So here we go then. A race recap I have saved in my drafts folder since March 2020.

On 17th April 2023, I raced my first Boston Marathon, my 6th of the 6 World Marathon Majors, and my 14th marathon overall (not including virtuals). Man, it feels good writing that.

So we’ll get the whole I have been waiting for this race for years and COVID cancellations out of the way early. I ran my first BQ at the Tokyo Marathon 2019 and was registered to race Boston in 2020 then, well, we all know what happened that year. I was able to use my 2020 BQ time to “qualify” again for 2021 but then missed out on that one due to the US travel ban.

When 2022 came around, I didn’t have a valid qualifying time after not racing a marathon in 2 years so I went about running another BQ at Paris Marathon 2022. Thankfully with over an 11min buffer I had no issues getting into Boston. In fact, there was no cut for 2023.

That brings us up to date.

My flight from Manchester to Heathrow on Thursday was canceled but British Airways moved me onto the next available flight Friday morning and then on from Heathrow to Boston Friday night. I arrived at the hotel just before 10pm. That ended up costing me a day in Boston but all day Friday I kept saying to myself that this is one of those things that are just outside of your control so I stayed remarkably chilled about it all. When that flight cancellation notice came through, I did start to wonder whether this race was cursed after missing 2020 and 2021.

I did the Boston Marathon Registration and Expo on Saturday and a couple of Boston Marathon Shakeout runs Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning. I felt good, relaxed, and just excited to run this race.

To be honest, I had started to fall out of love with these big city marathons but spending the weekend here and living that Boston hype train, it has rekindled that fire to run more races like this in the future and to come back to Boston again.

I had spent Sunday afternoon just chilling in the hotel, staying off my feet after a busy Saturday.

I got the race gear out and sorted, packed the post-race bag, and start village bag with the stuff I’d need. Getting this done the night before just takes the rush and stress away from race morning. I like to take a photo of the race kit mainly for social media and the 10’s of likes that gets but also from a practical level, I can see what I have packed in the bag (I wear the warm gear out to the start village and put the race singlet on just before we head to the start line) and it is good to look back and see what you raced in.

I had the traditional pre-race pizza in the room. Thanks to Dominos for the delivery and for saving valuable time on the feet there.

A quick shower and into bed just after 8pm. One thing I have found that has worked well (for me) on these race weekends abroad when traveling east is to roughly stay on UK time or not fully get used to Eastern Time. That way I am used to going to bed earlier and that early alarm call for the Boston Marathon race day doesn’t feel quite as early as it is.

That alarm call was set for 4:45am and my plan was to leave the hotel at 5:45am. I was staying in Arlington which was a 20min walk to the metro station and then a 25-30min train into Park Street station and a further 10-15min walk to bag drop and bus pick up. My bus to the start village was scheduled for 6:45am and I don’t really want to get there too early and have to stand around for hours.

Bag Drop & Bus to Hopkinton

I ended up changing my alarm and woke at 4:20am, did some stretching, ate a bowl of porridge, and checked out of the hotel. I left my case with the hotel to look after whilst I went for a little jog.

As mentioned above, it was a 20min walk from the hotel to the Davis Square stop on the Red Line, it was then 25mins into Park Street. I left the hotel at 5:30am as it was just becoming daylight. The streets were wet from overnight rain but for now, it wasn’t raining. The forecast for the race was showers on and off during the morning before drying up in the afternoon.

Upon exiting the station we were greeted by lines of school busses waiting to take the runners out to Hopkinton.

It was a 10min walk from Park Street to the bag drop buses. At this point, it felt fairly mild and was still dry although very overcast and foggy. I had planned on wearing my gloves for the race as I have suffered from cold fingers during most winter runs and most of spring/autumn too. As it was mild I decided to leave the gloves in my bag, a decision would end up regretting.

The queue for the buses was big and felt a little disorganized, this did improve once you made it through the flagged area where they checked for your race bib but leading into that, it was a bit of a free for all.

