Boston 123rd Marathon 2019: what did you expect?

I ask the question in the title because, on my end, I was really unsure what to expect out of this edition. As I wrote in my last post, last night, I competed in the 100K Road Nationals on Saturday in Madison, Wisconsin, only to DNF and drop after 80K (~50 miles or ~2 marathons). On late afternoon yesterday, Sunday, I went for 4 sluggish miles and had issue maintaining a 7:30 min/mile pace because of short breath and still some soreness in my legs. And then, on the expectation topic, there was the weather forecast...

Ah, the weather at Boston, so unpredictable! 2 years ago it was warm and that worked beautifully for me, finishing 2nd if my competitive M50-54 age group with 2:44. I didn't want to come last year but the organizers invited me, an offer I could not refuse. And, my guts feeling were right, the weather was miserable. This year, that is back in September 2018 to add some context, I decided to register as I would have changed age group. Still dreaming about a good place as I was going to be the youngest again. Many things happened since then and I haven't been able to put enough speed work in since my gluteus issue of last November. As for the weather, a few days ago we received an email to brace ourselves for cold and rainy conditions again, something looking like a repeat from 2018. As of last night and even this morning, there was high chance of rain all morning (before and during the race), just that the temperatures were going to be much higher, 60 to 65F. Another big change from the 32-40F of Saturday's race in Wisconsin...

When my friend drove me to Hopkinton at 8:15, it was a deluge on the highway. And then, miraculously, the rain stopped.

Everything was wet in the village, from the pouring rain of the night, but, in the crowd of 10,000 runners I found a spot with friends from the Bay Area, a great way to spend the 45 minutes before the doors to the corrals opened. Here are Whit Rambach, whom I ran Western States with back in 2007, and Rob Boyce, an Ironman from Australia, both living in Monterey, CA.

Chris Eide was also with us, I'll see him again at Quicksilver 100K in a few weeks. Rob was bib #6131 and I was 6149 this year, quite close! We shared the same corral (#7) and saw each other in the first 2 miles. As for Whit, he had a higher bib so he pretended he wasn't offended that we left him alone... ;-)

I was supposed to meet with Vespa mate, Anthony Kunkel, bib 828, as he had lost his Vespa pouches in his car and I had a couple of extra ones from my aborted 100K of Saturday. I waited for 10 minutes at our meeting point but didn't see him and felt bad for his A race. I'm happy to report he still survived, on his own fat (we both follow Peter Defty's OFM protocol and science), and finished 55th in Open division in 2:27, quite impressive!

Seven thousand runners ahead!

 And one more thousand behind to complete wave 1...

 Oh, and my muddy Brooks Launch special Boston 2017 edition, after a stroll through the village:

It took me almost 4 minutes to cross the start line, walking, it had been a long time since I had done that. I have to admit I'm not a big fan of such crowds, I'm spoiled and now so used to the intimacy of the ultra races and ultra community...

As most of you know, it's easy to start fast at Boston because the first miles are mostly downhill. Two years ago, for my perfect race, I started below 6 min/mile. This time was much different: first there was a lot of traffic but, more importantly, I wasn't in shape at all to go as fast anyway. I was actually please to run at 7 min/mile, clocking 7:12 and 7:11 for the first two miles. However, it was actually warm and I got too hot with my long sleeves and Buff, having hard time to maintain 7:30 on the slight up-hills. And, although I had started at the back of the 7th corral, I was passing a few runners, but I was getting passed more. My main goal was really to finish so I didn't panic and tried to run between 7:15-7:30 min/mile where I could, thinking that conservative pace would do it. I felt a little uneasy to recognize the sections I was running so well 2 years ago but, again, it was foolish anyway to run 2 marathons 2 days earlier.

The miles passed the same way, still runner passing me, and me thinking I'd better keep the pace before the blue wave catches me (they started 23 minutes behind us, or 19 minutes given the time it took me to pass the start line). I had quite negative thoughts in my mind, doubting I would even be able to maintain that slower pace all the way. Breathing and stride were ok, I could feel the gluteus but it wasn't the issue, I wasn't into it.

Then I got to mile 12... Wellesley and it's prestigious women-only College, and scream tunnel. All the way, I had hard time returning smiles from spectators but I decided to make a stop right in the tunnel and get a video so you get some sense of the uplifting feeling, right before the half marathon point. It can actually be quite a trap: it's so uplifting to have all these girls yelling encouragements that it gives you some new wing and you risk on picking up the pace way too early in the race. It has happened to me in the past, I know better as it's my 7th participation! ;-)

I spent about 45 seconds there, and that gave me my slowest mile at 8:14. But it was so much worth it: from that point, the dark clouds in my mind cleared up and everything became so much easier. For one, after passing the half marathon in 1:36:25, maintaining a sub 7:30 pace wasn't a problem anymore. I even clocked 7:45 for the infamous Heartbreak Hill, now passing many runners back, recognize many tops I had seen earlier in the morning. And now acknowledging spectators' encouragements.

I stopped at mile 16 to refill my GU20/GU Brew bottle and lost a few seconds but I save more by carrying two bottles. I took my 2nd GU before Heartbreak Hill, then a 3rd one around mile 22 to avoid the mistake I had made in that section last year. Running Boston on only 3 GUs shows the power of the powerful combination of OFM and Vespa, your body fat bringing the rest of the energy. Not to mention the recovery benefits allowing you to race and train more.

