Boston 2012 - Michael Y (mountandog)

To be perfectly honest I don't have a lot to add to the story overall, but here's a bit of what I went through this weekend. I will say up front, all in all a great weekend in spite of the difficulties on Monday.

Firstly, I travelled to BOS with my brother and a good friend. We met my sister there who came in from ATL. So anytime we get together we have fun. She has been injured, had limited training, and so was debating whether to run or not, but decided to come anyways and see how it went. We picked her up at Logan, immediately told her about the deferral option, she immediately opened a beer and said she hit the lottery. She's one of the 450 that picked up her bib and never made to Hopkinton. But she was a great spectator seeing us all at Wellesley and Cleveland Center.

We had a few drinks, had a great dinner and some red wine and mused over the weather and how to adjust our plans. None of us guys had ever run a hot marathon before. We pulled out all the online calculators and our best guess was to add about 7 -10 minutes of time overall for an 85 degree day. Hmmmmmm....wish it had only been 7-10 min. I had made a number of pacebands and so thinking I was in 3:00 shape I pulled out my 3:08 band and a 3:10 band "just in case". Anything below 3:08 would be a new PR, but hell, I was in the best shape ever, no injuries, ready to go. 3:10 was also the "NYC automatic bid" time for my friend. If he made it we were going to sign up for November.

Sun we met up with Steve F, John P and Kevin F. Nice to put faces to names. Thanks Kevin for organizing the two events. My sister was going to meet up with Kevin and bandit the last 13 but her leg just wasn't going to make it, so she bailed and spectated instead. Sorry about that Kev.

Monday came and as we all know the weather forecast didn't improve, but I was pretty confident in my objective, but have to admit I was a bit nervous because I really didn't know what to expect. In the corral we were already sweating. Not a good sign. I retied my shoes a couple of times and never got them right and knew it 200 yards into the race. Am still paying for it on my right foot with lace bite. Jeeze, you think I could have stopped and retied somewhere along the way, but I thought I might never get started again. That really pisses me off because it was a prerace mistake. Those should never happen.

My race went about the same as everyone else. After 5k I knew that the 3:08 was gonna be tough. After 10k I knew the 3:10 was gonna be tough. After 7 miles I lost my buddy, and we normally run at least 20 together. I didn't know if he was ahead or behind, it turns out behind. (which means as my brother and friend didn't BQ, we might do another race, weather permitting next month to get that done - might as well take advantage of out conditioning). After the half I knew 3:20 was gonna be tough. After 15 I knew finishing was going to be tough. Somewhere around 18 I was thinking I might not BQ. My mind wasn't working that well, I had plenty of room to spare, but the mind ghosts of fatigue and heat were definitiely there.

For the first time ever I walked through 2 or 3 water stations. I felt sorry for the volunteers as they couldn't get water to us fast enough. We were all taking 2 or 3 at a time. So you almost had to walk in order to get enough.

So like everyone else, a positive second half. For me about 10:45.

The stats:

• 3:27:41
  
• 38/1087 AG
  
• 2748 overall
  

Some interesting tidbits:

• I ran 16 minutes slower than last year but placed 597 places better
  
• 2011 had 1518 runners below 3:00 and 6162 between 3:00 - 3:30
  
• 2012 had 529 runners below 3:00 and 2541 between 3:00 - 3:30
  

What a day. Whew!!

Nicely done! Isn't it nice to have it behind you now? Enjoy the rest/recovery this week!

Congratulations on toughing this one out!

Considering the challenges you had during the race, that finish (and high placement in your AG) is extremely impressive. Great work out there Monday!

Very nice! Especially with that age group placement. Impressive!!!!

Congratulations, Michael on a great effort and run on a tough day! When Jill told me that you were her brother, I freaked - very funny coincidence - good thing I never spoke bad about her Actually, I've know her for a few years and new she hurt her calf at Publix. I'm glad that she gets to defer as I believe she was hurt last year as well. Guess the running gene is in the family!

Congratulations on the BQ and a great AG finish Michael. You'd never know you ran in such lousy conditions. Terrific job!

Congrats on a job well done! A great AG placement and another BQ!

Great report, too!

