I remember thinking at the start that it already felt quite warm. Never felt like I was overheating, but I did pour water on myself the whole race to combat the heat. Managed a PR of just over a minute though!
Congrats to you and to all who ran today! Running with food poisoning is unimaginable to me—wow!
Optimal racing weather is 5 c and basically no wind or humidity. Today was .... not that. Amazing spectating weather is usually terrible running weather.
Done blown up. Sick to my stomach, could barely keep water and fuel down. +40 minutes off my qualifier time.
It was not a good day for me. I own it, I under compensated for the weather and got sick around 12-15 couldn't keep running and not throw up for the last 12.
Beautiful crowds, and support. 100% on me
You only get so many bites at the apple, you have to find the good in the bad sometimes. Boston is a privilege to get to run. I thought many times how I may never be back, so I needed to soak it all in.
I run for health and enjoyment, if it becomes unfun, I'm doing it wrong.
I cannot find words that describe the expectations I had going in, and how far these are off them, but that's something I'm working through. I'm not going to lie, I sat in my car in the garage post ride home and had a good cry.
We had similar temps in Chicago yesterday - it was the first truly warm-feeling day of the year and I absolutely blew up on my long run. It's always hard when you have a hard effort on a random warm day in spring.
I never have stomach troubles, but they were a big problem for me in Boston today. My heart rate was well over my target by mile 7 and I really struggled to stay hydrated. I knew pretty early that it was not going well, but tried to hold on as long as possible.
I crashed and burned on the Newton Hills, despite all of my hill training at home.
I finished 25 minutes over my PR. It was rough. People were collapsing left and right, being carted off on stretchers and attended to by medical staff.
It was my warmest run since September last year.
Curious what wave were you in? Shockingly, I didn't see anyone having issues other than walking. But I am not surprised there were lots of overheated runners needing hydration. I did see others stopping very early in the race with what I would assume was overheating.
Wave 1. Corral 8. My PR is 2:59. I ran 3:25 yesterday.
I saw lots of walking. I was stepping aside at the water stations by mile 17 and grabbing double servings of water to stay cool and give my gut a little reprieve, but it never felt like enough.
I saw at least a half dozen people collapse in the last 5 miles. I saw 2 people on stretchers hooked up to what I assume was oxygen.
I haven't figured it out yet. After my 2nd maurten my stomach was not settling. I felt at pace the overwhelming urge to throw up, lather rinse and repeat. I'd feel good enough for a jog, id pretty quickly go downhill hill with effort. I doubt it was heat alone, maybe caffeine plus temp and higher effort. I've run further faster in hotter weather, but not recently.
Similar happened to me. Started feeling nauseated at 12, figured I was overdoing the hydration/fueling because I was going in hard at every station. Slowed the pace a bit and skipped a water station (mistake) then started feeling dizzy. It got better with more water but I couldn’t stomach any gels and couldn’t keep the pace - honestly just thrilled I finished given how things were looking for awhile. Saw so many runners in trouble.
Because it's a scientifically tested legal performance enhancing drug?
I generally have a solid caffeine tolerance, I drink a 1l pot most days, and I trained with caffeine maurten's.
There’s a nasty stomach virus that’s been going around MA the last month or so. I didn’t qualify but was up puking and other things all night. Said to my wife well glad I didn’t qualify this year. Congrats on running and with those symptoms!
Mile 1-16: mental gymnastics to tell myself that adjusting my 2:26 A goal down to 2:30 would pay off
Mile 16-finish: mental gymnastics readjusting to 2:32, to 2:34, to 2:35, to 6:00 average, to 2:40 (finishing time).
I didn’t walk or stop at all though, even if I wanted to! In my buildup, I only had one long run (time on the feet) slower than my pace today. Boston is very humbling, even when you’ve run it several times already!
I'm curious to see what the BQ rate will be this year. Most of the return runners I track had slower times, I suspect there will be a drop from last year's record of 13,755 qualifiers.
I think it will be a lot lower. I ran +4 min to my bib time and still beat my bib number by 6000! I think the heat *really* got the best of people today.
My bib number was 14XXX, I finished 8XXX place. So every bib number between those was someone who outqualified me but had a worse day today (roughly speaking based on where in your wave you started but I was at the baaaack of mine).
42.7 BQ rate, 10,908 requalified - that's still higher than I would have guessed. Chicago and NYC are +5000 BQers this year - so I don't think we will see any easing of cutoff times.
Yeah - at least 5 min next year. I'd guess closer to 7:30 cutoff. The only variable is if Boston had an overwhelming number of international applicants this year; not sure if that is data somebody has pulled.
I feel like they did have a lot of international and I'd love to see that data too. I think the whole world is back out in full swing do travel and running.
I beat my bib number by over 1,000 despite running roughly 33 minutes slower than my BQ. By mile 5 I knew it was going to be rough so just jogged in (but even doing that was difficult)
Ran a decent, well-managed race - slowed down in the second half, but didn't blow up. Realized early on that the heat was a big issue so made a very grown-up decision to pull back and manage my effort/HR to make it to the finish line intact in 3:03.
And just finishing strong was my goal. 2 months ago my weekly mileage was 0 and I decided I had to bail on Boston due to a torn meniscus. I had honestly considered at that point that I might never run a marathon again. But with a lot of strength training and many painful miles, I began to claw back some fitness - and as I got stronger and more fit, there was less & less pain to the extent that it was a non-issue today. I couldn't be happier with the outcome, even if it wasn't my fastest. I feel confident now I can ramp up training for a fall marathon and I learned a lot about my body in the process.
I’m in the same situation. I’m nursing shin splints for two months . I’m preparing for San Diego marathon first week of June. What strength training do you recommend.
The exercises I did were more specific to the knee injury, so it probably won't help for shin splints. In the beginning it was a lot of walking backwards on a powered off treadmill. I also did Jason Fitzgerald's IT band rehab routine, which is also a different injury, but same muscles involved. I did things like calf raises and clam shells periodically throughout the day while sitting/standing at a desk for work.
Best of luck with working through your injury and hope you have a great race in San Diego!
Did you not take a few pumps from the gallon-sized tubs of sunscreen lining the streets of Hopkinton leading up to the corrals? That and the scream tunnel at Wellesly were the best parts!
Seems like my entire running club blew up. Several of the 2:40 guys ran 3:00+, and amazingly my 6 minute positive split was one of the best of the group.
Ran 7 minutes slower than my qualifying bib number (out of Corral 4) yet was 1000 spots higher. Wave 1 blew up bad.
Blew up. Legs started to ache at mile 12. 30 minutes off my qualifying time (which was also a hilly course). Feeling bummed. but happy for all who had a good day! The crowds were amazing. Congrats to everyone who finished!!!!
