Running With LeMire

Welcome to my 2015 Boston Marathon Race Report in which the statement I'll start off saying all of the cliche quotes about the Boston Marathon are 100% TRUE!!    This is the average person's Olymipics, Only One Boston, Boston Strong, and whatever else you want to say this is truely the most awe inspiring event I have ever took part in. I have played hockey in front of maximum capacity 8,000 seat hockey rink, floor level at rival college basketball games, many conference championships, state cross country and track meets, KC Chiefs games at the loudest NFL venue which holds world records for noise and many other events.

The Boston Marathon is better than all of these!!

My race day started with an early wake up call with a peanut butter sandwhich, water and a little Diet Coke to get me going to the bag drop off and bus loading at the Boston Commons. There I meet my friend Drake (KC) and Ben (ran with in AZ) before boarding the bus. The bus ride was long but at this point I was still calm and relaxed! We reached the Athletes village that was filling up fast and we claimed our ground under a tent to stay nice and dry since it was already raining. For the next  hour to 1.5 I laid around on the ground relaxing. We took turn hitting the bathroom to not loose our spots which was a great idea since the tents were filled!! The time was passing fast and it was time to change shocks and do my last preperations to protect my feet.  The Wave one announcement was made and our .7 mile walk to the start began. Even on this walk people cheered and were handing stuff out to people which was cool.  Then right before the starting area came the sea of Porti-Potties which we made one last stop before jumping into our coral that I would start with Bryan and Drake.

It was now game time and the starting announcements and intros occured in which Meb got a huge roar from his fellow runners. We were close enough that we could here the gun go off and the mass started to slowly move forward. The race started off slow and the roadway felt packed and confinned. We stuck to the right to let the morons going out to fast go by since we were planning on running as even splits as possible. Our first mile was 7:10 and that felt more like 8 something per mile. The rain had stopped as we walked up to the start but now the rain was coming down lightly again until about mile 4. Around mile 4 it down poured and everyone was soaked!! Some people were yelling and complaining about it but it lightened back up and would stay pretty consistent till the last couple of miles.  We entered Ashland and the town center was packed and they channted USA,USA,USA!! This chant it me hard and I was feeling full of pride and a sharp jolt of adrenalin!! That was by far the coolest point on the race but there were plenty of more awsome spots as well. Every town was packed and screaming along the way and we kept pounding out the miles side by side with Bryan and Drake. We were on cruse control and had to check it going through just about every town and every downhill. Wellsley passed and the girls put on a great show with signs and kisses to whomever wanted them. One little Asian girls sign said "Kiss me I'm fun Size" another said "Kiss me I use tongue!" The half mark came in 1;28:08 really easily and we were off to mile 16 checking ourselves on this downhill and keeping it strong up the hill immediately following it which is probably the largest hill on the course. Next thing I new we turned in Newton at the Fire Station and running the famous hills of the course. These hills were not that bad but they did slow me up a little more than I thought they would but I still ran the mile with Heartbreak Hill at a 7:11 mile as scheduled in my plan at 7:10. Once I got up that I tried to shift it back into high gear and flew down mile 22 at 6:37 along Boston College which the college kids were fun to watch taunt a runner that started walking with Run, RUN, RUN which got louder and louder. I passed the guy walking then I heard a huge roar which I assumed was him starting to run again. I hit the bottom of the hills and turned towards the famous Citgo sign on what felt like a pancake flat never ending roadway!! At this point my right calf and left hamstring siezed up some where in mile 24. My pace dropped and the last couple of miles were tough. Just before the Citgo sign I heard my name and it was a friend from high school, then my Dad right at about the sign, then my wife and mom a little further down the road. The last mile I pushed it hard! Turninging on Heresford Street some moron came to a stop on the turn in which I took tight and he got a nice hard shoulder in his back. Then I started to excelerate again to make the turn on Boyloston Street for the 2.5 blocks that I pushed in at about 6:24 pace according to my watch. The last 10K I had been calculating out paces, finish times, and PR's hoping to break 3 and I did finishing with a chip time of 2:59:11 qualifying me for next years race!! Overall a great experiance another PR in less than IDEAL conditions. Future looks GREAT!

Below are my watch splits that very from my chip time: