Boston Marathon 2014 - Race Report

Runner. Marathoner. Boston qualifier. Boston finisher. 

After running the London Marathon last week, there was hardly any time to recover as I travelled to Boston to run the 118th edition of the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon is the ultimate achievement in the eyes of every marathoner because it's the world's oldest annual road race and the most prestigious marathon with a registration process based purely on merit.

The event that sealed the deal, Chicago Marathon, October 2012.

Running at Boston was a big dream come true for me. It was the end point of a very long journey of training, qualifying and more training to get ready for this event. Boston was the closest that every amateur runner would get to competing in something grand like the Olympic Games, hence why it's dubbed as the People's Olympics. In order to run, you have to get a Boston qualifier. People make a pilgrimage. It's their Olympics.

The Runner Passport attached to a lanyard which I wore around town, identifying myself to others that I am running Boston.

This year's Boston took on a whole new meaning. Instead of celebrating the achievement of the runners who made the pilgrimage to Boston, this time it was all about representing Boston and demonstrating support to those affected by the events of April 15th, 2013. Everyone wanted to be a part of it - runners, spectators, volunteers and those who were directly affected by the bombings. They resolved to train harder to qualify. And if they couldn't meet the qualifying standard, they could represent a charity.  The word community shone through on Patriots' Day as everyone - runners, volunteers, spectators - stood as one, together, to show the world that there was a lasting bond that can never be broken.

We run together, Boston Strong.

Even though I met the qualifying standard before the bombings occurred, I had a feeling that I would not make it to Boston, but that changed when the Boston Athletic Association made a one time gesture to increase the field from 27,000 to 36,000 to accommodate for the increased demand. Had they had not done that, I would definitely not have been a part of it. In the end, I qualified by 12 seconds. I had punched my ticket to Boston.

My ticket to Boston.

Boston was one week after London, and because I ran a poor London Marathon last year I had targeted London 2014 as a goal race. So, I decided to run Boston for the experience, but also resolving to do the very best I could do on a pair of trashed legs. It was the first time I'd run two marathons in a week so I was very nervous to see how the body would hold up after the mammoth exertions of London.

No company out there on the course. That means a photo all to myself!

Despite not being 100%, I knew that a lot of friends would be tracking me over the Internet and I really wanted to do well for them. In addition, it was also my friend Teresa Caswell's 40th birthday on Marathon Monday, and being an avid marathoner herself, I thought about how much it would mean to her if she had the opportunity to run this prestigious event. On the bus to the Athlete's Village in Hopkinton, we passed a road just as we pulled into Hopkinton Middle School. It was called "Teresa Rd" and I couldn't help but smile, knowing that she was going to be supporting me from her house on her 40th birthday.  

The message of support I received from the UK, right at the time the marathon started.

The course was unlike any other marathon course I've run on. Extremely technical, it was point-to-point as opposed to a loop, which meant that we started in a small town 26.2 miles southwest of the centre of Boston. This also meant that a strong southwesterly tailwind could influence marathon times, hence the Boston course wasn't eligible for world records.

Boston's unique point-to-point course.

The course has a net downhill drop of 480 feet. The most telling feature was where the hills were positioned - the downhills were right at the start and the uphills were near the end. Take the downhill sections too fast and you hammer your quads very quickly, meaning you'll suffer in the hills of Newton.

Boston's course profile.

Hopkinton, being a small town, wasn't capable of holding every Boston qualifier so we arrived into town by bus, and started the race, in 4 waves. The athlete's village, in the school field of Hopkinton Middle School, seemed to be crowded with just Wave 1 qualifiers. What made it different from other marathon starting areas was that there was everything free on offer - thousands of bagels of every imaginable kind, bananas, energy gels and all sorts of drinks.

Hopkinton, where the Boston Marathon starts.