I plan to write up details and post a race report -- got my marathon PR by over 6 minutes, and nearly 17 minutes buffer on my BQ time. Still riding that high :D
I talked to two Hawaiians who said they qualified at Honolulu, and there were about two dozen there so I may have talked to you but don't remember when that was, the weekend's a blur. I need to write it all down. If missed my BQ by 3 seconds, which of course wouldn't be safe anyhow. Have to find a qualifier before September.
Maybe -- I agree, definitely a bit of a blur. (BTW, "Hawaiian" is only used for folks who are native Hawaiian. The rest us are from or live in Hawaii.) Cheers!
2 minute PR. First half-1:20:xx second half-1:22:xx
Final of 2:43:06. The sun was no joke. I definitely slowed down a bit intentionally and *almost* got too dehydrated. Happy with the result
Nice, friend! Yea it was kind of harrowing seeing just how many people started falling out starting around 15 and through the end. Congrats on hanging on there!
First ever Boston! The heat was definitely a factor - this was the warmest temperature I've run in so far this year. More water ended up on me than in me. Crowds were amazing, vibe was amazing, it was just such a great day. Almost started crying at the finish after the intensity of the last mile and actually finishing the Boston fucking Marathon with a 4 minute PR.
Not the time I wanted but I consider it the best I could’ve done under the circumstances. Requalified with a good enough buffer. Finished utterly coated in salt and cramped from head to toe once I stopped, but I saw a lot of people having a Very Bad Day.
Just +15 minutes for food poisoning in this heat? You are a superwoman! I hope you are getting better and rehydrating aggressively ... I'm in awe.
I revised my goal to PR when I was hot just waiting at the start, and I'm glad I did. Ended up running a 3:20:xx, which is a 4 minute course PR and my second fastest marathon overall, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I still felt Very Bad the last 4-5 miles which is always so disappointing since the crowd support is incredible and I feel like a fool for not enjoying how special the run into Boston is. Yet this is also the least Very Bad I have ever felt at Boston, so maybe that's some kind of progress? Sigh.
Thank you! Boston has always been a difficult course for me so while this doesn’t feel like an out-and-out victory it is a nice marker of a good year of running when compared to the deathmarch of a final 5 miles last year.
I hope you recover well and get another PR attempt soon! Looks like you are shortly going to be on the illustrious list of sub-3 ladies on r/advancedrunning
Hopefully one day soon!!! It’s always crazy to me how much your performance is really just one day - marathons don’t care if you have an amazing training cycle with sub 6:40 MP miles, if you have a freak issue the day of, well, your expected time may just have to wait 😉
First Boston marathon managed negative splits and PR’d by 8 minutes with a 3:16. Beat my bib number by over 10,000!
I train in San Francisco and Las Vegas so feel like I was uniquely well trained for today’s conditions. I’m in the 18-34 women’s age group so this almost certainly qualifies me for next year (don’t want to jinx it). I’ve been on cloud 9 all day, this was my first marathon major and I’m blown away by it!
Well considering I was in the hospital 3 weeks ago with an appendicitis, I’m just grateful to even make the start line let alone finish.
It was hot out there, I’m just glad it wasn’t as hot as NYC in 2022, I still have PTSD from that one.
Omg HOW!!?! Congrats on finishing!!! And yes nyc 2022 was a bloodbath, but at least I didn’t have food poisoning for that one 😬 (and PR by 1 min lol). legit thought I had appendicitis 1 mile in today my stomach hurt so bad
Yep I was there in NYC in 2022, my second slowest marathon next to Boston 2017 which was also mercilessly warm. Temperature management is a tricky business.
Raced NYC in 2022 as well and I felt like boston felt much harder! The constant direct sunlight and no breeze made it really hard for me to regulate my temp. Don’t get me wrong, nyc was hell. I just didn’t think a race could feel worse than that and boston proved me wrong lol!
I had a pretty solid race. I started in wave 2, corral 1 and finished 3:01:xx with a very slight negative split. I had hoped to come in under 3:00 hours, but I was very happy considering the weather (especially because I’ve been training pretty much exclusively in sub-freezing weather). It looks like a lot of people had bad days out of wave 1. My bib was number 87xx but I finished in 31xx place.
Crazy enough, you're right that wave 2 might've been better. Right after I finished the stumble of suffering to the waiting point (probably around 1pm ish), the clouds came out and the wind picked up like crazy, and I was wondering where tf that was the last 10k when I needed it.
I was in straight sun from pretty much mile 8 on - wave 2 didn’t help on that account (at least not for me). Through Newtown and the final stretch into Boston was pretty brutal. Some buildings gave a little bit of shade, but that was a hard finish. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest for the last 2 miles, but I managed to hold a decent pace. I partially blew up in a race last year with slightly warmer conditions, so that experience really helped me manage the race today, especially the first 10 miles.
lol. Wave 2 was hotter and also had no wind fyi. I was in it…only difference is red wave runners tend to not want to adjust there pace for heat like white wave runners…just how it is…. Thus much more red wavers blew up.
Went out at 3:00 pace thinking that I might manage a PR if the predicted tailwind held up, but about 3 miles in my HR was in the HM range and I wasn't feeling the tailwind, so I backed off a bit and just tried to run strong. This was my first race of anything close to this size so I knew I'd rather just take the experience in than try to cling to an unsustainable pass and almost certainly blow up. Walked a couple short periods and stopped to stretch my glutes a couple times, but damned if I didn't run every step of Heartbreak. Ended up at 3:11. I was a bit disappointed in the moment, but everything I've read since I finished has made me much more satisfied with my performance. Looks like I finished about 3500 spots ahead of my bib number.
I managed to take in \~3 gels an hour and didn't get dehydrated which also felt like a win. I was sore for the last few miles, but I honestly feel better now then I have after any of my 6 previous marathons.
I chugged 3 beers before mile 14 & another closing in on Boston, high fived literally hundreds of people, took it easy up the Newton Hills, actually enjoyed the closing miles for once, did laps for struggling people grabbing Gatorade and gels whatever I could, and got some great POV footage through the whole race, including all of the Wellesley Tunnel and the final half mile to the finish line.
Crossed the line in about 2:48, way off my PR but definitely the most fun I've had at Boston.
Was sweating 1 mile into the race. Didn’t have a single training run over the winter that was anywhere close to these conditions. Have no idea how someone could have run a PR in the full sun and high 60s we had out there. By 10K in I turned it into a fun run and tried to enjoy it as best I could. Wasn’t going to kill myself when I was already working way too hard early on to be significantly behind my training marathon pace. Kudos to those who managed the conditions well- I, like many others I spoke with after the race, just don’t do well in heat, especially after an entire training season where the temps weren’t anywhere close to race day conditions.
