Race: Boston Marathon 2014
Result: I finished Strong!
Boston Strong. Meb Strong. Sunshine Strong. Dan’s legs? Not so much.
The meltdown that was Boston 2012 stole my dreams. I had always wanted a sub-3h at Boston, but the unexpected heat wave and blistering sunshine that year quickly ended it. I was fortunate to finish with a BQ time of 3:23:56 and vowed to return better prepared. Boston could hold onto my dream until then.
With a 2:41:59 qualifier (and PB) last fall at Hamilton, I set my plan in motion. This Boston 2014 was to be my shot at glory, and if Boston felt generous, I was going to take home a PB. I even strapped a 2:40 pace band to my wrist just in case it was close.
But one does forget just how brutal Boston is on the legs and, and for me especially, my feet. Even though I trained well, hard and deliberately (so many downhill tempo runs), it was not enough. My legs are just as ripped apart as they were two years ago. My socks are stained with blood. But it doesn’t matter. This race was about taking back something dear to many. And we have done it. We are all Boston Strong!
Just like the elite chase pack did, I played the waiting game. While they were letting their 5k splits wander above 15 minutes, I was doing the same at just over 19 minutes. I had to run my 5k splits in 18:57 for a shot at sub-2:40 and 19:11 for a PB.
Those early down hills start to weigh on you quickly. My 5k splits ran per plan: 19:15, then 19:14 and 19:13. Only the next split of 19:34 suggested any early hint of concern. Through the half in 1:21:28 and I knew the wicked sunshine that was part of 2012 was with us again. There was no point in a sub-2:40, but I was in good position to go after that PB. Or was I?
The right turn at the fire station saw the first of the infamous Newton Hills. My attention to hill training this winter paid dividends. I was hardly any worse for the first hill and just two remained. The second came and went all too quickly and soon (I thought) I was upon Heartbreak. I turned up the pressure, crested, then started to fly down the back side. Just as I had envisioned it.
However, the scenery seemed out of place, too suburban for my liking. The road started to climb again… THIS was Heartbreak hill! I regrouped and pushed over, but the damage was done. My legs refused to come alive as they had done in my previous races, even as they had just done after the previous hill.
A 5k split of 20:08 was all I had. On the other hand, more than half an hour earlier, two Kenyan’s in the chase pack went turbo nailing 14:30 5k splits as they tracked down Meb. WOW! A deficet of a minute and a half soon reduced to a dozen seconds.
But how to finish Strong? Oh how the crowds helped with that! The hills of Boston make it a terrible race, but the cheers more than make up for it. Their roars lifted my feet and numbed my pain. It is an experience beyond all others.
And with that thought, I turn to the dream that unfolded for America’s Meb Keflezighi, to win in such love and honour and glory. I heard the crowd’s roar too, but it was nothing compared to what Meb must have felt all along the course, the deafening crescendo that penetrated deep into his heart. The first American male to turn left onto Boylston with the lead in 30 years! Such a perfect story, and no better way to fade the scars of 2013.
Yet that was not Meb’s greatest moment. Meb had already lifted his hand in a fist of solidarity at the crest of Heartbreak, and joined together a nation of runners, the people of Boston and the world. Boston Strong! The next time I race Boston, I will crest Heartbreak with my arm raised too.
PS. It was 2:45:12.
