Boston Marathon 2014

pistol_75

I see Christine Kennedy ran 2:57:44 at the age of 59. Serious running

DukeOfDromada

After running this last year it was my turn to be a supporter. Was positioned about 200m before the 24 mile marker with the OH and a friend wearing a big Leprechaun hat to be easily spotted. Watched Jeptoo cruse by comfortably and Meb suffering been chased down. Didn’t think he’d hold out. Fantastic achievement by him. Shouted at anyone wearing anything resembling an Irish related singlet or t-shirt. Spotted a Crusaders, Raheny, Killkenny and a few Tralee singlets plus others. Meno was suffering, Dory was hopping around giving us hugs. Seemed like there were a lot more people than you’d usually see suffering. Sun was beating down and it is not an easy course. Great atmosphere, great race. Will do it again sometime myself.

P.S. Well done to all!!

T runner

Josphat Boit, who broke alone with Meb K till 25k, and finished 13th with a new PB of 2:11........is the same athlete who in 2009 and running for Clonliffe Harriers won the national 10,000, won and equaled the record in the Streets of Galway, and above all was a magnificent second (to Eoin Gahan) to the top of Knocknarea in the Warriors run.

belcarra

I was wondering where I recognised that name from! Definitely the same guy, not just the same name?

T runner

belcarra wrote: »

I was wondering where I recognised that name from! Definitely the same guy, not just the same name?

Definitely same guy: googled him and saw his photo on his facebook page....with loads of references to his run in Boston.

Krusty_Clown

T runner wrote: »

Josphat Boit, who broke alone with Meb K till 25k, and finished 13th with a new PB of 2:11........is the same athlete who in 2009 and running for Clonliffe Harriers won the national 10,000, won and equaled the record in the Streets of Galway, and above all was a magnificent second (to Eoin Gahan) to the top of Knocknarea in the Warriors run.

Let's not forget his first place win in the Longford half marathon in 2009. Certainly his greatest achievement.

dna_leri

slowsteady wrote: »

With forecast temperatures was never aiming for a time. Went out with my name on my shirt - Sean in Boston - spent most of the race like the Queen, waving left and right, had a ball. Running well to 19 miles when heat finally caught up with me, 5 minutes in medical tent and off again. Calves and quads made sure the rest of the race was a procession - a royal one waving left and right - unreal, it was like you were a rock star. Brilliant brilliant day, 3:52, could have been much worse but on the day it really didn't matter a ****. Beers......

Rock star coverage too:

T runner

Krusty_Clown wrote: »

Let's not forget his first place win in the Longford half marathon in 2009. Certainly his greatest achievement.

I remember that. It was the day after the Warriors run..His legs must have been absolutely banjacksed! He ran a few seconds ahead of second place....absolute minimum to take the win. Checked the results there...74 something.
He's a class act. Hopefully he keeps improving.

Sosa

Just catching up here today, back home since yesterday morning.
I had a day to forget Monday also, seems thats the majority of people i talked to over there and have read about.
Both calves felt kind of sore after only 6m...no clue what that was all about, got to 10m exactly at 3:05p (my target time) I knew than that i did not have another 2hrs of that pace in me so started slowing by about 10s a mile.
When i got to 16 i was really struggling and knew i had the hardest 5m stretch ahead of me up the 4 Newton hills. When i crested Heartbreak my heart was well and truly broken. I was in 3 treatment tents the last 5m, walked alot, crawled alot, severe cramps in my left quad and right hamstring, so bad to the extent that i could not bend my left leg at times. I had absolutely no power to run up any sort of incline, forced to walk, legs like pulp at that point so running the downhills was torture.
I drank at every single water station, took 4 gels, the heat was a factor obviously but i was amazed by how i fell apart Monday.
My training was not great but it was the same last year and i coasted to a real easy 3:08 over there and was never under any sort of pressure. It was not as warm last year though.
Just one of those things, pity though, because i really wanted to enjoy the last 10k. The crowds were incredible as expected and the City put on a great show. It took me around 3hrs after it to come round to any sort of normality but when i did i enjoyed the night and i had up to 6pm in the city on Tuesday to enjoy also until i headed to the airport.

I have since being doing a little research on getting cramps in that situation.
More to do with your training than dehydration in a couple of articles i have read which would make sense as i missed almost 3 weeks in March with flu and my long runs that i did were not of any quality.

London is out the window now for next year, I forgot to enter the ballot as i was still over there and was not aware it was even open but did get an email from the Paris marathon with an entry of €99 that i can have up to May 3rd...we will see.
I like the sound of Barcelona also March 15th 2015.

menoscemo

^^^^
Sosa, unlucky. Feels like I could have written that report myself!!

KentuckyPete

Only getting around to logging in now since Monday.

I had an interesting day - I really wanted to break Sub-3 after the heatwave hell in 2012 and decided to go with conventional Boston wisdom and go for time in the bank in the first half. I was aiming for 1:28:30 and got 1:27:33 so a bit too fast out to 13.1.

