Bohermeen 2016

I signed up anyway, being very unsure as to whether or not I would even run it.

On Tuesday I did 3 slow miles, struggled for breath and sweated profusely. I was not running on Sunday.

On Wednesday I did 5 easy miles, struggled for breath, but didn't sweat so much, and I was still not running on Sunday.

On Thursday, I felt a lot better. The restriction to my breathing was not as bad, and I coughed a lot less. I went out for a run, aiming for a short evaluation of sorts. I did tow miles warmup to the track, and then set off at 6:40 pace to see how I would fair out, aiming for 5 miles. 6:29, 6:27, 6:31, 6:28. And I finished at 4 miles. If I was to run on Sunday I didn't want to push too hard. It wasn't easy, but I figured it was doable, particularly if I was sensible and paced it right.

I knew I was well away from. PB territory, and could forget about a 1:25, but I figured I could use it as a training run of sorts. 13.1 miles at 6:40 had to be similar to 20 at 7:30, right?

Anyway, the weather forecast was good,Mao I decided to sign up.

The weather was pretty perfect as advertised, slack winds, 12 degrees, overcast.

There were over 900 signed up. I drove over with Karen L, who is absolutely flying at the moment.

We got there in good time, and the race was 15 minutes late starting, which was a bit of a pain when you had timed your warmup for an on time start. 

At the off, as always, I got sucked into a bit of a fast mile at 6:20. As we settled in, I was pretty consistent at about 6:36, and it felt pretty comfortable. The course is flattish, but some long very gradual drags did test the pace at times. When I hit a small drag, I would offer up some seconds rather than try to up the effort to maintain the pace.

Karen had well gone by 5 miles, and on another day I would have chased her, but I knew where I was  was the correct pace. It all went well until 10 miles. 

It wasn't the fitness that started to wain, it was the strength in the legs. I just couldn't keep the stretch out to keep the pace going, and the pace shortened. At 12 I kind of was just hanging on, strength sapped, plodding along towards the finish. I just made it in under the 1:28 at 1:27:59. 

I am reasonably happy with that in the context of I knew that is where I was. I didn't fool myself into thinking a 1:25 was a consideration. I think I am getting good at judging my fitness levels.

A few weeks left now to focus on some big miles. The stretch in the evenings should help. Today's result confirms where I would hope to be for Boston, all else going well.