From mile 21 to 24 I clocked sub-6-minute miles and was passing many more runners, hundreds if not thousands: 7:01 for mile 22, then 6:54, 6:52, 7:00 and 7:05, then it was time for the last sprint on Boylston street. Finish time (chip time): 3:12:30, a negative split by a few seconds, my first time at Boston. Ok, much easier to do when you start slow, but still... ;-) My best hope was between 3:10 and 3:15, right in the middle! And so much the push and second wind in the second half. After my first 3:11 marathon on Saturday, two good tests before pacing the 3:10 group at Big Sur Marathon in 2 weeks! (With the Napa trail half in between, in 5 days...)

Not a disappointment at all but to illustrate the competitiveness among the old guys, I took 63 in my age group, the top 3 times being respectively 2:46, 2:48 and 2:52; I may have to come back, these times are still reasonable at our old age... ;-)
And to illustrate the depth, Rob finished less than 4 minutes behind me (3:16:22) and ended up 306th in our M55-59 group, yikes, what a bell curve (statistic jargon)!

Here is a 1-minute 3D flyover of my run (click on this link, or the image below).

The conditions ended up gorgeous, at least for the sub-4-hour runners. I don't know if the course got the heavy rain we got near Waltham around 3 pm, I wouldn't have wanted to still be out there. Although, again, rain with warmer temperatures is less of an issue than it was last year.

After soaking my legs in an epsom salt bath, I actually feel much better in stairs tonight than I felt last night. Looks like it was worth recovering with a (short) marathon after all! Still, I feel I deserve a week off. Running that is, I'm getting back to work now...

Was great to see so many people today, both on the course and along the course. What a 123rd edition, Boston lived up to it's reputation again! Number 7 for me, I'll likely be back, maybe not next year as odd years worked better for me (I ran 2001, 3, 5 (top 10 Masters), 7, 17 (top 2 M50), 18 and 19). Nothing compared to the fate which Mark Godale accomplished with his brother today: 26 consecutive Boston finishes! Or what about that other one he posted on his timeline: Dan Larson who completed today his 49th Boston, including 45 consecutive ones. That's another level of life commitment, and running sustainability, wow!

Hope you had a good experience today, either running, spectating, or following our progress on line. And see you on the road, trail or online again soon!

Boston Marathon 2018: braving the elements, without brio

This blog post had to soak in, literally... I wrote most of it on my fight back from Boston on Wednesday night, but had to do some additional editing and research on line this Saturday, after another busy work week.

I knew it a year ago already, there was a reason why I didn't want to run Boston in 2018! Call it superstition but I was really fine with my odd series: 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2017. More importantly, I didn't want to be the oldest in my super competitive age group. And then, there was a bit of intuition about what the weather could be this time... I never pursued my kid's dream to get good at weather forecast and I'm always in awe when I read Leor Pantilat's analysis when we have some weather pattern and meteorological events in California, which isn't too often these past years, but my intuition was that we'd have much different weather conditions than my dream ones last year, and I was indeed expecting a lot of rain for a big change. What I didn't expect was that the temperature plus the wind chill would make conditions close to the freezing point, although, leaving California a full week before race day, I still managed to pack a hat, a pair of gloves, a Buff, arm sleeves, my Ultimate Direction rain jacket and a pair of long tights. Just in case... And, when you see snow out there on race morning, plus the alarming weather forecast in the medias, you'd better buckle up for the worse.

Again, as I wrote in my previous post, I wanted to come in 2019, when I was the youngest in my age group again. But I couldn't pass on the honor to be invited so, amid quite a troubled period leading to the race, running-wise, and the usual incertitude and last-minute planning on my business trips, I felt quite lucky to be in town for the race and able to get to the start line. Ah, that start line which looked so elusive through March and, again, on Monday morning! I thought I was prepared on Sunday night but, when it was time to leave my friends' house at 8, I was still looking around for things like my Ultimate Direction bottle handles or my S!Caps, not quite ready yet. All while checking the weather outside, where the landscape was covered by a thin layer of wet snow, oh my...! To add to my pre-race injuries, I woke up with a terrible stiffed neck which I still suffer from 5 days after the race. I really feel like getting older this year, finally...

My friend Nicolas dropped me around 8:50 on the 52nd Street parking lot and I the shuttle arrived at the village by 9:30.

Trying to make my way through a crowded field, I had hard time hearing the speaker but figured out that our wave was already making its way to the start, darn! One of our QuickSilver teammate, Amy, grew up here and she invited a few of us to stop by to her uncle's place, less than a mile from the start. I had planned to be there around 9 but it was 9:39 when I got there, already soaked and the start was at 10 am, sharp... A quick bathroom stop, putting some anti-chaffing on, a boost to my iPhone which had already died with the freezing temperatures, I left the place past 9:50, thinking I would run straight down the street like I did last year, to get in the first corral. But, there was no such access this year so I had to rush all around the blocks, almost back up to the village, then slaloming through the next wave which was now making its way toward the start. I was still sprinting on the side of the 4th corral when I heard the official start and got in the 3rd corral, passing the start line 1 minute and 10 seconds after the gun, and out of breath. After this exhausting warm-up and stressful start, I was in the 6 min/mile rhythm and started passing quite a few runners, on the right side of the road which looked more like a creek. The worst start conditions you can think of for a marathon, and what a waste of my wave 1 access bib...