I got off the bus and made myself comfortable on the grass laying in the sun. When I did my warmup routine I sensed that something wasn't quite right with my legs. Even though they didn't hurt from last week's London Marathon, the legs didn't have the same level of sharpness as before. Before the race I targeted a time between 3:15 - 3:25, but I didn't realise how far off my prediction would be. There wasn't any time to worry about my legs, however, before I knew it, the runners of Wave 1 were herded like sheep to the starting area in the main street of Hopkinton. As we stood in our starting areas, The Star Spangled Banner being played on loudspeakers, four HH-60M Air Ambulance Blackhawk Helicopters with the Massachusetts Army National Guard flew over the Boston Marathon route. It was time!

Wave 1 of the Boston Marathon starts!

Within the first 400m of the downhill start, I knew I was going to be in trouble. Any time target I had in mind needed to be scaled back and after the first mile I saw that the split was 7:40 (a 3:20 finish time). I knew I was going to be much slower than that and this was confirmed when I ran my second mile in 7:50, my 5k in 24:14 and my 10k in 48:58. To make things worse I had to use the portaloo after 9 miles. When I resumed running I realised that almost everyone in my wave were in front of me and that there was no way I could rejoin them. With only a few stragglers from my wave with me, I decided to enjoy the experience as much as I could so I started to work the crowd. I managed to get huge cheers in Natick skipping to the music of Gangnam Style, and at Wellesley there was a 400m long scream tunnel lined with young girls holding signs asking for kisses - sadly I didn't stop to oblige!

The scream tunnel at Wellesley College, full of screaming young girls holding signs for kisses.

By halfway, my legs felt like they were at mile 20 - tired and heavy - and the first of the fast runners from Wave 2 had caught up to me. The hard part was only starting. Immediately after a very steep downhill at mile 15 came the first of the four famed Newton hills. The first hill was the hardest - it was 1200m long and steep. The sun beat down on me mercilessly and I was forced to take the first hill slowly to conserve energy for the rest of the hills. It felt like forever to get to the top! The second hill, while not as challenging as the previous, immediately appeared after a sharp right turn, a big surprise! Once again I had to slow the pace and scale the hill as best I could. The third hill was as challenging as the second, but I was expecting the worst to come on the final hill, nicknamed Heartbreak Hill, located between 20 and 21 miles.

Heartbreak Hill, between miles 20 and 21, right at the point where you have no energy to climb.

Heartbreak Hill was less difficult than what I had built up in my mind. It is long, but manageable; the challenge being that I climbed 3 hills and ran 20 miles. But the support on this legendary part of the course was awesome; everyone on the street was shouting at us to keep climbing the hill. Before I knew it I saw Boston College in the distance and I knew I had reached the top. The lads from Boston College were offering free beer, doughnuts and cigarettes, which I declined of course. It was all downhill from then on and that meant I had a clear run into Boston!

Working hard on Beacon St. Head, legs, body all hurting!

But downhills were no longer my friend as every foot-strike I made was agony. The remaining 5 miles from Beacon St to Boylston St were all about survival. Even though I was moving so slowly, I was working so hard, my heart was beating heavily and my breathing felt laboured. I honestly thought that I would collapse from over-exertion and slowed down even more. But, just like in London, at mile 23, I saw a familiar face. Stephan, an Orion Health colleague working out of Boston who I had only met 3 days prior the race, told me that he would be supporting at Washington Square in Brookline, and he saw me out of the many thousands of runners. I couldn't hear what he told me due to the noise but he urged me to keep going, gave me a strong handshake and I got moving again.

Running past the famous Citgo sign in Kenmore square, one mile from the finish.

Before I knew it, I had reached 25 miles, passing Fenway Park (home of the Boston Red Sox) and the famous Citgo sign in Kenmore Square. I upped the pace a bit, the fastest since 25 km, and turned right into Hereford St, with another 150m slightly uphill to the final left turn into Boylston St. From there on, it was a clear straight 600m run to the finish surrounded by screaming Bostonians.

On Boylston St near the finish.

On a clear blue sky day in very warm temperatures, the American flag flying proudly above Boylston St, I produced one more final sprint towards the finish. I crossed the line in 3:48:10, over 40 minutes slower than London and well short of what I had hoped for Boston, but extremely grateful that I had the opportunity to run in Boston and to be a part of something bigger. That 3:48:10 was a special moment of time that brought together a unique fabric of emotion, accomplishment and togetherness, and that is what made Boston extremely special this year.

