When I ran the London Marathon back in 2019 I first heard of the Abbotts World Majors and saw the big shiny medal you can get for completing all 6. At that point I decided that was going to be my long term goal.
Once I started to do the research of how to get into each of the events I realised how difficult it might be to be able to get Boston due to the qualifying time that was needed.
At Dorney Lake last October I managed to run 2:57:05 that was 7:55 under the time that I needed and I was quietly confident that it would be enough when looking at how far under you had to achieve in previous years. I was then really happy when I saw that anyone that had achieved the qualifying time would make it.
I still wasn’t willing to believe that it would actually happen with all of the Covid restrictions that seemed to be changing so regularly but at least I had qualified and was in with a chance.
Then towards the end of December when I wanted to start thinking about starting the training I caught Covid myself. This meant that I was unable to leave the house for 10 days and then when I could my lungs wouldn’t let me do as much as I wanted to. At this point I pretty much stopped worrying about any sort of time goals and just concentrated on getting to the race in a good enough condition to finish it.
I think this is the least I have actually thought about a race in the build up, my main focus was just on getting there. Some of the stories in the press about chaos at airports and issues with passports meant that I had some worries.
With a couple of weeks to go I broke the process down into steps. Things like getting my Covid test, getting to the airport and bib collection. Each time I got past one of these it meant I was that little bit closer to getting to the start line and I knew if I made the start I was almost certain to make the finish.
After getting through all of these things and getting to race day it felt amazing. Boston is a wonderful city and really gets involved in the marathon weekend. From being clapped out of my hotel first thing in the morning to having bus drivers shout good luck as they drove past the whole place is just brilliant.
The morning of the race was cold and I was glad that I had taken a disposable layer of clothing to keep warm, and was happy for it to go to someone that needed it once I dropped it.
As we got closer to the start things started to warm up and the sun was very strong. In hindsight I maybe should have taken this into account during the early parts of the race.
Once the American national anthem had played and the flyover had finished we were ready to go.
The early part of the race is predominantly downhill but still has a couple of little rises in it as well. Unlike the other marathons I have run even running sub 3 pace the roads are very crowded. Usually it thins out much quicker but due to the quality of the runners this one doesn’t, this made it slightly more difficult when going through drinks stations.
There are some amazing moments on the course and when you get to about 12 miles you start to hear the ladies from Wellesley College. They are still about half a mile away but are so loud you can already hear them. This is a great pick me up and can keep you going for about a mile.
Not long after this though I started to struggle. A combination of the sun and the few hills already done had taken it out of me. I was disappointed this had happened so early but knew it could get tough with the way things had gone over the previous few months.
The rest of the race was a combination of running and walking just to get to the finish along with a lot of other people at this point. Making sure that I had enough left to be able to run the final section.
The final stretch down Boylston Street is an amazing experience similar to running down the mall to finish in London. Crossing the line is an amazing experience in any marathon but Boston really does feel special.
Finishing in 3:15:01 was about where I expected to be before the race but I would have liked to do it in a more consistent way.
Looking back after the race I was very pleased to have run the Boston Marathon and completed it in a reasonable time but at the time I was a little disappointed with how it had gone.
Given the chance I would love to go back and run this again another year. The whole weekend is such a fantastic experience, like nothing I have been involved in before.
Now that this is over it is on to the next one. I have two more of the majors to complete this year. Berlin in September and New York in November.
By the time I have done those I will be two thirds of the way through my aim to complete the majors.
markrepton26.2 