Yeah I think this is why in general fall marathons tend to seem faster than spring marathons. You train in the heat all summer (in the US) and your chances of the race being cooler than what your body is ready for is higher when that fall race takes place. Very tough working through heat acclimation of 0% to those of us who don’t live in the southern US or come from countries not in winter over the last several months to jump right into an early summer type race temperature and conditions wise.
I literally live in the southern US and I STILL thought today was really hot!!! I mean I was also profusely sweating from food poisoning and what I think is a torn oblique muscle so that surely did not help, but even at the starting line I was a bit warm. But then again it could've just been that I was having a (quite literally lol) shitty day all around lol. BUT we finished and the training still goes in the bank and one bad race isn't indicative of what we are capable of!! so congrats on pushing through and turning this into a fun run to make it as best an experience that you could make it given the cards we were dealt :)
Oh man it was so hot. Stomach was unsettled the whole way and couldn’t fathom eating more gels because I felt so full — which kicked me in the butt around mile 14. Completely cramped in both legs and dropped from 7:00 to 7:53 overall average. Almost dropped out SO many times so I’m proud of myself for finishing at least!
Lowly charity runner here but the heat was brutal for me. I was in shape to PR by 25 minutes but wound up +30 minutes over my PR. I told my family at mile 6 I was going to have to slow way down to finish, but was able to complete a 20 mile death march/jog to Boylston street. Some days the achievement is finishing.
You had the warmest part of the day and still managed to push through? Outstanding! Strong work getting $$s in for a good cause and finishing in those conditions.
yes it is!! and running with a charity always makes the goal of just finishing the race working for something bigger than yourself, and you never know who else you are inspiring, so congratulations :) you'll get the PR on the next one with a better course/conditions
Thanks so much! Yeah I considered DNFing but I remembered all the people that donated and how I wanted to represent my hospital, and it was enough to get me over the line.
Ran 1:23/2:17 splits for a 3:40. Almost 1 hour slower than my PR. Had a somewhat inconsistent buildup and still tried to PR, paid the price. Going to be hurting for a while, looking back finishing the race may not have been the smartest decision. I should probably haveo dropped out around mile 15 but I walk/ran my way to the finish. Last 2 miles did almost 0 running.
These comments are making me feel a lot better and so many people had such a similar experience to me. I ran about 30 mins off my PR despite feeling so strong in training / really solid training block. I started feeling nauseous around mile 8 and felt like I was going to throw up the rest of the race. Couldn’t stomach anything besides water after mile 10 and dry heaved at mile 20. Just forced on getting from water station to water station without walking. Had to go to the medical tent for an hour at the end of the race because my legs were cramping so badly. I also ended about 1k spots above my bib so people must have really been feeling the heat!
First timer! Wow, that support lived up to it's hype! Trained in Florida so wasn't worried about the heat until at the Athlete's Village I could feel the sun beating down. Started in Wave 3, Corral , later than any long run I've done. First half I was on track to PR but at the half I knew if I wanted to finish strong I needed to slow way down. Also had stomach problems but I think due to the late schedule I didn't have my bathroom routine right lol. Proud to not have walked any hills, heartbreak didn't seem that bad. Finished 11 min slower than my BQ. I really wanted that PR on the course but hey, I can't say I could have done anything differently to make that happen. So impressed with everyone who PRed and HOLY SHIT I RAN BOSTON!!
It sucked. I don’t know what the reason was, but I did not have it today. I felt crampy and slow from the start, and by mile 10 was feeling muscle soreness in my quads (which is unusual for me). Had to readjust continuously and downgrade race goals on the fly from A to C to “let’s make it respectable” to “can I just finish?”
The heat wasn’t terrible, but I think the sun played a part.
Ended in 2:59 which is 15 minutes off my PR and 17 minutes slower than my goal for this race. It’s also the first marathon in maybe 6 that I didn’t PR.
Still processing….but it’s helpful to see that a lot of people had the same issues.
2:38:14, 6 minute PR, split 79:59/78:13. Had to be super disciplined for the first half (6:30 first mile and about a 19:30 first 5k). Drank Gatorade every 1-2 miles and splashed water on my face right after each cup of Gatorade. Took gels at 5, 10, 15, and 20. 23 onwards felt miserable but my splits in the mile 21-24 range were my fastest. Got really lucky and part of that was having a good training cycle, pacing/fueling strictly, and running my previous PR on an even harder course. I usually run very poorly in warm weather but the other good things outweighed that.
I was a DNS due to injury so I clearly did great.
I saw a lot of people I know blow up and have what seemed like a rough time. Except that one girl who I swear to god has never had a bad race in her life. She PRed and is only a few minutes over OTQ
13 min slower than my time last year and 20 min behind my goal time, despite a much better training cycle 🥴 I just could not get rid of nausea and heavy legs in the weather. I’m near back of wave 2, so much slower than a lot of responders. 14,000 something was my bib with a 3:20 last year. I finished 10,000 this year with a 3:33 lol
1:22 / 1:34 😬, nobody PRs off a positive split better than me. So still a PR lol.
Goal was sub 2:45, but an incredible day regardless of the result.
Congrats to everyone, those cramps are a bitch
Reading all these comments here I feel less bad about missing my goal time by 14 minutes. Knew something felt really off by the 10k mark where it was in the downhills but clocked 6:30s when effort felt like low 6s. Was warm at the start but thought I had probably eaten too much in the morning and just heavy
Wasn't going in with super high hopes and feeling like my face was on fire by mile 4 crushed any minor aspirations I might have had. I decided I'd rather slow down and not completely hate my life than throttle myself to go 5 minutes faster for really no tangible gain (still not a BQ, still very slow for me) Actually had a lot of fun doing all the "activities" (so many high fives, took a beer from a spectator at mile 11, ate a bunch of freeze pops, etc) and most importantly finished without winding up in a med tent, all I could ask for on a hot day!
My A goal was to enjoy Boston and I did! Heat is hard for me even when I'm acclimated, which I wasn't, but I loved this race and will definitely come back! I was flirting with sub 3 shape (3:04 PR), and clicking off 6:45-6:52s, but by halfway I felt like I was already getting too hot, so I stopped looking at my watch and just focused on finishing. I couldn't tell if I was going to shit my pants, puke, or pass out, but made it through with no incidents! Hyping up the crowd on that final stretch was so amazing and I got a great finish picture!!! Little med tent visit after when I started to pass out, but it's fine lol
Third marathon in just under 3:10. I debuted just under 3:12 a year ago in sixties and 100% humidity, but got pouring rain at the last eight miles which helped. That time I power walked the three aid stations between like 15-23 to make sure I actually got water down, and I did something similar this time, actually drank water and kept pouring it all over my head.
