alexiswilmot.com

Boston Marathon

THIS WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!! Every single part of this race was amazing!!! The expo was gigantic and amazing, and the race day vibes all weekend and race itself was INCREDIBLE!!! There was so much energy throughout the whole race!!

The whole course was lined with people screaming and cheering, it really helped keep the mind busy while banging out miles. One thing that I did not expect was that the course had rolling hills all throughout the race. I had in my mind that it was all downhill with the exception of miles 17-21 where the Newton hills are. I was wrong!! The whole course had uphills throughout, but the part that made it net downhill is that the downhills were STEEP. I checked my elevation stats after the race, and 12 out of the 26 miles had a greater elevation gain than loss. The 13 that had more loss than gain had steep downhills, which is where the net downhill came from.

My time was officially 3:07:40 and my Garmin said 7:07min/mi at the end, and I came in 442nd place female out of 10674, and 4716th place out of 24962 overall.

I am super super happy about my time!! I have heard tough things about this course, especially the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill, so I was not sure how well I would do. I initially paced for a 3:09-12, but very soon I started going off feel. I kept cutting more and more time off my splits and eventually ended up at 3:07! I ended up running the second half faster than the first, which I am also very happy about! I was planning on dying on the Newton Hills and barely hanging on the last 5 miles, but I surprised myself!

Since my last marathon was run post-10week injury, I had a much different seed time than what I was capable of running. I ended up having to weave in and out and stop and start running the whole first 8 miles! After that, the weaving became less, but I was weaving around until about mile 19. The weaving and dodging added a great amount of time, but I still am extremely satisfied with my time!! (I ended up passing about 11,000 people!!)

The weather was really nice! It was projected to be 42 and get up to 53F, which I personally think is warm. I like running in the 30s, but since this isn't Georgia, the low humidity made it feel much lower than I thought it would be! The first 19 miles were mostly wind free, but after mile 20, the wind started to pick up, and there was a pretty strong head wind at times. No complaints though! The sun was perfect and no rain

What did I do to prepare for Boston?

Since I tend to like high mileage, I (mostly) followed the Pfitz 18/70 marathon plan. I have gone up to 75 miles per week before, so I thought that I would be comfortable with a peak mileage of 70. However, the 18/70 plan only spreads the 70 miles over 6 days, so it is SUPER dense. At first, I was sticking to only running 5-6 days a week since I was still recovering from the hamstring injury in August, but once it got better, I switched to 7 days a week, with the 7th day being a 3-4 mile easy recovery run. I had to miss at least 3 of the long runs and a couple of the workouts due to more injury. Even though I missed some key workouts and LRs, I am still very satisfied with Pfitz 18/70 plan, and will definitely do it again! The LT workouts combined with 15 mile medium-long runs, topped off with an end of the week long run between 18-22 miles was very tiring and created a LOT of cumulative fatigue, but that was the goal! My legs were super super tired by the start of taper, but that's how you know it works!

THINGS TO REMEMBER NEXT BOSTON

After this weekend, I learned a lot of things that I would like to keep doing and change next time! I'm also putting this here so next Boston I can read this and remind myself of what to do

-CUT YOUR TOENAILS THE NIGHT BEFORE!!! I did not cut my toenails before, and now my toenails are all black, bloody, and super super painful to the touch, and I am currently out of running for 1+ week because my big toenail is so swollen and black. This course has some steep downhills, so tie your shoelaces tight and cut those nails!!!

-GO TO THE EXPO EARLY!!I went to the expo on Friday, and I will keep doing that! My legs were pretty tired after walking and standing around at the expo all day, and I would definitely not want to do that on a Saturday or Sunday before marathon Monday! There are tons of free samples and places to take pictures at the expo, and you don't want to stress about staying off your feet or eating something weird too soon before the race!

-DRIVE THE COURSE (if you can)!!Going into the race, I had no idea *how* hilly the Newton Hills would be, or even how downhill the course would actually be! It also gave me an idea of where I'd be at what mile, and helped me recall some landmarks. I felt much more comfortable going into the race not totally unaware to what I'll be running!

