The Boston Marathon 2023 - Race Report

Intro

Shortly after settling into my new place in Sydney, I was infected by the running bug in early 2022. As I began running more frequently I eventually signed up for the 2022 Gold Coast marathon.

During the training block my goals changed by the week, and as I improved, my race goal eventually became to run sub 3 on the notoriously flat and fast course.

I finished up in a time of 2:56:18, so when the time came to register for Boston, I pulled the trigger & entered. The number of entrants was less than the available pool, so this entry time was more than enough to qualify me for a position in the 127th running of the event.

Training

After the Bondi To Manly Ultra, I had a few lower milage weeks and then began a modified training schedule I made for myself based on the Pfitzinger’s 12/85 plan from his Advanced Marathoning book. I padded out the runs to be slightly longer and based the plan around a locked mid-week track day at my local track club. The club was primarily speed work and it was my first time consistently training with others, which I think did wonders to my speed.

I ran a 10k race earlier in the block, and signed up to the 2022 Port Macquarie half marathon as a prep race which was 6 weeks before the marathon. I practiced through my race day routine and prepared to base my marathon race plan on the result of this race. It was a flat course and my I set-out for a goal of sub 1:16. I knew this time or faster would be required If I had any hope of getting sub 2:45 on the tough Boston course. I finished the race by the skin of my teeth in 1:15:57, with probably a bit too much effort but it was great prep none-the-less.

The training was going smoothly, with no noticeable niggles most of the way through the block. Although, in my peak training week, I felt an issue near my groin area at the tail end of a track session. I tested it out the next day and quickly came to the conclusion this was going to be a bit of an issue, so I booked in to see my physio to work out what to do.

The conclusion at the time was that I may have a case of adductor tendonitis due to over-training. The advice from my physio was to take it easy and work on reducing the inflammation in order to have a chance at running/finishing the race. This included no running for the first week, into some watt bike, treadmill running followed by some smaller easy runs as the race got closer.

In these early days of the injury I was completely unsure how it would hold up for longer distances at pace, and wondered whether I would be able to run a decent race at all. In the final weeks leading to the race my longest run was only an easy paced 20km, so all race plans were out the window and the new plan became to go completely by feel.

Although the ultimate goal is to toe the line with no injuries, running the race in any sort of form is better than not running at all.

In hind-site this was an inevitability, with minimal strength work, and lots of volume. But day-to-day my body felt fine until the last straw that broke the camels back.

A disappointing end to an otherwise successful training block, but an invaluable lesson of my current physical limits, and an insight into what parts of my body need work to run at my full potential.

Race Week

I arrived in the US just under a week before the race and this week consisted of a few shorter runs, lots of time on feet exploring NYC & probably too many dollar slices. In the few days leading to the race it was way too easy to increase my carb intake thanks to NY bagels along with definitely too much fat -not ideal, but hey, my plans have changed, right?

The energy around Boston was immediately contagious. Everyone was just as excited as one another other to be around one of the most decorated, and history rich events in marathoning.

After the expo, I headed out for a small shake-out run and headed back to the hotel to chill out. To cap off a successful final day of carb loading, I finished an American sized serving of pasta from the nearby Italian restaurant and headed to bed not long after. I managed to get to sleep around 10pm with the alarm set for 4:30am - a sleep in, by conventional marathon start time standards.

Race Day / Pre-Race

Despite the start of the marathon being later than most, at 10am, lots of time needs to be set aside to get to the start line. The marathon also differs from most in that it runs on Monday, Patriots day, a public holiday celebrated by some states in the US.

For this race, buses take runners from the finish area located in the heart of the city, right out to the start line in Hoptinkon, which is a smaller town on the outskirts of the city.

The lengthy bus journey from the finish line to the start is accompanied by the realisation that you'll have to run the entire distance back. The bus was cold, but everyone was chatty, and it was easy to spark up conversation with the person next to - the common ground between everyone in these buses is too much!

