Boston 2 IraMan 1

As I was running the Boston Marathon yesterday there were signs along the way giving the score of the Boston/Seattle baseball game being held in Fenway Park while we were running from Hopkinton to Boston. Boston was down 6 to 5 in the bottom of the ninth. Just past Natick (around Mile 10) the signs said "Boston wins with a walk-off homer." That was another indication that Boston was going to win again with me as well.

The race started for me at 12:35 PM under just about perfect conditions. My training was great. My prerace nutrition was great. I felt great. At about mile 5 I realized that I wasn't going as fast I was supposed to. My heartrate and the speed I was running didn't match. By mile 10 when I saw Aimee, Steve, Adira and Ilan, I knew I was going to have a long day. I was just at my fall-back estimated time of 3:54 (my first Boston time in 2003) and way off my target time. The hardest part of the course was ahead and I knew I was in trouble. It was odd. There was just no energy in my legs. After a while I couldn't even keep my heart rate up to training pace. I was beaten like the Seattle Mariners. So I trudged back to Boston with a sane but totally unsatisfying 4:44.

So, my first Boston was my best. The last two were not two good. In 2004 I didn't eat right and I got sick. This year, I gave it my best and tried to correct previous mistakes. It just didn't work out right. I finished so one can count that as a moral victory. Perhaps, the fact that it was my 13th marathon (counting two Ironman marathons) had something to do with it. I think not. I had two decent marathons in the fall so I will not be able to chalk this one up to just getting old.

So Boston ... do you want to make it a best of 5 series?