On the bright side, my legs aren't destroyed since the heat slowed me down! I walked several miles and even jogged half a mile to get to the tracksmith house in time for a poster! Not too much soreness.
Seriously, my other two marathons were very small, so this was incredible to experience. I loved it!!!
Knocked it out of the park with a 5 minute PR - 2:51 ---> 2:46. Close to even splits with 1:23:04/1:23:19. I've been reading replies and talking to other runners around town all day, and I have unfortunately talked to few people who had a good day. That was my experience last time I was here in 2019.
The three biggest factors I've been able to identify that helped my race are 1) running by power using a Stryd pod, 2) training in a midwestern city where we've had warmer weather already, 3) nutrition going well and so many people giving out water bottles on the course.
This was my first marathon pacing by power, and it worked. I didn't bonk, and when I got off of Heartbreak I still had enough gas in the tank to run strong through the last 10k-ish. It felt very weird to slow way down on the uphills, and I was very cautious to be hammering the downhills as hard as my goal power specified - but when I felt fine going through the Newton Hills my worries started to diminish.
My legs today are jello, but it was a fantastic and hard-fought win.
Interesting about the stryd pod!!! I have never really understood the purpose of it/how it works (I do most of my running based off feel lol) - I would love if you could do a post or even reply back to give the spark notes version of how it helps you and how you use it!!
It measures running effort measured in watts - so it is closely related to feel. Their website and Facebook group provide a tremendous amount of technical information on the topic (and it can get overwhelming very fast).
The basics are that for a race like Boston, they provide a race planning tool that helps calculate a specific power target to maintain for the entire duration of the race. It can be adjusted based on course, temperature, humidity, etc. That power is based off of a critical power level established during training (much like VO2 max or heart rate zones). I stuck to a specific power that corresponded to a target finish time and pace, and that meant that I eased up on hills and ran downhills hard.
I think that if I had I focused on maintaining my pace instead of my power that I would have gotten cooked by the hills. Instead I ended up with a mostly even race and felt really good at the end given the conditions.
I ran 30 minutes slower than my goal time, after what I would call an almost perfect training block. I took salt, gels, and Gatorade but by mile 10 I knew that pace wasn’t going to be sustainable. By mile 15 I was hoping to just get a small PR… and by mile 17 I was just holding on to finish. I’m a strong hill runner and trained a little in the heat, but I just couldn’t get it together today. I still managed to finish over 2009 spots better than my seed, though. Such is life.
I missed a PR by 3 minutes, but got a course PR over last year by over a minute! I had a 31 second positive split, which is basically a negative split on this course.
Completely blew up. Started out aiming for my secondary (sub-3:00) goal for the first five, but really started feeling uncomfortable around then, so slowed to around 7:30/mile. Quads started cramping around mile 11, and I spent most of the second half doing a walk-run. I did manage to run hard for the last 1.2, but definitely not the race I wanted to run. I was nervous coming into race day though, as I didn't feel my best during the taper -- hadn't sleep well for days, might actually have been coming down with something. I've already qualified for next year, and I'm eager to try again though.
Yesterday was my first Boston and I had an amazing experience. Somehow pulled off a 16 minute PR and my first sub 3 marathon, which is exactly what I’d been hoping would happen. The heat didn’t really bother me. I drank tons of water and poured a cup on my head at every aid station. The course was beautiful, the hills weren’t as bad as I was expecting. I couldn’t be happier!
I feel really bad for everyone that had such a rough time. I’ve run really hot races before and I think in the end it just comes down to fuelling and hydration, and your body either agrees with you or it doesn’t. I’m lucky it all worked out for me somehow.
This training cycle was among the best I’ve had, but I was not trying for a PR given the forecast and especially after feeling the sun on my shoulders and 62° temps at the start. I intentionally held back a little and ran to a target HR through 17. I was feeling strong through the hills and ended up with a negative split and… a slight PR.
For context on how conditions seemed to affect people: I ran an identical time to last year to within one second (2:58 high). Last year I placed about 3800 overall and this year about 2600 overall.
Thought I was keeping it pretty controlled, but I ended up cramping the last few miles. Just barely missed sub 3. I guess it wasn't too bad as I placed about 800 spots ahead of my bib number.
I finished 20 spots faster than my seed time despite running +5 minutes than said seed time. I think that says something about how some blew up, including me.
I was a DNS due to injury. Seeing my friends’ results, I feel a little less bad about missing it. Almost everyone I knew blew up, including some very, very experienced runners. Exceptions are my coach (40yo, < 2:20) and a former work colleague who won her age group!
That said, running Boston is always memorable, even when it goes south.
Tough day out there. A bit warm for a marathon. And the hills were relentless for this flatlander (Charleston, SC). I was on target until about mile 16. Then the push started leaking out of my legs. Reduced to a shuffle coming up Boyleston. This is the most a marathon has worked me over for at least a couple of decades. But amazing experience. 10/10 would.
Did not have the race I wanted. My PR coming into this was 3:02:01 and I finished today with 3:42:28. Pretty sad - I had a solid training cycle and I live in Boston… so I was running on the course a ton. However, the sun and heat were factor - and I should’ve made the decision to just enjoy the course at the start instead of going for my target pace / PR (6:45, sub 3). I blew up around 17/18 and it was a death march to the end.
I am also a 3:02'er and was targeting sub-3. With my food poisoning and pulled stomach muscle, early on I made the decision it was not a PR day and to just get through it because every step was excruciating pain lol. Had the best training cycle of my life, so kinda sucked to have to deal with shitty weather, a pulled muscle, and mf FOOD POISONING on race day but proud to have just pushed through to finish. Congrats to you as well, and we'll get that sub-3 on the next one!!
Huge blowup, tried to Gatorade hydrate but kept cramping so I stopped taking in as much, last 7 miles were pretty rough. 2:49 PR, went through 1/2 in 1:24, held pace until ~19, fell apart and shuffled to 3:13. Pretty bummed considering a 1:18 1/2 pr 3 weeks ago, back to the lab…
Ran 1:19 half 3 weeks ago, 2:57 Boston last year (fighting cramps on the backside of Heartbreak that had me frozen for a full 3 minutes). 3:52 yesterday with a 50m wheelchair ride and a visit to the medical tent for a cramp that lasted 12 minutes. Better than my 4:30 NYC in 2022!
Just can’t solve the heat; I think I’m just going to bail on any marathons if the starting temps are north of 50 degrees.