-BUY THROWAWAY CLOTHES AT GOODWILL! You'll be at the Athlete's Village in Hopkinton for hours, so buy warm clothes from Goodwill to throw in the donation piles before the race! Anything you do not carry on your run that you bring to Athlete's Village will either be thrown awa or donated. There are no heaters, and you want to be sitting down as much as you can before the race to rest your legs, and when you're not moving it gets cold! I brought a puffer jacket, a sweatshirt under it, and some long sweatpants to donate after. Also, bring food, water, and snacks to eat at the village!

-PRACTICE DRINKING FROM A CUP!! Before Boston, I practiced drinking from paper cups by running tracks around a track with cups to grab along the track each lap I ran. It takes practice to do it without getting water up your nose and tons of air with every gulp! I was not able to comfortable master this skill, so I carried a silicon straw with me throughout the race that I stuck in the cup to drink from. This strategy worked SUPER well for me, and I was able to get as much or as little water that I wanted from the cups. I even got both water and gatorade cups at the aid station!

-DON'T JUST DRINK WATER!! Drink electrolytes also!! I drank about 60% Gatorade at the aid stations, and the rest was water. I drank Gatorade to make sure that my electolytes stay in balance, and then when I felt like my mouth was sticky or needed to be washed out, I drank water. Don't be afraid to spit it out! Sometimes I just needed to wash my mouth out to prevent my mouth from being sticky, and I just washed my mouth out with water and spit it out. If you can't get the Gatorade down in the last couple miles, even just washing your mouth out with Gatorade will provide you with some electrolytes and carbs, so that is another tactic to use! Also before the race at the Athlete's Village, I drank liquid iv and took salt sticks to stock up on electrolytes.

-ENJOY THE CROWD! The crowd energy is HUGE in Boston, and they are there to cheer you on! I found a lot of entertainment in reading all of the signs and giving high fives to random crowd people to hype myself up and keep myself distracted. The crowd kept me distracted until about mile 21, which is when I started dying, but we all should be hurting a little bit by mile 21 ;) The crowd is roaring especially as you enter Boston, and it slightly revived me! I'm sure the support was maximum loudness at the end, but I was way too far gone to even recall the last quarter mile left, I just remember staring at the finish and saw it getting closer. The only noise I remember at the end is the loud narrator dude on the mic saying my name as I crossed. Next time I run Boston, I am going to remind myself to stay alert and look towards the crowd as I head into Boston city. the finish. Write your name on your bib or your arm, so that when you get tired people will yell your name!

-LOOK OUT FOR RACE PHOTOGRAPHERS! Everybody likes good race pictures, and you wanna look cool for the pictures! I wore sunglasses so that when I'm dying you won't be able to tell as much in the pictures, and it worked! Also fix your running form and look happy as you cross the finish line!! Look good, run good!!!

-RACE MANTRAS MEAN EVERYTHING!! Find a couple mantras that really stick with you, and repeat them to yourself throughout the race! I wrote a couple on my hand the morning of at the Athlet's Village and whenever I checked my watch I saw them. They really help in the middle miles and towards the end when you're questioning your decision to run a marathon. Keep repeating them to yourself throughout the race, and they definitely helped keep me going and motivated whenever I slowed down. Everybody has different mantras, find one that means a lot to you!

-PACE YOURSELF FOR THE HILLS! Boston is a tricky course to pace, since it has some steep downhills and then steep uphills between miles 17-21! You want to keep your legs feeling good so that they have enough energy to get you up the Newton Hills! Also, don't plan on spending all your energy at heartbreak hill, because there are still hills after that (and 5 more miles)! I felt like there was quite a bit of time to recover between the 4 Newton hills, but each one takes a little more out of you. I thought the first and fourth hill were the worst, I didn't even notice the third one! There is a huge crowd at Heartbreak Hill yelling and screaming, so the support helps. I died quite a bit at the top of Heartbreak hill, and then came back to life a little bit at mile 22. Seriously though, you want to be alive enough to be able to revive and finish off the rest of the race strong.