As the red wave 1 runners were prioritised for the first round of buses we were let through to board the buses. It was a little frustrating that so many of the later runners were attempting to board the 6:45am buses as this was what was causing the longer queues.

The bus took just under an hour to reach Hopkinton. I killed that time by eating a flapjack and sipping on my SiS Go Energy electrolyte mix.

Athlete Village at Hopkinton

As soon as I got off the bus at Hopkinton I could feel that it was cooler here than Downtown Boston. It had got really foggy but still wasn’t raining.

I had an hour to kill before the Wave 1 corrals opened. I was feeling chilly now and missing those gloves I had left back in Boston.

To keep me warm I was wearing my race singlet and an old “throw-away” huddy. I had packed an emergency poncho in case it rained whilst at the start village. Although it wasn’t raining I put this on to trap in some of the body heat which worked a treat. I felt nice and warm in this.

Once Wave 1 is called to the corrals, they gathered us all in the school car park, lined up in corral order 1-8. They then walk you down to the start area two corrals at a time, it is roughly half a mile down to the start area where they check your bib and corral numbers again before letting you enter the start pens.

On the way to the start, you are walking down residential streets where it feels like everyone is out on their doorsteps cheering you and wishing you good luck.

There are more toilets near the start at a CVS store, make sure to leave yourself time to use these rather than stopping out on course.

Around 10 mins before the Wave 1 runners were set off, the rain began. Thankfully I was still wrapped in my poncho having discarded the hoody on the way down to the start. I did find a pair of vinyl gloves I had put in my start area bag, with the plan of wearing these over my gloves if it was raining. I ended up running almost of the race with these on.

Boston Marathon 2023 – 03:03.44

 Mile 1 – 7: 6:53, 6:41, 6:39, 6:41, 6:46, 6:40, 6:39

My goal for today was ultimately to go for a sub 2:55 and average around 6:40/mi, the B goal was to try to PB so under 2:59.21, the C goal running under the Boston Qualifying standard which for my 40-44 Age Group is 3:10.

The training has gone well so all goals feel achievable, maybe the A goal of sub 2:55 is a stretch on a more challenging course such as Boston but you have to go out there and try your best.

As the first half of the Boston course is mostly downhill with a few small rollers along the way to keep you honest, I was in two minds about whether to go out a little faster and bank a bit of time for the Newton Hills or hold back and use the downhills of the first 13 miles to conserve energy for those hills and a fast finish.

I opted for the more sensible approach of not pushing hard until I was over Heartbreak Hill at mile 21, using the downhills to keep the heart rate down, and not push too hard on the Newton Hills then give it everything over the last 5 miles.

I was in Corral 7 of Wave 1, so towards the backend of the wave. When we got going, I’d say the first 5k was really congested, but in a way, that was good for me as that held me back (as was the plan). The first mile was a really steep downhill, much steeper than I had anticipated so it would have been very tempting to go out fast on fresh legs, hyped to be starting the journey back to Boston and the downhill.

The first 7 miles all followed a similar partner, plenty of downhill, not quite as steep as mile 1 but a decent drop but also some little hills to reel you back in. The rain was on and off but nothing to worry about, it wasn’t too windy, maybe a slight 10mph headwind but nothing too noticeable and the temperature felt good, all in all, we had good marathon running weather which was a blessing as springtime in Boston can throw pretty much anything at you.

The crowd support over this stretch was good, better than I was expecting with the route only passing through a few small towns. It wasn’t the wall-to-wall noise of New York City but it was good.

My first 7 miles went to plan, I held back on the big downhill then settled into a good rhythm around my A-goal marathon pace. I felt comfortable and just generally loving the experience of finally being here.

Mile 8 – 14: 6:45, 6:45, 6:48, 6:51, 6:43, 6:48, 6:48

The course kind of flattens out from mile 8 – 10 then mile 10 is mostly uphill before we start coming back downhill to mile 14.