As you probably know by now, the course goes down significantly in the first miles and I was surprised how easy it felt to clock 6:11 for each of my first 2 miles. There are so many fast runners at this marathon, it seems like you just have to follow the flow, get on the bus. I felt good and encouraged by this solid pace which I could hold for the first 6 miles and owe a lot to my massage therapist, Doods, for fixing my broken body the previous Monday, before I jumped on a plane for Cincinnati. However, beyond the 10K mark, I felt less energy maintaining that pace in the uphills and started slowing down significantly, clocking a few 6:40 miles, which was super disappointing. To make the matter worse, I was passed by waves of runners, it felt so different than last year. The rain was intermittent: when it wasn't raining, I felt too hot with my rain jacket and the arm sleeves underneath (plus the tights and hat). When it was raining hard though, I was thankful to have these layers, plus my cap to protect my eyes from the rain pouring right in our face, given the strong headwind, and thinking that I might pass many of the runners in singlets if not running top less!

As I had slowed down, Mark Murray, from Sacramento, passed me around mile 9 or 10, saying Hi and looking like having a terrific good day. Similarly, Scott Dunlap passed me before the half marathon distance, taking a picture or a clip with his GoPro and having a lot of fun. At this point, my goal was first to finish, and as close to 3 hours as possible. Despite wearing gloves, I couldn't feel my hands and I had to stop on the side of the course 3 times to ask for spectators, and a policeman, to get me a GU or S!Caps out of my running belt. I even recall stopping by for more than one minute at the bottom of Heartbreak Hill, and getting passed by dozens of runners again, although, after swallowing that GU, I did pass a few runners going up the hill and in the last miles.

Overall I took only 2 S!Caps, 3GUs and one bottle of GU2O which, given the low temperatures and the fact that I had forgotten to bring my Vespa on this trip, was on the low/risky side both on the calorie and electrolyte sides.

I had pre-bought the Marathonfoto package for once and had planned to pin my bib on my tights so they can see it but, with the missed start, my bib was under my rain jacket, invisible. In the last mile I opened my jacket and was therefore completely soaked when I crossed the finish line.

I felt so embarrassed with my time and having been passed by several thousands of runners, I didn't feel much joy or pride when crossing the finish line, just a sense of relief to have survived the stormy conditions and not having walked at all.

Despite the disappointment, I tried to smile on the post-finish picture but, as soon as I stopped running, the muscles around my left hip seized/froze and it became super painful to just walk the six blocks toward the exit.

I was shivering (I'm so good at it in these conditions) and, several times, medical staffers asked if I was ok; at the third time, I accepted to get on a wheel chair (another bruise to my ego...), just to get to the extremity of the last block, where I found Nicolas, who started to worry, 17 minutes after I had crossed the finish line. I felt really cold at this point and, after a few detours, ended up back at the medical tent. The situation there was quite apocalyptic, almost like what we see in war movies: it was barely one hour after the lead men and women had crossed the finish line and the tent was already 85% full, while 28,000 runners were still on the course and battling weather conditions which were worsening (rain and wind). Many runners were on cots, pale, and suffering hypothermia. I felt lucky to have found Nicolas who had a bag full of dry clothes and, as soon as I changed, and felt much better right away in dry clothes, ready to leave promptly, to the satisfaction of the medical staff which started being worried about the tent getting that full so quickly and so early.

We took the subway back to Nicolas' car and many runners were changing in ad hoc conditions every where in the station: what an epic year to remember! And that poncho, including a hood, was a darn good and smart idea given the weather conditions, kudos to the organizers for planning for that!

I did watch the whole replay of the race on the local TV from 10 to midnight, before going to bed, and felt better about my race when I saw the elites wearing jackets and running 10 to 20 minutes slower than usual, and the winners shivering at the finish. Yet, I can't comprehend how the Masters divisions got so competitive this year, despite the bad conditions. It seems that many runners had trained for months in these wintery conditions and were actually quite prepared and happy about them. Look for instance and the variation of the top 10 across several age groups:

1. Men 40-44: in 2018: 2:28:18 to 2:40:33 versus 2017: 2:12:45 to 2:32:46 a +16/+8 variation
2. Men 45-49: 2:39:46 to 2:50:14 this year versus 2:25:15 to 2:44:27 last year, +15/+6
3. Men 50-54: 2:44:29 to 2:54:28 in 2018 versus 2:41:48 to 2:49:54 in 2017, only a +3/+5 delta!
4. Men 55-59: 2:53:17 to 2:59:51 versus 2:44:52 to 2:59:13 last year, a +9/+0 variance.

Speaking of M55-59, kudos to our local Mark Murray who had a fantastic run, breaking 3 hours by a few seconds and placing 10th in his age group. Also to Scott who ran a very solid 2:53 in such stormy conditions. And huge congrats and respect to Bay Area elite, Jorge Maravilla for taking 3rd in the Masters division, that's huge! Especially when you know he could have finished second, and take home an additional $2,500 purse, hadn't he stop before the finish line to grab his son so they could both cross the finish line together. Jorge is so generous, he has no regret for this life-time family memory, according to a famous ad, let's call that priceless! ;-)

By the way, I'm super happy for Desi for her major performance and toughing it out, running a smart and courageous race. I was delighted to represent Brooks on the podium last year along her, and so proud of her for getting the palms, the ultimate honor, this year. Not that it's a huge surprise given she had missed the overall win by 2 seconds back in 2011, and went on the top 10 podium several times since, but she really ran a smart and bold race. (Photo credit: Marathonfoto and part of the package I bought.)

