hadn't quite decided what it was going to do during the race! That's kind of the drill for Boston, though, so you just prepare for all possibilities and then don't worry about it. It's entertaining if nothing else!
I'd packed two pairs of race shoes as options for the day: an older pair with a couple marathons on it, and a brand-spankin' new pair. The plan was to decide based on the weather and how I felt. Basically, if I thought I was going to have a good day, the old pair would suffice. But if I thought I could have a GREAT day, I'd go with the new pair. That morning, even with a headwind and potential rain on the forecast during the race? I put on the new pair. I was ready to race.
The hourly forecast still said Athlete's Village itself would be dry, but the air had just felt "damp" (to use the forecast's language) even the day before, so I stuck to my "muddy and potentially wet" athlete's village gear plans -- and was quite glad I did!!! Sure enough, it wasn't a total mud pit, but it *was* wet and muddy, and it was nice not having to worry about my race shoes and where I stepped. And of course, when it started raining in athlete's village (even though the forecast said it wouldn't yet), well, I was glad to have a poncho. Better safe than sorry when it comes to gear planning for Boston!
My friends all stuck together for the whole bus ride + athlete's village, which just made it that much more fun. When it was time for the first of us (Rhandi) to leave the village and walk to her starting corral, we huddled up for a "team" cheer and big good luck group hug for all of us! Just such great pre-race vibes. The announcer actually said that Kindal and my corral could head over, too, but it was earlier than the posted time and I wanted to sit in the village awhile longer. We got to watch the elites start on the big screen and hid under the big tent while it started to rain. Then when the clock struck that original "depart the village" time, Heather, Kindal, and I put our ponchos on and stepped out into the rain!
We danced on our way to the corrals and it was so fun. It's nearly a mile-long walk, but even THAT has a bunch of spectators! I decided to kick off the day with that good luck hype and veered to the sidelines to collect pre-race high-fives. Then Kindal and I split off for our corral and wished Heather a great race as she turned toward hers!
It was time.
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