Coach Sean here! The 2017 Boston Marathon has come and gone, and boy, that one was an adventure. We showed up primed and ready to roll, and suffice it to say that conditions were hot and we did not actually roll! Coach Gill was only 35 mins off of her PB #soclose
If you haven’t seen our full results, you can check them out here. RunWaterloo also did a nice recap of runners from the region which you can check out here.
I’ll let every runner tell their own story because each is good in it’s own way! I rarely do race reports of any type, but here is a brief synopsis for those who are interested.
I was feeling fit and ready to roll for this marathon with some decent long runs in my legs for once. Things started off quite well as I high-fived Rupp and Meb, and even shaved in a moustache. After the gun went off, I tried to keep the effort smooth and relaxed as I felt out the ~3:45-3:50/K range. At about 7-8K I really didn’t feel good at all for some reason (too many hotdogs? nah, impossible). That feeling progressed to the point where my food (aka sugar paste) proceeded to travel in the reverse of it’s normal direction to exit via my mouth (aka puking).
“Are you ok, dude?” asked a fellow runner.
“cantwontstop,” I replied (I think).
So I tried to maintain that pace for a few more K, but my grit couldn’t overcome my guts and I had to slow. At around 17K I decided to move onto a different goal and run 4:00/K, which also felt sub par (aka utterly horrible). I tried to fuel and and stay hydrated in hopes that the discomfort was transient, but alas, it was here to stay. So, at about 27K, my body forced me to revert to long run mode so I could live to fight another day.
Despite this not being an ideal experience from a performance standpoint, while I was lying in bed that night after the race, I realized I was still so happy with the day. Why? The answer was clear: sharing the experience with all of H+P and the rest of the running community. All the messages before and after from the crew back home, travelling with the team, laughing about our performances together that night, people pretending to laugh at my sentences laced with puns…and of course taking in the intense and overwhelming Boston crowds- this was an amazing day. So thank you team! Not every race will be a PB performance, the entire team (and rest of the field) did not perform to their ability…but it’s awesome being able to actually thoroughly enjoy things anyway!
But, that being said, I’m not delusional…let’s get those PBs DONE!
#cantwontstop