Also an amazing win for the Hanson brothers, a testimony of the quality of their training program at a fraction of the cost of Nike's Oregon Project. Here are pictures from last year before we got on the podium:

I'm writing this post on Wednesday night. I wasn't too sore but the stiffed neck is still painful and I finally got a cold, my second this year. I tried to go for a run, but couldn't find good trails so capitulated back the hotel's fitness room where I did 30 minutes of elliptical work on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.

My result? I clocked 3:06:09, bad enough for 2,711th overall (!), 2,538th men and 56th in my age group, what a way to fall off last year's podium! That was my 300th race in my log, including 152 ultra races, and my 24th marathon. Here is chart summing-up my 20 years of marathon running:

I may have to accept that the trend can't keep going down for ever...

As much as I don't feel good about my race, I'm happy to have finished when many didn't (~25K finishers), including my good friend Bob who dropped at mile 19, suffering from hypothermia and having to call it a quit before jumping on a flight to Chicago a few hours later. Proud of having 6 finishes here and resolute to come back for a few more odd years. Including next year when I become the youngest (of my age group), again. And experience better conditions, most likely, as, according to many, that was one of the worst weather in the 122-year race history. Maybe that was the part of the legend, but certainly not my performance this time.

By the way, here is an interesting article from our local USATF Pacific Association about a few lessons to be drawn from this year's edition of Boston.

Boston 2018: I'm in! As in... invited, at least!

Boston is such the holy grail of marathon running, it's often an epic journey to get there. I still recall when I cried at the finish of the San Jose Marathon where I first met the qualification standard required for my age back then, breaking 3:10. What a story since then, running Boston in 2001, 2003, getting on the podium (top 10 Masters) in 2005 then 2007. After that, my focus turned to ultra marathon but the urge was too big to come back again on the mythical course and that was definitely worth many chills, not only to rejoin the field after the terrorist attack but also get on the podium again with a second M50-54 place. Which was so unexpected after I had missed my 100K Nationals race a week earlier.

Being the oldest in the M50-54 age group, I wasn't going to register this year. But, late August, I received this email from the organization:

Dear Jean Pommier,We hope this note finds you doing well this Summer.The 122nd B.A.A. Boston Marathon is scheduled for Monday, April 16, 2018, with 30,000 athletes anticipated to compete.Based on your outstanding age-group performance at the 2017 race, we are pleased to reserve you a non-transferable complimentary entry for the 2018 race.If you plan on competing in 2018, please respond to this email by September 9 and the appropriate entry application will be e-mailed to you in late November. [...] 

Oh, my, I thought only a few handful of olympian-worthy runners were invited! Now, still being picky, I checked if the invitation could be postponed by a year, when I would be young(est) again, to no availability. So, Boston 2018, here I come, for #6!

Now, what a difference a year makes! I'm so unprepared for this, it's embarrassing... In addition to the major change of diet which still raises many questions in my mind, I had a few physical setbacks the past 6 weeks which have seriously impacted my training. In case you haven't checked my last 5 posts, here is a graphical summary/timeline:

It looked like such an unfortunate series of events that, this past week, my key goal was to be extra careful when just moving around, while keeping the lights on, in particular going through four airports this week for a business trip then get to Boston. Extra caution when carrying something, walking up or down stairs, getting out of a car, like an old man...

To add to the uncertainty, I was waiting for the confirmation of a business trip to optimize my travel and that came at the last minute, for Cincinnati, OH, this time.

What is the state of the body leading to the race?

1. Back muscle pull: 99% gone, just feeling it when I pull my carry-on over my head in the overhead compartment;
2. Top foot tendinitis: 95% contained, still can feel it in certain shoes;
3. 6 bruises from tripping down: wounds still painful (hands) but now closed;
4. 2 3rd-degree burns on the right calf: still oozing but skin reformed at about 80%; will tape for the race this time (didn't for the mud fest last week...);
5. Elbow and side bruises from new fall at American River 50 last week: okay...

Anyway, it's now Sunday, less than 24 hours before the start and I'm really wondering what will happen tomorrow. Starting with the weather which, typical of New England, keeps changing every minute. It was sunny on Friday and Saturday morning, it's now chilling down and overcast, so much that they announce snow flakes for today, then a lot of rain and headwind for... race day, yikes!

I'm actually just back from a 5K run during which I even clocked a 6:20-min mile, like in the good ol' days. Just need to do this 26 times in a row tomorrow, how hard can that be! When I resumed training after my back injury, I said it was going to be a steep hill back up 6 min/mile, thankfully I still have a good base. Will getting the race adrenaline to soak in be enough?

Snow in April? That's really not surprising the locals who have had such a tough and long winter. And there is still piles of snow here and there, around (here is St Augustine Church where I went to mass on Saturday morning in Andover):

Oh, one more excuse to sand bag for tomorrow's run: I just realized I even forgot to take my Vespa pouches with me. Without my magic potion, better show that I'm fat-adapted after 4.5 weeks on the OFM/keto diet!

Given all these circumstances, the goal of just finishing may have to predominate tomorrow, we shall see in a few hours.

That caveat being on records, if you still want to follow my progress, you can text 819 (my bib number) to 234567 and you should receive updates along the way (last year, it only sent notifications from 30K on, every 5K, versus the additional 10K and half-marathon checkpoints advertised this year). I believe that number/procedure only works in the US.