I knew I'd suffer in the second half for it and boy was it rough. Mentally the worst part of the race for me was actually 13.1 out to 15.5. my pace dropped quite a bit on only moderate drags and I thought my times would go to pot on the Newton hills. It's tough to be that far from home and thinking the wheels are coming off.

Although the pace obviously dropped in Newton I got a good run on the first hill up to the fire station. Then on the next one - the steep left-hander in mile 17 I found that although I covered the mile in just over 7 minute pace I was passing a lot of other runners. Ditto for mile 18 and crucially this boost and the reasonable state of my quads meant I could go for it on the downhill in mile 19. The last two hills were tackled the same way and I knew if kept close to 6:50 pace from there on in I had a chance of the sub-3.

Again, I had to hammer it on the downhills in miles 22 and 23 but in each case I kept the sub-3 just above water - put a few seconds back in the bank in fact. I was finding the heat fairly rough though and it was also very difficult to stay focused on the long straight from 23.5 to 25 - the legs were pretty much shot at this point and I was running on memory and emotion.

Once over the CITGO flyover the pace had to stay under 7 but I knew now that I might do it OK. Speeding up out of the 1km flyover allowed me to take a lot of other scalps and the run down Bolyston was very emotional. All the more so as I knew at the 26 mile mark that I'd do it. Over the line in 2:59:14 and collapsed happily into the arms of a steward.

Did I enjoy it? Overall, absolutely - but the last 11 miles were really tough. It was a ferocious challenge to keep the pace on as the legs began to die - definitely the ability to continue to push on the downhills is what delivered the result. My PB is 2:58 - set in DCM 2012 - and I think sub-3 in Boston was a way way tougher ask. The hills are the obvious killer but Paddy doesn't do heat very well either - I noticed I had fierce dose of farmer's sunburn when I got out of the shower later on.

Corny as it seems I did actually say to myself at one point that the pain would go away but the result would always be there. Nothin' like a bit of cheesy motivation to get going

Well done to the other boardsies - enjoyed the pasta party with Dory Dory and Meno.

Wideball - we'll eventually get together for that beer!

viperlogic

Someone made a quick buck.....

www.runnersworld.com/boston-marathon/runner-says-4-others-bandited-with-her-number-at-boston

wideball

KentuckyPete wrote: »

Only getting around to logging in now since Monday.

I had an interesting day - I really wanted to break Sub-3 after the heatwave hell in 2012 and decided to go with conventional Boston wisdom and go for time in the bank in the first half. I was aiming for 1:28:30 and got 1:27:33 so a bit too fast out to 13.1.

I knew I'd suffer in the second half for it and boy was it rough. Mentally the worst part of the race for me was actually 13.1 out to 15.5. my pace dropped quite a bit on only moderate drags and I thought my times would go to pot on the Newton hills. It's tough to be that far from home and thinking the wheels are coming off.

Although the pace obviously dropped in Newton I got a good run on the first hill up to the fire station. Then on the next one - the steep left-hander in mile 17 I found that although I covered the mile in just over 7 minute pace I was passing a lot of other runners. Ditto for mile 18 and crucially this boost and the reasonable state of my quads meant I could go for it on the downhill in mile 19. The last two hills were tackled the same way and I knew if kept close to 6:50 pace from there on in I had a chance of the sub-3.

Again, I had to hammer it on the downhills in miles 22 and 23 but in each case I kept the sub-3 just above water - put a few seconds back in the bank in fact. I was finding the heat fairly rough though and it was also very difficult to stay focused on the long straight from 23.5 to 25 - the legs were pretty much shot at this point and I was running on memory and emotion.

Once over the CITGO flyover the pace had to stay under 7 but I knew now that I might do it OK. Speeding up out of the 1km flyover allowed me to take a lot of other scalps and the run down Bolyston was very emotional. All the more so as I knew at the 26 mile mark that I'd do it. Over the line in 2:59:14 and collapsed happily into the arms of a steward.

Did I enjoy it? Overall, absolutely - but the last 11 miles were really tough. It was a ferocious challenge to keep the pace on as the legs began to die - definitely the ability to continue to push on the downhills is what delivered the result. My PB is 2:58 - set in DCM 2012 - and I think sub-3 in Boston was a way way tougher ask. The hills are the obvious killer but Paddy doesn't do heat very well either - I noticed I had fierce dose of farmer's sunburn when I got out of the shower later on.

Corny as it seems I did actually say to myself at one point that the pain would go away but the result would always be there. Nothin' like a bit of cheesy motivation to get going

Well done to the other boardsies - enjoyed the pasta party with Dory Dory and Meno.

Wideball - we'll eventually get together for that beer!

Almost reads like my race! Similar half split, downhill racing strategy and sun tan lines!! Great racing, well done again.