Michael, sorry I missed meeting you this weekend. There are quite a few fast runners in my age group on this board...gives me motivation to keep working at it.

Congrats on your race, as you said, there wasn't much more to add about the heat that hadn't already been stated. It is still impressive with your finish and placement in the age group IMO. We'll always remember this one.

That's a great time, Michael! Sub 3 will be yours in fall, as long as you don't go to Chi town of cause.

GREAT run under the circumstances Michael - effortwise it probably was a 3 hour marathon. It is obvious how brutal it was when we saw all of the runners that we know were totally well-trained suffering through. Awesome memories for sure and congrats - I'm actually pretty much in awe of what you have been able to accomplish over the last year. Great job!

Good to meet you and your family (friend.) You are a solid age group performer, nice race and only walking through 2-3 water stops is an accomplishment in itself, Monday! Great job Michael! Did you realize you beat Joan Benoit Samuelson(3:28?) Yes that's right, a Gold Medalist.

Jerry wrote:That's a great time, Michael! Sub 3 will be yours in fall, as long as you don't go to Chi town of cause.

Why not Chi town? I heard the long range forecast calls for cloudy with temps in the high 40F's to mid 50's!

fostever wrote:Good to meet you and your family (friend.) You are a solid age group performer, nice race and only walking through 2-3 water stops is an accomplishment in itself, Monday! Great job Michael! Did you realize you beat Joan Benoit Samuelson(3:28?) Yes that's right, a Gold Medalist.

Funny you should bring that up. I've actually had a chance to meet her. Spent a fair amount of time with her at Chelsea's graduation. She is an alumni to my daughter Chelsea. She helped her network to find her first job and introduced her to Abby (Joanie's daughter). Joanie ran the race with Abby this yr in celebration of the 40 yr anniversary of women running Boston. This is what Abby put on her facebook page after the race Monday:
"I will never, ever forget running 26.2 in
Boston with Joanie… Very special day! It’s pretty amazing when you finish a
marathon in the 90 degree heat, are dying and your almost-55 year old mother
wants to go on a “cool down” run. Thanks to all of you who were out there for
us!"



There is a great picture with Abby looking like she's dying and Joanie as cool as ever. She would have kicked my butt if she hadn't been running with Abby.

I heard someone asked Joanie to go for a run, and she did say sure! We are both alike then Michael as I beat her when she was "jogging" in Houston. Of course, she kicked my butt in DC at Cherry Blossom. I'm waiting for May when she ages up

Michele "1L" Keane wrote:I heard someone asked Joanie to go for a run, and she did say sure! We are both alike then Michael as I beat her when she was "jogging" in Houston. Of course, she kicked my butt in DC at Cherry Blossom. I'm waiting for May when she ages up

Then she's in my agegroup - lol

fostever wrote:

Jerry wrote:That's a great time, Michael! Sub 3 will be yours in fall, as long as you don't go to Chi town of cause.

Why not Chi town? I heard the long range forecast calls for cloudy with temps in the high 40F's to mid 50's!

Fool me once - 07, shame on you. Fool me twice - 10, shame on you again.

Michael, it was really good to meet up with you there and glad we got to join tables finally. You did a really good job and were smart to keep adjusting your time. I hope you guys are able to find another one soon that will have cool weather. Nice race and strong run considering.

Great job Michael. That's an awesome time in those conditions. Recover well.

Those numbers you posted at the end say it all, excellent effort and race.

Hello, Michael, sorry we didn't catch up this weekend. Awareness of the brutality of the event is much higher locally than among people I'm talking with from other part of the country. But, we know, don't we.

mountandog wrote: The stats:

• 3:27:41
  
• 38/1087 AG
  
• 2748 overall
  

What a day. Whew!!

You're selling yourself a little short here, and the numbers have changed, too. Now only 1,080 that finished (wonder what happened to the other 7?), but I guarantee you finished ahead of the 50 guys in your AG that didn't complete the course. So, you're really 38/1,130

mountandog wrote:
I ran 16 minutes slower than last year but placed 597 places better

That pretty much sums up that you ran a really strong race. Well done!

Wow. Nice race, Michael! Congratulations!