There is also a "Boston Marathon" app (Apple and Android) from the Boston Athletic Association, offering live tracking. That app is advertised as providing many more alerts (Start, every 5K point, half-marathon, 20, 21 and 25.2-mile marks and finish), quite a fine grain tracking!

By the way, at $30 for one hour and one minute of parking near the expo, I literally zipped through the expo for picking my bib, race shirt, but still managed to walk through all the aisles of the expo floor which looked to me smaller than last year. Last year I had volunteered for a few hours on the GU booth but I haven't been selected in their advocate program this year.

Same thing for Brooks, they ditched me from their sponsoring program, so they didn't reach out to give a hand (or a foot?) on the booth.

That being said, after having run in Brooks for 19 years and 64 pairs, I'm still so attached to the brand, I couldn't resist wearing my "I love running" Brooks t-shirt as well as a new pair of Boston-themed Launch 4.

I haven't ever felt the challenge of getting to the start line as this time, this has become like a small obsession. 16 hours to start time of wave 1, never been that close! ;-) My mental image has been to be careful enough not to trip over that line this time, materialized by the cordage I tripped over in Honduras 2 weeks ago...

In addition to being my 6th Boston marathon, this will also be my 300th race in my running log, quite a milestone!

With that, alea iacta est, see many of you tomorrow between Hopkinton and Boston, on the legendary course, along it, or online! Boston Strong! Rain or shine...

Boston Marathon 2017: wow!

Wow, as I start writing this race report, I imagine it to be a long one. Such a legendary race and event, so many memories coming back, and so many new memories formed which I want to capture in writing. Oh, and so many pictures too with Agnès and friends attending as well. And videos for a change... I have so much in my mind even several days later, I could have created 3 posts so, again, be prepared for a long one. Hey, you don't have to go through all of it anyway, there is no test afterwards! ;-)

I. Leading to Boston

First, I was asked what motivated me to come back so I had to recall what went through my mind back in September 2015, when we put our application in. Several things as I recall. First, the yearly appeal of being part of this unique race, the oldest marathon with 121 editions so far. Second, the fact that I had gotten a good qualifying time during the 50K Nationals when I passed the marathon mark in 2:45 on my way to my 50K PR of 3:18. Third, the opportunity to visit a few friends we have in New England, a trip which got Agnès particularly excited. Fourth, that was going to mark a return to Boston after 10 years. Last, but not least, after the stroke of March 2016, there is a sentiment of 'do it while you can', the same motivation which got me into UTMB this year.

10 years have passed since my last Boston, wow, time flies! 10 years during which I ran 140 ultra races, a passion for ultra running which relegated the marathon distance to a long sprint... I've ran 61 50K races but only 22 marathons, time to give that mythical another try.

For those who follow-me, what led to Boston has been a strange preparation to that distance and format. In January, I prepared for a 24-hour track race I had at the end of February but, in the meantime ran a solid 50K road race the first weekend of February (3:19:59), then won the Masters division at the 50K trail Nationals 2 weeks later, only to falter on GI issues with a very disappointing 111 miles at the Riverbank 24-hour race a week later. I didn't race in March, with my main goal being to break our American age group record at the 100K Nationals the week before Boston and that led to a fiasco with some exercise-induced asthma and having to walk 50K to finish, and win the Masters division again short of a competitive field. With that asthma incident, I had no expectation whatsoever, or rather, a broad range of them, from running a strong race if my lungs could hold on, or just finishing, again.

Per my previous post, I went for 11 miles in Bloomington, IL, at 7:20 min/mile and felt ok but not over-confident with either my lungs or legs. But, in any case, it felt good to have my name on the 2017 roster!!

II. Pre-race

There is a lot going on with running Boston and such a huge international event. A 3-day expo to accommodate more than 30,000 runners coming from all over the world, this is big. Traveling and staying in Boston over that Patriots' Day weekend is quite a logistical nightmare in itself. The oversize of these events is one thing which makes me love the ultra races and sense of community even more.

Sneaking in before the weekend crowds...

To immerse myself even more into this incredible crowd and vibe, I offered to help one of my sponsors, GU Energy, for a 4-hour shift at the expo, and what an experience this has been! I was in charge of the GU Gel, GU Chew and GU2O/Roctane tasting bar and I've helped out quite a few runners hungry for extra calories and nutrition tips! I've been fueled with so much success and consistency by GU and GU2O for the past 10 years, I couldn't help sharing my passion for these products made in Berkeley, California!

It was also fun to visit the booth of my main sponsor, Brooks, who, despite ending up way at the end of the hall at this expo dominated by the main sponsor, Addidas, still managed to set the bar pretty high; so high that you had to look to the ceiling to catch these slow-motion animated running bots:

And the usual Brooks humor...

If there is something really serious Brooks folks are after is to make running fun, hence the Run Happy tag line and mantra! ;-)

I ran into Michael Wardian, a world marathon and ultra marathon celebrity I had the privilege to pace at the San Francisco North Face 50-mile event in December 2008:

Then, Bay Area and RRCA official, George Herbert Rehmet:

On Saturday, we went with the friends we were staying at to Concord to visit the National Historic Minute Man Park, a good way to learn about the American revolution which led to the foundation of our country, especially that heroic battle of April 19, 1775. Great American history lesson for me, I know, 101 level. Anyway, I ran back to their house, running 5 rolling miles close to marathon pace which was a great confidence builder, yet, at 6:30 min/mile, raising questions if I could sustain an even faster pace for 5 times that distance.