I was aware that my pace was slipping back over this stretch, down from 6:40/mi to mid/high 6:40’s. I tried to not let this get into my head and just focus on holding a consistent pace over this stretch. I could have pushed a little harder to hit those 6:40 miles but to me, dropping 5-10secs at this stage wasn’t an issue as long as I can kick on once over the Newton Hills.

As I got to mile 11 it was feeling as though I was working harder to hold the pace, looking back now at the profile, I can see that mile was a gradual uphill but I didn’t see or feel it as such on the day. From this point on I was breaking the race down into smaller more manageable chunks.

That first chunk was to get to Wellesley and the Scream Tunnel. As you can see from the mile splits above, mile 12 picked up slightly with the buzz and adrenaline of the crowd over that stretch. I had read that it was loud and that you can hear the screams well before reaching Wellesley College and that was so true, it was like a distant roar that got louder as you approached.

Off the back of that hype zone, I had it in my head that there was a big downhill just after the Scream Tunnel. I was wrong! That downhill didn’t come until 15 miles in but in fact, rather than enjoying a downhill, mile 14 – 16 is mostly uphill, nothing too taxing (those hills are soon to come) but enough to slow you and wipe away the buzz of mile 12.

Mile 15 – 20: 6:52, 6:43, 6:57, 7:04, 6:55, 7:13

So miles 15 through 20, this is where the “fun” starts but not where it ends.

Up until this point, we have been enjoying a net downhill run, just a casual Monday morning jog in the rain. Mile 16 marks the start of the rollercoaster with the biggest and steepest downhill of the marathon immediately followed by the first of the four infamous Newton Hills.

Leading into that downhill my pace had slipped over 6:50/mi now and my legs were already starting to feel heavy. Also, my right achilies / heel was starting to hurt. This has been an ongoing niggle for the past 12 months but something I can usually run through. The problem here is, when you are 15 miles into a marathon, any slight ache or pain mentally feels like it is going to kill you. I tried my best to block it out and push on but you will see, the pace doesn’t pick back up from now on.

Before the race, I had mentally prepared myself for dropping at least 30sec a mile over each of these four hills. My pace did drop back to 7:20/mi as I went up the first hill but I remember thinking to myself that this hill isn’t really that bad. It wasn’t steep nor was it long and once at the top the course drops downhill slightly so I was able to pull back most of that time and only lose 5secs on mile 15.

I would say probably the first three-quarters of mile 18 were downhill before finishing on the second of the four Newton Hills. This one is steeper than the first but shorter. I held back my pace on the downhill section which in hindsight, I should have let the legs roll more here and go into the hill a little quicker. Finishing a mile split on an uphill usually ends in it being a slower split which was the case here, my first time going over the 7min mark. The hill itself wasn’t too bad and I was well within that 30sec drop I had prepared myself for.

Mile 19 was all downhill yet I didn’t pick up any kind of pace here, it felt leggy and labored, again, looking back now I should have pushed more on this downhill. As mile 20 was the third hill, although the shortest of the four hills and not the steepest, I dropped more time on this hill than the two prior. This got to me, I could see time slipping away now, and deep down I knew that the body didn’t have that kick in it I wanted to unleash from mile 21.

Mile 21 – 26.2: 7:48, 7:52, 7:42, 7:07, 7:20, 7:08, 6:32

We kick this block off with Heartbreak Hill at mile 21. I went into the race looking at Heartbreak Hill as a good thing, this is the last meaningful hill, and from then on it’s mostly downhill to the finish.

In reality 21 miles into the race, I didn’t see it as a good thing at all. Don’t get me wrong though, it isn’t a massive hill and it’s not that challenging until you factor in the 21 miles up to this point and the cumulative effect of the three hills in the previous 4 miles.

This hill did break me, more mentally than physically. I stopped and walked a bit of the way up the hill, then got running again only to stop and walk at the top and again on the downhill on the backside. Yep, I walked at the top and downhill. It was getting real now and I was struggling.