-PRACTICE RACE DAY NUTRITION! Practice everything you will do during your marathon during your long runs! I practiced taking Maurten gels during my long runs and found out what worked for me. During Boston, I took only 1 gel: 1/2 right before the mile 12 aid station and the other 1/2 before the mile 18 aid station. I took them right before I grabbed water, so that I was able to wash the sticky out of my mouth with water and spit the water back out. This kept my mouth from being sticky and prevented me from getting nauseous. Also, find an easy pre race meal to eat before! My go to is always cream of wheat with bagels, so that's what I had. It always has worked for me, so that's what I stick to. I was not able to practice drinking gatorade throughout my long runs because I've never had the luxury of having gatorade ready for me, I just end up drinking water from random park sinks during my runs. Fortunately, the gatorade did not upset my stomach. I will next time practice drinking gatorade and other endurance drinks during long runs by hiding water bottles around my LR routes.

-Random, but next time I'd bring toilet paper to the Athlete's Village At the Village, some of the porta-potties ran out of toilet paper (thankfully mine did not aaaaa), so I think it would be useful to bring toilet paper to the village just in case you get unlucky!!

Pictures!!

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After the race!

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Entering the T station and hair stylist

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After!
Finish line celebration!

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Family support

This stuff here is just stuff for me to remember what to expect next time on the course

Miles 1-4: Stay relaxed, don't go out too fast, there are rolling hills here, enjoy the vibe and deal out some high fives to the crowd to keep the energy high. Mile 1 was my second slowest slowest (but it should have been my fastest) despite the downhill because of all the weaving and people to go around

Miles 5-10: Still pretty relaxed, saw family in crowd between miles 6-7, almost tripped on a traffic cone and a curb waving while also trying to pass people around a median.

Miles 11-15: Legs starting to get a little tired, not too bad though. Scream tunnel at Wellesley helped bring energy back

Miles 16-21: Mile 16 was a steep downhill, that was my fastest mile (6:46)! The downhill definitely wrecked my legs and made them feel more jellified just before hitting Newton. 4 Newton hills: the first Newton hill was pretty long, but not suuuuper steep. The length of the hill is what made it bad. The second Newton hill wasn't as bad, it was shorter but I think it was steeper. I didn't even notice the third hill. Heartbreak hill was the worst, the steepest, and also pretty long. I died a little bit going up it and it took a while to recover from that hill. There was enough time between the 4 hills to recover before hitting the next hill, but each hill took a little more out of me. Heartbreak hill was the steepest at the early part of the hill, then gets a little less steep. It's steepest at an intersection but once you get past the intersection it's not as steep (but still pretty steep). Once you see the top of the hill, don't be mistaken because there's more hill!! I was dying through miles 21.

Miles 22-24: Mile 22-23 was rough at the start, because I was still recovering from Heartbreak Hill. Mile 23 was not as bad as I expected, as expected in any marathon, you want to be DONE. Cardiowise, I still had a little in me, and I think I paced it well to finish strong. Mile 23 was when I started zoning out, I think this is the point where you enter Boston, so crowds start getting larger and there's more energy. You run down this street with trees along it and it's kinda nice. Mile 25 couldn't come sooner!!! Try to draw energy from the crowd and keep yourself distracted from the pain. Read signs and try to stay aware of your surroundings here (but I definitely did not aaaa)

Miles 25-end: Mile 25 felt like a loooooong time aaaaaa I saw the Citgo sign from the distance and it felt like forever to reach it. It also didn't help that my watch was ahead on miles by a little bit so when my watch would lap the next mile, I still actually had like .2 of a mile to go before the actual next mile. I was majorly zoned out and not seeing anything around me. I don't remember the crowds or the surroundings at all. I felt like I ran 3/4ths of a mile already in mile 25 before I saw the signs saying "1 MILE TO GO", so I actually only ran .2 miles since mile 25. The only part of mile 25-26 I remember is going under the road overpasses and those small hills to go back out from under them were absolutely awful. My legs were destroyed by then and even going up the slightest hill was so hard. Once I turned onto Boylston street, I could see the finish line so far away. It felt like an eternity running down that street seeing the finish line in the distance. I had no awareness of the crowd (even though they were probably going WILD) and all I could do was stare up at the giant finish. I started speeding up even though my legs and lungs were screaming at me and then the only sound I remember is the announcer dude announcing my name as I crossed the finish line. Of course, I tried to look not dead as I crossed the finish line for a cool picture ;0