On Sunday we went to the beach and, while the water was frigid cold, the air temperature reached 84F which felt really hot especially to the locals who had snow a week earlier!

In the evening, the weather changed, with some rain hitting us as we were still enjoying dinner outside. Definitely a different weather pattern than California... We even got a hot running conditions warning from the race organizers in our mailboxes on Sunday, asking that we planned on taking it easier, hydrating a lot and running slower than our initial targets. I've always said that, despite the overall elevation loss, Boston isn't the place to aim at a PR (and this is confirmed by analytics of course, like in this Runner's World article).

III. The race

With the attack of 2013, and the overwhelming security measures since then, the race has significantly changed from the times I ran it (2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007), starting with the logistic to get to the start or along the course. We left our friends' house before 8 am, so Agnès could drop me at the Hopkinton shuttle terminal before 8:30. And it was already a warm morning per local standards...

One of my Quicksilver teammates, Amy, grew up in Hopkinton, and invited the other team members to stop by her uncle's house near the start which looked like so much better than wait inside the Runners' Village. Picture of the first wave leaving the village, with 55 minutes to cover a mile...

Unfortunately, the time to get to the remote parking lot, get on a bus and wait until it filled up, drive all around Hopkinton then getting stuck into the village until they released the first wave at 9:05, I was only able to meet the rest of the team for 5 minutes before running to the start myself. But we got a cool picture of our five representatives.

Despite the crowd, I ran into two other Bay Area ultra runners, Nike team member, Alex Varner, and Excelsior's Karl Schnaitter. Surprisingly for such an elite runner as Alex, he got a 740 bib, just 5 numbers apart from me. He must have qualified on a hilly marathon.

 While 200 were separating Karl's and my bib:

By the way, would you guess what runners do before running 26.2 miles, and by a warm day? Yes, see below, run more miles to... warm up. As for me, I was just happy watching these guys running in circles and starting sweating before the gun.

I didn't want to wait for too long in the corral so I entered in just 5 minutes before 10 am and got at the back of the first corral, with maybe 700 or 800 runners in front of me. As a matter of fact, I ended up waiting next to a runner who was wearing a M50 bib on his back. He told me that, with a qualifying time of 2:43, he was the 8th seeded runner in my age group so, not being given such an age group, I deducted that I was an underdog. Hey, maybe the others didn't get their qualifying times while running a 50K... At least, I had some insights that it was going to be a tough battle for a M50-54 podium! Here is Scott Lebo, from Colorado Springs, CO:

I decided to race with my iPhone this time, and used the convenient Ultimate Direction Scott Jurek's Essentials belt for that, I was also carrying 2 Ultimate Direction bottles, one with water, one with GU2O, plus 4 GUs, 1 pouch of GU2O (I typically drink one bottle every 15-18 miles), plus 8 S!Caps, more than needed (I take between 1 and 2 every hour, depending on the temperature), but I was expecting a hot and potentially long day if I had to walk part of the course would the asthma kick in again. With all that, I definitely looked bizarre, especially among the front runners who were probably wondering if I had entered the wrong race. But I feel so more comfortable drinking when I want and knowing what I did drink, something impossible to do when you randomly grab a cup when flying through the aid stations at every mile. Besides, I saved a few seconds here and there by not slowing down at these marks.

Since I had my phone with me at the start, here are 2 random shots of corral 1 and 2 respectively.

It took me 20 seconds after the gun to cross the start line and, with almost a thousand runners ahead, I felt like starting at the very back of the pack; amazing how competitive this race is! With the bibs ordered by qualifying time, you see that there are about 100 runners within the same minute as your time, that's a lot of people to run along. For those not familiar with the course, we start running downhill for most of the first mile which makes everybody go way too fast right off the bat. While we lose more than 400 feet of elevation between Hopkinton and Boston, most of the course is rolling so you always have to rebuild momentum in the uphill sections after accelerating in the downhills, for a very tricky pacing exercise. To help, the course is precisely marked with both miles and kilometers, at least the first kilometers, then every 5 kilometers, something the international runners must appreciate.

I had lost track of Scott while navigating the crowd in the second mile but caught up with him in the third mile. After a reasonable 6:13 first mile, we were now going way too fast in my opinion, clocking 6:05, 6:04 and even 5:58 for mile 4, wow! It felt so good and exciting but I knew this wasn't so sustainable, especially on a hot day. Mile 5 was back to reason at 6:14 and even with that, we passed a runner from Japan wearing another of the M50 bibs, I was definitely in the right race! ;-) And Scott wasn't slowing down at all so I ran the the next miles, 6 to 10, respectively in 6:02, 6:04, 6:04, 6:08 and 6:09, wow! With that speed, we caught up with another M50 bib, a tall runner with an orange top, around mile 5 if I recall, and, as he and Scott seemed to gauge each other, I passed them both. I know, that was bold, too early and way too fast, but I just couldn't hold the excitement. And I was thinking of the friends who might have been following me on the web site and think "what the heck is he thinking and doing?!!"

The cell coverage was very bad at the start and I had just seen Agnès's text message that she was at the 10K mark, in Framingham, but I didn't know if she was on the left or right. I assumed the left and tried to make eye contact but she got these picture from the other side. In the years where security wasn't as tight, she managed to spot me 6 times on the course, including the start and finish, but it was only one this year. Spectating or crewing at Boston has become really hard nowadays. Yet, the locals make up for that and pretty much cover both sides of the 26 miles, really a unique experience, and more on this later in my post. Here are a few videos and shots Agnès got at the 10K mark.