Adding to the suspense of the situation, Hoptinkon was cold and gloomy, with everyone huddling under the tents from the spitting rain. I ate the last of my breakfast and waited with the others to be marshalled.

Race

First 5kms

As for any marathon this size, runners are nearly shoulder to shoulder for the early parts of the race. With the unknown of how my tendonitis will react at speed in the question and my new plan to go completely by feel - I took the first few km's relatively easy.

Due to the shear size of participants, and my qualifying time being quite below my original aspirations for the race, it was hard to get into rhythm due to the tight crowds in the beginning stages. I didn’t know what the right pace was, but I knew these early km’s were too slow.

I could imagine myself being frustrated at getting held up in these earlier parts if my original goals for the race remained. Instead, I was able to really soak in the incredible atmosphere of those first few kms. I could already see runners stretching down the thin early downhills, with scattered small groups of local support on the road-sides, and was excited for what was to come.

Whenever I could get the chance I would overtake using the foot-path to the left of the road, but it felt sketchy, especially in the wet conditions so I decided to just wait for the crowds to thin out instead after a few stints.

Looking back these early parts of the race, it had a peaceful silence about it. Everyone was dialled in and focused on their footing. Any sound entering from the support at the time was drowned out by the rhythm of super-shoes hitting the pavement, and I was just happy to be racing.

I remember hitting the first town, Ashland, and the increase in the number the spectators really set the tone for what was to come. It was after Ashland that I could start to get into a rhythm and had the full room to run at the pace I wanted.

The first 5km went by in 20:02, a bit behind target but a time still easy to enough catch back. I gobbled down my first original Maurten at around 6km.

10kms - Halfway

After a few kms of quieting down, the 10km mark was dense with crowds in the town of Framingham. It was going off - and considering it was still in the early stages of the race, it made it easy to appreciate exactly what was going on. This was the first sense of the pure electric support that would be a motif from here on in. I popped some more gels around ~11km and 17km.

Beyond Framingham to Wellesley College was probably the least memorable part of the race for me. Looking back, I was focused on tackling the first larger inclines and was awoken near the top of the hill on mile 12 when hearing the scream tunnel in the distance and thinking to myself, "Are we there already?".

You could hear it approaching from a mile away.

I started out in the middle of the road as we approached the college but couldn't help but to veer over closer to the action. It's not much of a tunnel, your right ear cops all the noise and nearly makes you feel unbalanced.

After surviving the tunnel, it wasn't long before I hit halfway in the Wellesley town, I hit halfway in 1:23 - I had 1:22 written as one of the target numbers on my arm. A minute behind target, but I remained relaxed and waited for the race to begin.

Hitting halfway in that time with the hills to come meant that I knew today wasn't the day for the 2:45 goal, I had this feeling from 5km with the slow start, but was optimistic I would warm up and perform - but by now I was happy to just go with it and enjoy what this marathon had to offer.

Halfway - Newton Hills

I remember getting stomach pains on my right side at around the 26km mark, gaining up the hill - I never had these pains in training (or really ever) and I felt like slowing right down. I didn't know how to handle it, and having not experienced them before I remember considering to stop and try stretch it out, I wasn't convinced, but then my next idea was to just look at the top of the hill and tough it out until then and re-assess. Surely enough I pushed to reach the top and the pain felt much more reasonable on the tabletop flat and the pain dropped as I went into the downhill that proceeded it.

Mentally I was just waiting for the Newton Hills to start by this point. I remember continuing to look around and to take in the sights between halfway and 30kms - this is definitely not something I would intentionally do in a race but I guess I wanted to soak it all in and remain distracted before the focus that was about to entail.

Newton Hills

I found the Newton hills in general to be quite a challenge, but heart break itself didn’t quite stand out as much as I thought it would.

I found the rolling hills before heartbreak to be more of an issue than heart break itself as the ups and downs would play with your rhythm.