Now a Boston finisher.

Back at Boston Common where the gear tent was located, we were congratulated by spectators left, right and centre. A big American man with a strong Bostonian accent kept saying "Thank You" to all the runners that hobbled past. It was his way of expressing appreciation of the support we demonstrated to Boston one year on and it was a very moving tribute to celebrate the things that make Marathon Monday so great.

Runners running in memory of 8 year old Martin Richard, one of the three who were killed on April 15, 2013.

The race may be over, but the memories of what I experienced on Marathon Monday will rest in the heart forever. Two marathons back-to-back should not be taken lightly and I'm not sure whether I'll do another marathon double again, but I was reminded of this quote about challenges and how far I have come since the time I first dreamed about running Boston. Challenges are what make life interesting. Overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. Having read that, I wouldn't write off another marathon double in future, whether it's London/Boston or another combination. One thing is for certain though - I will come back to Boston and put in a better time.

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported me on my journey in getting to Boston. I'm going to throw out names here (and I hope I don't miss anyone off!) because this one single event has really taken a mammoth effort to pull off and, no matter how great or small, I feel it would be remiss not to acknowledge them personally:

• The folks at Reading Roadrunners, including: Coach Tony Canning, Sian James (who also ran with me at Boston), Catherine Leather, Alan Freer, Andrew Runnacles, Nelesh Kotecha, Simon Denton, Tony Page, Donald Scott-Collett, Alan Tower, Dean Allaway, Pete Jewell, Bruce Sarjent, Belinda Tull, Paul Monaghan, Nigel Hoult, Alex Harris, Colin Cottell, Uncle Tom Harrison, and many many others. 
• The parkrun family, including: David Lewis, Peter Cook, Keith and Jane Ellis, Teresa, Paul and Emma Caswell, Sev Konieczny, Angela Liu, Jenny Oakley, Emma Grenside, Paul Noades, Liz and Andy Atkinson, Fergal Donnelly, Robert Tan, Simon Brimacombe, Kerri French, Phil Reay, Gary Brampton, Mandy Carden, Chris Kelly, Charlie Macklin, Neil Fenwick, Anthony Collins, Chris Sutton and many many others.
• Jason Fitzgerald of strengthrunning.com. His articles on training and running align very closely to my philosophy on running, and was the catalyst to my improvement and running my first BQ time. If I could recommend a running coach out of all the ones I have encountered, Jason is the man to follow. I had the pleasure of meeting Jason in Boston as he was also running as well. 
• My work colleagues, including: Claire White, Jo Reive, Annaliese Davies, Sarah Ormiston, Michelle Blake, Aliz Kurtossy, Leah Rickard, Lucy Porter, Conny Chan, Selina Sunda, Despina Kitsantonis, Jonathan Munden, Ross Williams, Guy Bottwood, Peter Gauld, Paul Mallows, Richard Bulmer, Colin Henderson, Andrew Cho, Ryan Short, Stephan Rubin. Special gratitude must go to the Boston Office manager, Cheri Swankowski, who let me stay in the Boston apartment when accommodation in Boston was at a premium, my line manager, Jason Careless, for pushing for the discretionary award that would cover my entire accommodation free of charge, and the Orion Health CFO, Rodney Hyde, who, after learning that I did two marathons in a week, decided to waive all accommodation charges for the apartment while I was in Boston. 
• My good mate, Qing Liu, for his gracious hospitality in Boston, providing accommodation, transport, lunch, dinner, everything really. 
• Not to forget, my "useless wingman", Shaun Tan, for putting up with me from the very start. 
• And I can't forget my family too.

For those runners out there that dedicate themselves to a goal, I hope that it will inspire you to lace up your trainers and go after a life-time event that no one can ever take away from you! It took me 5 years, and there were definitely times when I felt that I wasn't going to make it. But, with diligence and a lot of patience, your time will come!

Meb Keflezighi wins the 118th Boston Marathon, the first American man since 1983.