Lead women video (they start 30 minutes before us so they can't be paced by the lead men. And the white truck carries their portable watch)

Lead men video (yes, that's 30 minutes for 10K!)

Bay Area ultra elite Jorge Marvilla, bib #43 (27th in Men, 2:24:27!):

 Alex Varner in bright yellow top (82th in Men, 2:34:22):

And 3 shots with me, albeit on the wrong side of the road...

I passed the half-marathon mark just above 1:20 which was really fast in these conditions. To put things into perspective, my PR at Boston was 2:43:00 and I was 12 years younger (41)... Fortunately, I do well in the heat and that served me this time. I was astonished how, just after a few miles of running, many runners' top and shorts were drenching and could predict that quite a few would have hard time in the second half. Around mile 10, I took 2 S!Caps to be safe, and enjoyed going through the scream tunnel of Wellesley College, just before the half mark, but remained quite composed and focused on my breathing in particular, staying in the middle of the road while other runners were getting or giving high fives to the hysteric college girls. Holding your breathing rhythm is in itself a challenge as you can't hear yourself breathing with so much noise! I have to admit though that the level of encouragement gave me a chill, as well as the noise level while going through the half way point.

Mile 15 was my slowest at 6:15, followed by my fastest mile at 5:55. Again, so long for the pacing exercise on this rolling course. As a matter of fact, the 6:15 included a 10 to 15" pit stop to refill my GU2O bottle, I don't think I ever did it that quickly in an ultra, wow! With this short stop, Chris Calzetta, an ex Quicksilver teammate from Monterey, whom I had passed a mile earlier, passed me again but I caught up with him with the subsequent sub-6 mile, flying down through Newton. Now, Newton is known to Boston runners for its hills and I have to admit that I was starting fearing the infamous Heart Break Hill and slow down to 6:18 and 6:21 for miles 17 and 18, so much that the M50 runner with the orange top passed be just before the 18-mile mark. I tried to remain close behind, clocking 6:07 for mile 19 but faltered in the subsequent hill with 6:25 and 6:47 for miles 20 and 21. Of course, this is barely a hill per mountain ultra running standards, but it is a pace killer that late in the race. I had taken only 2 GU gels so far and I should have taken at least another one if not two but I was too focused on speed. I was happy to regain some speed in the next 3 miles (6:17, 6:12, 6:23) but the last 2 miles were hard and I was expecting Scott to catch me anytime now as I ran miles 25 and 26 in 6:38 and 6:59. Here I am, now lonely, in the 25th mile (photo credit to our Cupertino friend, Nancy Boyle):

With the finish line now in sight, and no sign of Scott, I rushed to the finish with my 2nd best time at Boston: 2:44:50, wow!

I was already happy with my finish time, and also the fact that I didn't cramp at all. I reached to my phone, first to take a picture of and with Chris (thanks to his wife, Colleen).

While my phone was out, I checked my result on the Boston Marathon app: I had accomplished the feat of placing 2nd in our M50-54 age group, I couldn't be more pleased and happier about this outcome, wow, I even wowed myself with that one! ;-)

A runner who finished just behind me was also catching his breath and I recognized him from passing him and his M55 back bib in the first half so I congratulated him, and we checked his result: he, too, had taken 2nd in his age group so we were two happy campers! With Guy Dorval from Québec:

Another runner stopped by in the finish area, recognizing me from last year's Caumsett 50K Nationals, the race which triggered my stroke. Patrick Bell, 47, from Richmond, VA, who was wearing an impressive low number bib (387) but had a tougher day this weekend, finishing in 2:45:27.

As for Scott Lebo, he finished in 2:58:16, 32nd in our age group, and I can imagine how disappointed he must have been for missing his goal. I'm particularly thankful to him for having shared an outlook of the M50 competition at the start, and imposed a killer pace in the first miles to get me on the right track.

Our age group winner was Tim Meigs with an impressive time of 2:41:48. With a 350 bib, he deserved to win. Here is the top 10 in our age group, quite an international panel! (And note the 2 big surges from corrals 2 and 3.)

To conclude this section, a word about my nutrition plan. I ate a GU StroopWafel 30 minutes before the start. Something I had never done before but a keeper. That was on top of a Vespa pouch 45 minutes before the start, and one just before the gun. 2 GU Chew blocks before the start as well. 1 GU gel around mile 11 and another one at mile 18. I just regret not taking at least one more, if not the two I was carrying with me. Overall, quite on the low calorie side compared to these GU cheat sheets we were distributing at the expo but Vespa did its wonder again, allowing me to take energy from fat. I also drank 2 bottles of GU2O and 1 of plain water. Plus 4 S!Caps.

IV. Post race

I was so happy I cried when falling in Agnès' arms after I collected my finisher medal and all the nutritious goodies.

I had secret hopes for such a podium in my boldest dreams a few weeks ago but, after the trouble of the 100K Nationals a week earlier, I had taken the pressure off by not expecting it and just running hard to see what could happen. My sister, a competitive diver who also provides me with the best medical advice had sent me an email just before the race: "stay cool, just run for the fun of it, get to the start relaxed and remain relaxed through the race..." And it worked out so well! Last week was actually not the fist time that I can link asthma to stress so it must be rather stress-induced asthma than exercise-induced.