I’m happy with the way I paced the race up to this point, since by the time I hit heart break hill, the long consistent gradient meant I could just lock in and work my way up knowing the mental burden of it would be behind me and that I could stop consciously conserving energy for it.

In saying that, I can definitely understand how heartbreak could break your heart if you ran too hard early on or didn’t get your race nutrition right. The Newton hills are positioned in the section of a marathon that makes this course incredibly tactical. This was the slowest split of the entire race at 4:18. I still had a note written on my hand that the last rolling hill section would be at around 23 miles (~37 kms).

Brookline

After heart-break hill, I put the foot on the gas for the immediate split after and began to notice the thrashing on my hips and felt and a pain in the lower back.

It was at this point I could notice the left adductor injury flaring up with the fast downhill, but the left hip felt most of the pain. With the job nearly done, I chose to ignore it as best as I could and did what I could to power. By this point I knew I had the PB in the bag and just needed to finish strong. Looking back, it was this section where I could have run harder to squeeze more juice out but I think I became content with just getting through by feel and didn’t push it too much.

It was at this point I was fully immersed in the endless support in these final stages of the race. Brookline felt like the energy had been taken up a few notches. I remember the right turn onto Chestnut Avenue followed by left turn into Brookline clear as day, as you cross over the railway tracks with support filling the entire corner and along the track as you run through and beyond.

It was through this straight through the town that my partner with a few college girls she had met on the day screamed from my left side. I heard them as I ran past and was just able to spot them and blow a kiss. One of them took this quick snap as I ran past.

This was my favourite part of the race, when I think back on Boston, it is this run from that Brookline corner to entering the city that comes to mind. Seeing Lucy, the insane support, the Boston feel with the old trams moving by with the brick buildings all came together for this section of the race. This was immediately followed by rain absolutely bucketing down in true New England style.

Entering Boston

The famous Citgo sign became visible, and if you know anything of Boston Lore - its presence is a tell-tale sign that you're close. I think if you didn’t have knowledge of how close you were to the end, the feeling in the legs and the crowds would be a pretty good indicator that you were instead.

At first it was quite dramatic to finish the final few kms with the heavy rain and it was refreshing and enjoyable. But once my shoes soaked in the water it became a bit of a grind. I’d already passed what I had written down as the ‘last hill’ at mile 25, there was one final hill that I didn’t bother classifying as a hill in my planning. Being so close to the finish I remember cursing the course for throwing this last one so close to the end with the both heavy legs and shoes. It certainly felt like what heart break had been played up to be at the time despite it being so small.

Before I knew it, it was right on Heresford St, left onto Boylston for the home stretch. I regret not soaking in this final stretch more, but thats the marathon I guess, I locked in to just get over the line by this point.

It seems like this is how the end went down - I soaked it all in until the shoes soaked it in, then I wanted to just finish.

Finish

I crossed the line with a smile and hobbled through the finish chute in the rain. There wasn't that sense of relief like in the Gold Coast - I was just content with the amazing experience that had just unfolded and didn't leave a chance to reflect on my training like I usually do after a race.

I heard over the speakers that Evans Chebet had won which was a big surprise and went to get my pickup bag and went to the family meeting spot to wait for Lucy.

The rain had stopped and I was cold and shivering but was able to jump on a that was sitting in idle with the heaters on. It's things like this that make the steep registration price completely worth it.

Conclusion

It's only natural to reflect on this race's storied history as you run through its streets, adding a dimension that can't be replicated.

The atmosphere was truly something else - as you made your way from the quiet towns to the buzzing city, it became livelier with each town, mirroring the growing toughness of the race.

I thoroughly enjoyed the tactical nature of the Boston course and upon reflection enjoyed the ever-present mental tax of the seemingly, ever-impending Newton hills.

This block taught me many lessons to apply to my training, and there is plenty of strengthening and recovering to be done before the next.

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