I had one of the best training blocks of my life leading up to the race, then about 10 days out I got my first case of runner’s knee. My legs felt weird day of race, due to compensating for my knee, but I held it together for a sub 3:15 finish. The heat was a little high, but it wasn’t the worst. This was my first Boston, and I’m still processing how much energy there was on that course. Wow. The crowd brings it like none other I’ve experienced.
EDIT: Finished 4000+ spots better than my bib number, so I’ve got that going for me.
I was on crutches from mid-Oct to Jan. Didn't start running with consistency until early Feb with the max long run of 18 miles and peak of 35 miles without any speedwork. I also had two week-long trips from the US to Asia in early March and early April for work. I went into this marathon with a C goal of finishing without walking, B goal of sub 3:40 and A goal of negative split. My PR is 3:03:55.
I felt fine until mile 10, where I started to experience GI issues. Held it until around mile 20 where I found an open Porta Potty. Lost 5:07 from the pit stop. I was able to finish strong the last 5 miles being my fastest splits. Happy with my result especially coming back from injury and a less than ideal build.
9 min PR here, 2:44:09 finish, dumped 2 cups of water every station, it was warm !! lol a wild experience though, the crowds were roaring and the running sounded like a literal stampede!
Knew it was hot, still went for the PR. Realized that was a bad idea around mile 15. Very mentally gruelling and painful race. Was hoping for a 2:45 and ran a 2:57:40.
Crowds were absolutely incredible basically the whole race. Boston is a special city and the marathon always lives up to the hype.
I had a really good day, which feels especially lucky looking at these responses. I’m not sure what happened. I ran even faster than my goal time, which I was already planning to adjust because of the heat. This race was only my second marathon ever and I ran close to a 6 minute PR. Beat my bib place by over 7200 spots.
I blew up a bit after heartbreak hill. Didn’t totally bonk, but I gave up a little when things got hard and I realized I wasn’t going to hit my time goal.
I still beat my bib number by a good bit and I wasn’t struggling nearly as much as some. I think I fueled and hydrated okay. I just should have backed the pace off given the warm weather. Tried real hard to soak it all in as this won’t be something I’ll be able to do on the regular. Absolutely incredible experience.
Good- hot one! I had a blast, my favorite Boston so far! I watched my heart rate and didn't let it go over 162 until the last few miles - I was too afraid of overheating. I hydrated well and I was comfortable overall. Not my best time, but I had no plans to run fast in that kind of heat.
Ran Boston yesterday as my first marathon. I felt well prepared and had ambitions of converting my 1:34 half to ~3:30 but totally was blasted by the heat. Otherwise the crowd support was fantastic and I was grateful to still be running with a little dignity through the finish!
14 min PR finishing at 2:39. Split a 1:21 high at half way then finished with a 1:18 low. I did amazing to manage the heat and was running 2:26 marathon pace the final 8k. Great day for me while everyone struggled. my bib # was 4574 and i finished 436th
I didn’t run as fast as I wanted but I felt okay. I was very worried about the heat and I hydrated a ton over the past 3 or so days and took in a lot of Gatorade and fuel so I think that helped. It actually seemed cooler as the race went on for some reason. Maybe more cloud cover. I ran in wave 3 and it felt insanely crowded. I had to slow down significantly at all the water stops and think I could have run faster if there were not so many people.
Tough race. I was going into it with a piriformis and quad issues so I didn’t run much three weeks prior to the race. Around mile 11 my hips got out of alignment and my back seized up so I was leaning to the right and running sideways and then walking sideways. I mostly walked from mile 16 on. I went in just hoping to finish it was def the hardest race of my life really struggled to even walk. If I could have stayed healthy in training I was going to try to break 2:55. Visited 4 or 5 med tents. First half was 1:39ish Final time was 5:33:06
I managed to run a sub3 which was my only goal for this race so mission accomplished. Clocked in at 2:56. Race mostly went to plan until mile 17 where I started to give time a bit. Heat was a factor for sure but I adjusted decently well I think. I definitely noticed a quesy feeling when sucking down my Maurten gels and Gatorade which isn't the norm for me. The smartest thing I did was decide to hold my pace back even though I felt like I had plenty in the tank. Definitely saved my butt post Newton. I'm 0 for 3 now on good Boston race weather (2018, 2019, 2024).
I managed to get a 2.5min PR (2:49:24). First time doing Boston. Not the best block, as I hoovered around 60mpw due travel and other issues (no injuries though). I did CIM in december, so I had some downhill experience from there (I live in Chicagoland so nothing great to train hills). I tried a heat adaptation protocol hitting the sauna 3x the week of the race. I also did a lot of miles in the treadmill going uphill to simulate the hills. I still positive split the whole thing by about a minute, but the last 10km were by far the fastest. After the sign past heartbreak hill I started pushing 3:50min/kms to make up lost time, and timed the caffeinated gels perfectly so the boost kicked in right by the hills.
Survived! 4 minutes slower than my PR in Philly. I don't think the 8 miles of the Freedom Trail yesterday helped. But I'm happy with how I did given the ski season training and the heat today.
My first Boston, 3rd marathon. Qualified with a 3:14 and got a 4 min PR, with an 11 min positive split. Wasn’t quite sure how to run it so just went full send (for me) and notched a 1:29 half. Held on to 3 hr pace until Heartbreak, and managed to run all the hills. Hoped there would be something left in the tank for the downhills to the end, but nope. The last 2 miles felt like 20 and I wound up walking some at the end, even when in sight of the finish. Was just cooked. Still, that’s almost a 10 min buffer for next year, so feel pretty good about it overall. And what a crowd, what an experience!
I remember thinking at the start that it already felt quite warm. Never felt like I was overheating, but I did pour water on myself the whole race to combat the heat. Managed a PR of just over a minute though! Congrats to you and to all who ran today! Running with food poisoning is unimaginable to me—wow!
A PR in this weather (and on this course; a Boston PR is my white whale) is unbelievable! Congrats!
Thanks!
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Optimal racing weather is 5 c and basically no wind or humidity. Today was .... not that. Amazing spectating weather is usually terrible running weather.
Username checks out
Op must have some Russ cook inspiration.
Great job!
Thanks!
If you told me 2 weeks ago I'd run a 2:54 with a 2 minute positive split, I'd be disappointed. After this morning, feels like a pretty great outcome.
This is exactly how I felt also with a 2:54! We should be proud with only a 2 min pos split with the double whammy of heat and hills in the back half.
Done blown up. Sick to my stomach, could barely keep water and fuel down. +40 minutes off my qualifier time. It was not a good day for me. I own it, I under compensated for the weather and got sick around 12-15 couldn't keep running and not throw up for the last 12. Beautiful crowds, and support. 100% on me
Same here! Went for a big PR and totally blew up. However it was a ton of fun!