I literally rushed to the massage area, passing runners going down the stairs backward as they were cramping so bad. My calves were tingling and that sort of troubled my masseuse but I asked her to press my calves really hard and deep in the muscles which she did eventually, although still not matching the intensity of my favorite Monsters of Massage. With Stephanie:

The massage really helped and I had no issue climbing the stairs back up to find Agnès waiting in the sun, and just as Scott Dunlap was getting in (3:07 finish).

In 2005, we had driven all the way up to our friends' in Andover before I realized that I had made the Top 10 Masters and we barely made it back in time for me to get on the stage at the awards ceremony. So we knew better this time and, besides, the race organization's bot had texted and emailed me an invitation to the award ceremony. This time we were staying at a hotel near Logan airport so we had plenty of time to drive there, take a shower, and be back on time for the award ceremony at the fancy Fairmont Copley hotel.

Since I wasn't blogging yet back in 2005 and we didn't see much of the ceremony back then as we got in as my name was called, I was really looking forward to the experience this year and you are in for an extensive coverage in this post. As I wrote earlier, I could have done a separate post for this post-race section and you can skip, but, if interested, that will give you a sense of what this part of the event looks like. I must confess that I was excited like a child by this opportunity to approach la crème de la crème of marathon running this Monday evening!

First, it was really cool to have a few teammates join us for some extra cheering, Pierre-Yves and his family, as well as Harris (Amy had to catch a bus back to her natal or childhood Hopkinton).

While we were waiting for the ballroom to open, Meb Keflezighi was so kind to accept photo ops and I got one myself, plus a short chat with this legendary champion who won Boston in 2014, made it to the Olympics a record 4 times and had run his last competitive Boston this weekend, finishing 13th overall and 2nd in the Masters division.

A few words from this amazing champion in this video:

There was a lot of hardware (glass vase trophies) ready to be distributed that evening.

A quick look at the gotta of marathon running:

The ceremony started with the recognition of the race directors of the 6 major marathons which constitute the Abbott X Series: Boston, New York, Chicago, Tokyo, Berlin and London, and the respective overall winners. Here are the 6 race directors:

Short video of the intro video...

After came the long litany of 5-year age group awards, starting with the 80+ who had not changed yet. Must have been really long for those who had covered the 26 miles in close to 2 hours and had finished 6 hours earlier... That being said, very impressive performances for 6 men and 1 woman in this 80+ categories, starting with a 4:14 for the first M80 (Tony Cerminaro, on the right).

As for me, it was super cool to get back on the stage, 12 years later.

There was a mixup of vases with the previous age group, fortunately quickly settled as you can see on this video:

Here is a shot of my top 10 Masters award in 2015.

I realize how lucky I have been again back then when I see that, this year, they only recognized the top 3 Masters and the third one ran 2:18:32, wow!

Many awardees overall, let me just pick and highlight a few others by order of appearance.

Winners of the Abbott Series X wheelchair competition, Tatyana McFaden (USA) and Marcel Hug (Switzerland):

Boston 2017 wheelchair top 2-4 women

Boston 2017 wheelchair top 2-4 men, the multi Boston champ, Ernst Van Dyk, Ernst from South Africa, who finished in the same second as the overall winner, Hiroyuki Yamamoto from Japan and Kurt Fearnley from Australia.

Boston 2017 wheelchair champs, both from Switzerland: Manuela Schar (1:28:17) and Marcel Hug (1:18:04!!):

 Masters #2 (Meb) and 3 (Rachi Kisri):

 Boston 2017 female division team winners, Team Brooks-Hansons!

 And with the 2017 male team winners, from the local BAA (Boston Athletic Association)

 The Boston 2017 top 2-10 women

Boston 2017 top 2-10 men. Galen Rupp (left) was the first American, out of a record 6 out of top 10 this year and 3rd was Suguru Osako, one of his Nike's Oregon Project teammates who ran 2:10:28 in tough conditions for his marathon debut!! (So far, Suguru, from Japan, was a 5,000-meter world elite.)

And, finally, the overall Boston 2017 champions, both from Kenya this year, Edna Kiplagat (2:21:52) and Geoffrey Kirui (2:09:37)

A couple of post-ceremony pictures with Brooks idols. Fist with Desirée Linden, who took 4th overall this year (and 7th place at Rio 2016):

And the Hansons brothers, founders of the Hansons-Brooks distance project (see also Luke Humprey's book, the Hansons Marathon Method).

Agnès and I continued the celebration with some sea food and lobster at the nearby Luke's Lobster Back Bay eatery and I was stunned that there wasn't more people around. As a matter of fact, when we left the restaurant around 7:30, most of the remaining activity in the area was about dismantling and cleaning, yet there were still a few runners getting to the finish line. Wow, what a long day!

V. Conclusion

Adding a conclusion to an already way too long report, really? Well, just to add one last wow, that Boston is still the most amazing marathon, from the exceptional tenure, the tough standards to get in which draws a very competitive field from around the world, this unique opportunity to visit Boston and New England, the super professional organization and the incredible crowd lining the 26 miles and cheering so loudly. As a matter of fact, when I was struggling in the last 2 miles, it dawned on me that the noise from the crowd was also hurting my ears and mind... Yet, such a level of support also gave me a chill at a handful of spots on the course. Indeed, a unique experience and hope to be back, but I'm going to enjoy a few very quiet miles in my next ultras in the meantime... ;-)