My marathon personal best is 2:43:40 and was set at the 2008 edition of the Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN.  The weather that day was in the low 50s, with a driving rain for a good portion of the race.  I remember not being able to see clearly at different points in the race due to how hard it was pouring.  Forecast as I turned down in an overcomfortable hotel bed just 6 miles south of the start line?  40s, with rain starting an hour after the incredibly non-traditional Boston Marathon start time of 10am.  Oh yeah, and an easterly wind blowing in the faces of racers that was going to start gusting to 20-25mph.  You can prepare for a lot in the marathon, but you can never, ever control the weather.

The weather doesn’t bug me.  I have always been a “mudder” when it comes to racing.  Being a runner in Nebraska means my Boston training ranged from -15 degrees and ankle deep snow to very pleasant 70s and sunny.  But I was still nervous heading into this one.  You always are when you line up for a marathon.  Despite doing everything right in training, something can (and likely does) upset your best laid plans.  My previous marathon, CIM 2014, went pretty damn well.  My best race in a long time, and fastest marathon in longer.  So I had some really good confidence heading into this training block from January through March 2015.  Mixed in some early 5k/10k like training and then spent 8 weeks on mostly marathon work.  Some of the best workouts of my life.  Forced into tapering more than I would like with my own two kids being sick and then working with my other 40 kids on the track team, I found myself and my wife on a plane headed East.

For the logistics of the trip you can read my brother’s race report.  Couple of highlights to get you the essence of the story.  My cousin Lydia (a budding runner herself) had gotten engaged last winter to a really solid dude named Paul.  She is like a third sister in our family so there was no question about getting back to Long Island, NY.  My homeland.  When she sent out the date, I thought it might be the same weekend as the Boston Marathon which I had last run in 2007 with my boy Matt Neukirch.  Turns out it was and I sent a feeler email to my brother to see if he might be interested.  He was in faster than a desperate runner zeroing on a Port a Potty.  Between track season and school, Boston has never really been realistic for me.  So serendipity reared its weird head once again and we found our way up I-91 out of NYC for Boston.  Thanks to Lydia and Paul for giving us a huge reason to head out East!

Rather than try and stay in downtown Boston, we went with some advice from Tom Nichols and stayed near the start line.  Saved us an early morning and long bus ride, but made logistics tough figuring out how Brenda was going to meet us at the finish in downtown Boston.  Much more affordable and quiet doing it this way.  Our warm-up and start line procedure was really smooth for being totally out of our usual routines.  Freaked Scott out by eating my two standard peanut butter cups on our way to the start corrals.  Corrals are interesting places.  1000s of hyped up fit people all just wanting to get started.  Hard keeping the nerves calm.  Scott and I went our separate ways as we had different race plans and did not want to get in each other’s ways, or maybe I didn’t want him to feel like he needed to slow down for me.  My parting words to him were something along the lines of, “hope I don’t see again until the finish line”.Big brother always has some words. . .

Lifelong goal is to run sub 2:40 for marathon.  With weather, goal today was to “just” try and PR (of course that is probably the goal for most people in most races).  Spoiler alert:  it didn’t happen.  They brought out the elites, we paused in case the weather cleared for a flyover, and the gun goes off.

I had downloaded a race plan from someone, but rather than write down every single split I decided to do a couple of key miles and then know I had a range to work with.  From there I wanted to run as I felt.  Started taking this strategy more in marathons and it seems to be working for me.  Splits vary widely on the Boston course as it is surprisingly hilly.  Turned out to be hillier than I remember.  My mile times were to range from 6:21 to 5:55.  I actually did a really good job of finding my times and running, despite the terrain, crowds, and weather.  You can see my splits at the end of this writing for those that are geeky enough to care.

I am generally pretty chatty in a marathon but today I just did my thing.  My longest conversation was about mile 8 when fellow Lincolnite Ryan Regnier made his way past me.  Thought he had gapped me big time early, but always good to see a friendly face. I hit the halfway point at Wellesly in 1:20:04.  I know I said earlier that I was going for a PR, but I did not fly all that way or run all those solo early morning miles to not at least TRY.  Regardless I felt good.  Quads a bit heavier than I would have liked that early, but breathing was solid. Unfortunately in Boston there are a number of really solid uphills in the last nine miles.  These just tenderize you.  They break up your breathing.  They make you lose focus.  You stop embracing the crowds.  You start staring at the pavement.  You get through them as best as you can.  Even with a strong trail running background and having run numerous long runs on hilly, country roads, these uphills took their toll.

By the time I got to the last 5k, I was really struggling.  I managed to keep it together by focusing on landmarks that were a block or two apart.  Get to that next stop light.  Focus on the no parking sign.  Damn, that umbrella needs to not move.  Why is that sign telling me to Run, B***h, Run?  Okay.  You do enough of those landmarks and you get through a mile.  You do enough miles, you get to the finish.  By this time, the pack(s) I had been using as motivation began to disintegrate.  In addition, the headwind we had been dealing with the last 2 hours really began kicking up.  Add to that a nice steady rain and you had some fun going on.  On the upside, the last 2k of the race is just simply a wall of noise.  People on both sides of the road, 4-5 deep.  It is absolutely incredible.  Running past Fenway and onto Boylston Street is something that every needs to try and experience.

I wish I could tell you that this race ended in my brother running in the low 2:20s like he wanted to.  Or me breaking 2:40 or even 2:43.  Neither happened.  My final time was 2:43:44.  2nd Nebraskan.  5 seconds from a personal best.  Don’t think I wasn’t trying to do the math the last four miles.  Even with exhaustion coming on, every runner has done this before.  Comes out to something like .15 difference every mile and I would have had it.  That is how it goes.  As I tell my students every semester.  You work hard.  You hope it pays off.  Sometimes it does.  Sometimes it doesn’t.

With the weather, post race was a mess.  My west coast brother is not used to cruddy conditions.  I found him huddled under the AT&T tent, wet, getting wetter and colder in the wind and trying to curl up inside his complimentary race blanket.  Took me awhile to get there but I got to shivering also.  Found our way back to the T.  Got changed into some warm, dry clothes (not many better feelings than that, especially socks), found some food, found the airport and got on our respective ways home.

What can be said about the Boston Marathon that hasn’t already been said by writers far better than me?  Every Boston is an individual experience for every runner.  Some races are forgettable  I will always remember this one though.  Despite all of the people, signs, and sights you see during a marathon these races just end up being a giant blur punctured by brief moments of clarity that stick to your brain like bugs on a windshield.

I cannot tell you how proud I am of this.  Other than some PRs I have set, this might be the best race I have ever run.  Especially considering when my fastest times were run.  Many were 6-8 years ago, before kids, before coaching was a really serious part of my life.  The more I reflect on my effort, the happier I am about it.

But I will tell you what I am happiest about.  I got to experience this with my brother.  We may be really different in a lot of ways, but we have always had running.  To be in the Boston Marathon, and to be in it with Scott.  Not sure what else you can ask for.

MY ACTUAL SPLITS

6:17

5:59

6:13

5:58

6:11

12:02 (must have missed a split, still averages to 6:01)

6:07

6:04

6:11

6:11

6:03

6:07

6:14

6:10

5:59

6:21

6:24

6:11

7:03

6:35

6:06

6:21

6:12

6:41

6:28

1:24 (not a bad last quarter)