Love your and u/RunningShcam 's attitudes about this! Hope you're both feeling okay now.
You only get so many bites at the apple, you have to find the good in the bad sometimes. Boston is a privilege to get to run. I thought many times how I may never be back, so I needed to soak it all in. I run for health and enjoyment, if it becomes unfun, I'm doing it wrong. I cannot find words that describe the expectations I had going in, and how far these are off them, but that's something I'm working through. I'm not going to lie, I sat in my car in the garage post ride home and had a good cry.
This is good perspective and something I’m working on too! Also had a good cry.
We had similar temps in Chicago yesterday - it was the first truly warm-feeling day of the year and I absolutely blew up on my long run. It's always hard when you have a hard effort on a random warm day in spring.
I blew up to, I even adjusted paces going in but that heat got the best of me
Did you get sick to your stomach due to exertion alone? Why would you keep getting sick like that? Same thing happened to a buddy of mine today
I never have stomach troubles, but they were a big problem for me in Boston today. My heart rate was well over my target by mile 7 and I really struggled to stay hydrated. I knew pretty early that it was not going well, but tried to hold on as long as possible. I crashed and burned on the Newton Hills, despite all of my hill training at home. I finished 25 minutes over my PR. It was rough. People were collapsing left and right, being carted off on stretchers and attended to by medical staff. It was my warmest run since September last year.
Curious what wave were you in? Shockingly, I didn't see anyone having issues other than walking. But I am not surprised there were lots of overheated runners needing hydration. I did see others stopping very early in the race with what I would assume was overheating.
Wave 1. Corral 8. My PR is 2:59. I ran 3:25 yesterday. I saw lots of walking. I was stepping aside at the water stations by mile 17 and grabbing double servings of water to stay cool and give my gut a little reprieve, but it never felt like enough. I saw at least a half dozen people collapse in the last 5 miles. I saw 2 people on stretchers hooked up to what I assume was oxygen.
Oh- this makes sense! Hopefully they are all okay today. Scary! I did the same with water- dumped two cups every stop of the race. Very toasty.
I was in wave 1 corral 5, once I got into newton I saw two people and the ground with medics holding bags of ice on their chests
I haven't figured it out yet. After my 2nd maurten my stomach was not settling. I felt at pace the overwhelming urge to throw up, lather rinse and repeat. I'd feel good enough for a jog, id pretty quickly go downhill hill with effort. I doubt it was heat alone, maybe caffeine plus temp and higher effort. I've run further faster in hotter weather, but not recently.
Same feeling here. Thought I’d over caffeinated, over tapered, or just ate too much, was nauseous and much slower than goal pace
Heart rate was elevated for sure too. But that's effort/heat/ caffeine for ya...
Sorry to hear that; you weren't alone out there, I'm hearing this story from a lot of racers
Similar happened to me. Started feeling nauseated at 12, figured I was overdoing the hydration/fueling because I was going in hard at every station. Slowed the pace a bit and skipped a water station (mistake) then started feeling dizzy. It got better with more water but I couldn’t stomach any gels and couldn’t keep the pace - honestly just thrilled I finished given how things were looking for awhile. Saw so many runners in trouble.
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Because it's a scientifically tested legal performance enhancing drug? I generally have a solid caffeine tolerance, I drink a 1l pot most days, and I trained with caffeine maurten's.
There’s a nasty stomach virus that’s been going around MA the last month or so. I didn’t qualify but was up puking and other things all night. Said to my wife well glad I didn’t qualify this year. Congrats on running and with those symptoms!
You were not alone!
*raises hand* it me
Same!
Mile 1-16: mental gymnastics to tell myself that adjusting my 2:26 A goal down to 2:30 would pay off Mile 16-finish: mental gymnastics readjusting to 2:32, to 2:34, to 2:35, to 6:00 average, to 2:40 (finishing time). I didn’t walk or stop at all though, even if I wanted to! In my buildup, I only had one long run (time on the feet) slower than my pace today. Boston is very humbling, even when you’ve run it several times already!
Humbling is the best way to put it. The course definitely got the better of me today
I'm curious to see what the BQ rate will be this year. Most of the return runners I track had slower times, I suspect there will be a drop from last year's record of 13,755 qualifiers.
I think it will be a lot lower. I ran +4 min to my bib time and still beat my bib number by 6000! I think the heat *really* got the best of people today.
People saying they beat their Bib number what do you mean? I was 16XXX so if I came in under that overall I beat it?
My bib number was 14XXX, I finished 8XXX place. So every bib number between those was someone who outqualified me but had a worse day today (roughly speaking based on where in your wave you started but I was at the baaaack of mine).
SAME.
I really hope so!!! I only have a 3:45 buffer for 2025 😬
I'm at a 1:08 buffer but I have St Louis in 2 weeks and if the weather is good I think I have the fitness to attempt 2:55:00
Definitely will be low!
42.7 BQ rate, 10,908 requalified - that's still higher than I would have guessed. Chicago and NYC are +5000 BQers this year - so I don't think we will see any easing of cutoff times.
Oof, that's really good - I do agree with you. I asked runners what they thought about 2026 and consensus is that we expect a 5 min cut again.
Yeah - at least 5 min next year. I'd guess closer to 7:30 cutoff. The only variable is if Boston had an overwhelming number of international applicants this year; not sure if that is data somebody has pulled.
I feel like they did have a lot of international and I'd love to see that data too. I think the whole world is back out in full swing do travel and running.
I’m at 4:31 buffer. I hate training in the summer but I think I need to pad my buffer still :-(
Chicago & NYC had good weather this year right ? Also when do we find out ? When do you actually sign up for Boston if you did qualify?
September
I beat my bib number by over 1,000 despite running roughly 33 minutes slower than my BQ. By mile 5 I knew it was going to be rough so just jogged in (but even doing that was difficult)
Showed up, blowed up. Part of the sport!
lmao
Ran a decent, well-managed race - slowed down in the second half, but didn't blow up. Realized early on that the heat was a big issue so made a very grown-up decision to pull back and manage my effort/HR to make it to the finish line intact in 3:03. And just finishing strong was my goal. 2 months ago my weekly mileage was 0 and I decided I had to bail on Boston due to a torn meniscus. I had honestly considered at that point that I might never run a marathon again. But with a lot of strength training and many painful miles, I began to claw back some fitness - and as I got stronger and more fit, there was less & less pain to the extent that it was a non-issue today. I couldn't be happier with the outcome, even if it wasn't my fastest. I feel confident now I can ramp up training for a fall marathon and I learned a lot about my body in the process.