There was a short uphill going into mile 23 and again, I stopped and walked part of the way. At that point my last 3 mile splits had been over 7:40/mi, dropping 1 minute a mile from my goal pace, I was massively losing time, although I wasn’t really bothered by time right then, it was more about making it to the finish line and picking up that 6 Star Finisher medal. I managed to stabilise things somewhat in mile 24, mostly due to it being downhill but at least I got through that mile without stopping and was plodding along, although saying that a 7:07 mile split 24 miles into a marathon is plodding puts my progress into perspective when 6 years ago my average marathon pace was over 9:00/mi. In the heat of battle, you often forget just how far you have come when things get tough.

That relatively good progress continued into mile 25, I could see the Citgo sign down the road and knew that marked 1 mile to go. Halfway into mile 25 I felt sick and started heaving, I had to pull over because I felt like I was going to be sick, but I didn’t so I started running again only to get that feeling again 200m down the road. Again stopping but not being sick, at that point I told myself if it happens again just keep running and it will pass. Thankfully, that feeling didn’t return until crossing the finish.

That took me to mile 26 and the last leg of my 6-star journey. I “plodded” my way through mile 26 in a similar fashion to mile 24, then took that right turn onto Hereford and almost teared up seeing the crowds 4 or 5 deep on both sides of the road.

The cheering and noise was crazy, it gave me goosebumps then turning left onto Boylston. Getting that first slight of the finish line 600m down the road was a feeling I will never forget. The tall buildings lining the run to finish make it feel like you are running through a canyon ending at the finish gantry, funneling the runners home. The noise again was immense and just pulls you to the finish. Of all the marathons I have raced, that finishing stretch was my favorite, having spectators so close almost all the way up to the finish just builds that atmosphere and excitement, and then remembering what happened on this stretch of road 10 years ago just puts it all into perspective.

Crossing this specific finish line had been a dream even before I started my running journey in 2015, following on from the disappointment of the 2020 cancellation, missing 2021 due to the travel ban and not qualifying for 2022 following an injury. This moment felt special, a special memory in a special place. Even if the heavens did open as I crossed the line, this is a memory I will remember for the rest of my life.

I am a Boston Marathon finisher and a Six Star Finisher!!

Brief roundup:

I will keep it brief as I haven’t kept anything else brief above.

The Boston Marathon reignited that fire in me for running more big-city marathons. Over the past few years during and since COVID, I started to fall out of love with racing in general and being at a big event like this. I felt uneasy being in New York last year when I race the New York City Marathon 2022 but this weekend in Boston has really fired me up to keep doing this, which is a good job because I am running the London Marathon in 6 days. Jokes aside, I do now see myself running more big city marathons and more of the World Marathon Majors, maybe even working on the second 6-star medal.

Race-wise, I missed my A goal of sub 2:55, I didn’t run a PB which was my B goal but I did hit the C goal of running the Boston Qualifying standard in Boston which I feel proud of.

Whilst I could feel down that I was over 8 minutes off my A goal, looking at it now, it would have been a stretch to have taken 4 minutes off my marathon PB on a course such as the one at Boston.

I have no excuses nor should I have any, I ran the best I could on the day and as I said above, I prepared the best I could to give me that shot at running a PB, no complaints about the weather either which is rare for this weekend in New England.

Picking up that Six Star Finisher medal felt somewhat surreal and if I am being honest, a little underwhelming. That may have been due to the fact it was absolutely lashing it down as I got to the tent and I was shivering with cold by then, I kind of funneled in, got my medal, had my photo taken, and went on my way to get a heat shield. The whole journey through the 6 marathon majors to this point and everything that went into not just running the races but the training miles, the time sacrificed and the money spent on travel is something that hasn’t really sunk in, even now writing this 1 month on.

Anyway, I said brief so that’s a wrap… until Boston 2024, yep, I am going to head back next year.