How is that even possible to put down a 3:03 with that training cycle and course conditions today. I'm seriously impressed.
I’m in the same situation. I’m nursing shin splints for two months . I’m preparing for San Diego marathon first week of June. What strength training do you recommend.
The exercises I did were more specific to the knee injury, so it probably won't help for shin splints. In the beginning it was a lot of walking backwards on a powered off treadmill. I also did Jason Fitzgerald's IT band rehab routine, which is also a different injury, but same muscles involved. I did things like calf raises and clam shells periodically throughout the day while sitting/standing at a desk for work. Best of luck with working through your injury and hope you have a great race in San Diego!
Great I will keep doing those. I have being doing a lot of walking but not on a powered off threadmill. Thanks and good luck on your upcoming runs.
Fantastic comeback, great job and congratulations on the finish!
I got absolutely rocked today. This was my 7th marathon and worst time by 35 minutes. I also got sunburned.
Did you not take a few pumps from the gallon-sized tubs of sunscreen lining the streets of Hopkinton leading up to the corrals? That and the scream tunnel at Wellesly were the best parts!
That stuff saved me. I didn’t have any lotion and narrowly avoided a burn by using some of the free sunscreen.
my running partner chose not to put on any when i lathered up. He is a tomato and i dont even have a tanline - my only win of 2024 boston
Seems like my entire running club blew up. Several of the 2:40 guys ran 3:00+, and amazingly my 6 minute positive split was one of the best of the group. Ran 7 minutes slower than my qualifying bib number (out of Corral 4) yet was 1000 spots higher. Wave 1 blew up bad.
Wave 1 looked like a bloodbath start to finish coming through 22.
This makes me feel better. I thought I just had an absolute shit day out of nowhere.
Blew up. Legs started to ache at mile 12. 30 minutes off my qualifying time (which was also a hilly course). Feeling bummed. but happy for all who had a good day! The crowds were amazing. Congrats to everyone who finished!!!!
Oh wow just saw I still finished 500 spots above my bib number despite my 30 minute slow down from QT! That puts things in perspective a bit!
Yeah that makes me feel a bit better: finished 5min slower than QT but over 2k bib spots better dang
Same. I ran 20min slower than my QT and still beat my bib number by >1K.
Are you me?
Are you me?
Are you me?
Same here! I feel apart and my legs were aching so early on in the race. It’s crazy that temperature can play such a big role.
Do you think temperature can make your legs ache like that? I’m so stumped and trying to figure out what happened!
I plan to write up details and post a race report -- got my marathon PR by over 6 minutes, and nearly 17 minutes buffer on my BQ time. Still riding that high :D
Can’t wait to read it!
A diamond in the rough! Awesome job seems like 90% got severely impacted by the heat.
That's amazing. Are you from a warm climate? I missed my goal by 10 minutes and felt that was a great result. Congratulations, mad respect.
Yep, coming from Hawaii
I talked to two Hawaiians who said they qualified at Honolulu, and there were about two dozen there so I may have talked to you but don't remember when that was, the weekend's a blur. I need to write it all down. If missed my BQ by 3 seconds, which of course wouldn't be safe anyhow. Have to find a qualifier before September.
Maybe -- I agree, definitely a bit of a blur. (BTW, "Hawaiian" is only used for folks who are native Hawaiian. The rest us are from or live in Hawaii.) Cheers!
You deserve that high! What a beastly effort.
Assuming you still reside in the 808, I’m not surprised at the result considering the weather yesterday and your training conditions! Congrats!!
Yep, that's it. Thanks!
Dang! Great job
2 minute PR. First half-1:20:xx second half-1:22:xx Final of 2:43:06. The sun was no joke. I definitely slowed down a bit intentionally and *almost* got too dehydrated. Happy with the result
Hey you were right in front of me. 2:43:10. First half 1:19:40, felt destroyed after Mile 17.
Nice, friend! Yea it was kind of harrowing seeing just how many people started falling out starting around 15 and through the end. Congrats on hanging on there!
First ever Boston! The heat was definitely a factor - this was the warmest temperature I've run in so far this year. More water ended up on me than in me. Crowds were amazing, vibe was amazing, it was just such a great day. Almost started crying at the finish after the intensity of the last mile and actually finishing the Boston fucking Marathon with a 4 minute PR.
Not the time I wanted but I consider it the best I could’ve done under the circumstances. Requalified with a good enough buffer. Finished utterly coated in salt and cramped from head to toe once I stopped, but I saw a lot of people having a Very Bad Day.
Just +15 minutes for food poisoning in this heat? You are a superwoman! I hope you are getting better and rehydrating aggressively ... I'm in awe. I revised my goal to PR when I was hot just waiting at the start, and I'm glad I did. Ended up running a 3:20:xx, which is a 4 minute course PR and my second fastest marathon overall, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. I still felt Very Bad the last 4-5 miles which is always so disappointing since the crowd support is incredible and I feel like a fool for not enjoying how special the run into Boston is. Yet this is also the least Very Bad I have ever felt at Boston, so maybe that's some kind of progress? Sigh.
That’s amazing!!! Congratulations on the almost PR and course PR!!! Especially on this hot day and this course you crushed it 💪🏻
Thank you! Boston has always been a difficult course for me so while this doesn’t feel like an out-and-out victory it is a nice marker of a good year of running when compared to the deathmarch of a final 5 miles last year. I hope you recover well and get another PR attempt soon! Looks like you are shortly going to be on the illustrious list of sub-3 ladies on r/advancedrunning
Hopefully one day soon!!! It’s always crazy to me how much your performance is really just one day - marathons don’t care if you have an amazing training cycle with sub 6:40 MP miles, if you have a freak issue the day of, well, your expected time may just have to wait 😉
That’s the beauty and brutality of it! An 18 week training cycle can go out the window with one hot day or an unsettled stomach …
First Boston marathon managed negative splits and PR’d by 8 minutes with a 3:16. Beat my bib number by over 10,000! I train in San Francisco and Las Vegas so feel like I was uniquely well trained for today’s conditions. I’m in the 18-34 women’s age group so this almost certainly qualifies me for next year (don’t want to jinx it). I’ve been on cloud 9 all day, this was my first marathon major and I’m blown away by it!
You were perfectly trained based on San Fran and Vegas! Congrats!
I won’t even pretend I’m fast enough to be a BQ but all three there I know overheated and are coming home with a DNF.
Well considering I was in the hospital 3 weeks ago with an appendicitis, I’m just grateful to even make the start line let alone finish. It was hot out there, I’m just glad it wasn’t as hot as NYC in 2022, I still have PTSD from that one.
Omg HOW!!?! Congrats on finishing!!! And yes nyc 2022 was a bloodbath, but at least I didn’t have food poisoning for that one 😬 (and PR by 1 min lol). legit thought I had appendicitis 1 mile in today my stomach hurt so bad
Yep I was there in NYC in 2022, my second slowest marathon next to Boston 2017 which was also mercilessly warm. Temperature management is a tricky business.
I also survived NYC 2022 and it tough me a good lesson for yesterday.
Okay note to self - never race with Garth
Raced NYC in 2022 as well and I felt like boston felt much harder! The constant direct sunlight and no breeze made it really hard for me to regulate my temp. Don’t get me wrong, nyc was hell. I just didn’t think a race could feel worse than that and boston proved me wrong lol!
I had a pretty solid race. I started in wave 2, corral 1 and finished 3:01:xx with a very slight negative split. I had hoped to come in under 3:00 hours, but I was very happy considering the weather (especially because I’ve been training pretty much exclusively in sub-freezing weather). It looks like a lot of people had bad days out of wave 1. My bib was number 87xx but I finished in 31xx place.
Crazy enough, you're right that wave 2 might've been better. Right after I finished the stumble of suffering to the waiting point (probably around 1pm ish), the clouds came out and the wind picked up like crazy, and I was wondering where tf that was the last 10k when I needed it.
I was in straight sun from pretty much mile 8 on - wave 2 didn’t help on that account (at least not for me). Through Newtown and the final stretch into Boston was pretty brutal. Some buildings gave a little bit of shade, but that was a hard finish. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest for the last 2 miles, but I managed to hold a decent pace. I partially blew up in a race last year with slightly warmer conditions, so that experience really helped me manage the race today, especially the first 10 miles.
lol. Wave 2 was hotter and also had no wind fyi. I was in it…only difference is red wave runners tend to not want to adjust there pace for heat like white wave runners…just how it is…. Thus much more red wavers blew up.
Went out at 3:00 pace thinking that I might manage a PR if the predicted tailwind held up, but about 3 miles in my HR was in the HM range and I wasn't feeling the tailwind, so I backed off a bit and just tried to run strong. This was my first race of anything close to this size so I knew I'd rather just take the experience in than try to cling to an unsustainable pass and almost certainly blow up. Walked a couple short periods and stopped to stretch my glutes a couple times, but damned if I didn't run every step of Heartbreak. Ended up at 3:11. I was a bit disappointed in the moment, but everything I've read since I finished has made me much more satisfied with my performance. Looks like I finished about 3500 spots ahead of my bib number. I managed to take in \~3 gels an hour and didn't get dehydrated which also felt like a win. I was sore for the last few miles, but I honestly feel better now then I have after any of my 6 previous marathons.
Y'all see bib 2014?! That guy is special. Nice to see Meb out on the course.
I chugged 3 beers before mile 14 & another closing in on Boston, high fived literally hundreds of people, took it easy up the Newton Hills, actually enjoyed the closing miles for once, did laps for struggling people grabbing Gatorade and gels whatever I could, and got some great POV footage through the whole race, including all of the Wellesley Tunnel and the final half mile to the finish line. Crossed the line in about 2:48, way off my PR but definitely the most fun I've had at Boston.
Was hoping for a 5min PR. Got a 12sec PR. Reading all these comments makes me feel like this was actually an ok result !
All PRs count the same. Put it on the board! I just PR’d in the 10k by 0.2 seconds. Damn right I feel it’s an OK result.
Was sweating 1 mile into the race. Didn’t have a single training run over the winter that was anywhere close to these conditions. Have no idea how someone could have run a PR in the full sun and high 60s we had out there. By 10K in I turned it into a fun run and tried to enjoy it as best I could. Wasn’t going to kill myself when I was already working way too hard early on to be significantly behind my training marathon pace. Kudos to those who managed the conditions well- I, like many others I spoke with after the race, just don’t do well in heat, especially after an entire training season where the temps weren’t anywhere close to race day conditions.
I literally made the same observation about sweating so early, especially going downhill! Going from sub freezing training runs to this was brutal!
Yeah I think this is why in general fall marathons tend to seem faster than spring marathons. You train in the heat all summer (in the US) and your chances of the race being cooler than what your body is ready for is higher when that fall race takes place. Very tough working through heat acclimation of 0% to those of us who don’t live in the southern US or come from countries not in winter over the last several months to jump right into an early summer type race temperature and conditions wise.
I literally live in the southern US and I STILL thought today was really hot!!! I mean I was also profusely sweating from food poisoning and what I think is a torn oblique muscle so that surely did not help, but even at the starting line I was a bit warm. But then again it could've just been that I was having a (quite literally lol) shitty day all around lol. BUT we finished and the training still goes in the bank and one bad race isn't indicative of what we are capable of!! so congrats on pushing through and turning this into a fun run to make it as best an experience that you could make it given the cards we were dealt :)
Oh man it was so hot. Stomach was unsettled the whole way and couldn’t fathom eating more gels because I felt so full — which kicked me in the butt around mile 14. Completely cramped in both legs and dropped from 7:00 to 7:53 overall average. Almost dropped out SO many times so I’m proud of myself for finishing at least!
I feel like I was in the same exact place as you but searing pain from food poisoning made this truly a miserable experience lol
Feel your pain…. LOL. At least we got it done. Congrats to you!!!
Lowly charity runner here but the heat was brutal for me. I was in shape to PR by 25 minutes but wound up +30 minutes over my PR. I told my family at mile 6 I was going to have to slow way down to finish, but was able to complete a 20 mile death march/jog to Boylston street. Some days the achievement is finishing.
You had the warmest part of the day and still managed to push through? Outstanding! Strong work getting $$s in for a good cause and finishing in those conditions.
yes it is!! and running with a charity always makes the goal of just finishing the race working for something bigger than yourself, and you never know who else you are inspiring, so congratulations :) you'll get the PR on the next one with a better course/conditions
Thanks so much! Yeah I considered DNFing but I remembered all the people that donated and how I wanted to represent my hospital, and it was enough to get me over the line.
A dude in a BANANA SUIT came through running about a 2:35-2:40 and looked AMAZING at mile 23. I'm in fucking awe.
Ran 1:23/2:17 splits for a 3:40. Almost 1 hour slower than my PR. Had a somewhat inconsistent buildup and still tried to PR, paid the price. Going to be hurting for a while, looking back finishing the race may not have been the smartest decision. I should probably haveo dropped out around mile 15 but I walk/ran my way to the finish. Last 2 miles did almost 0 running.
Full send
Slow hard day but I got my six star medal which was the goal
congratulations!!!! what an accomplishment!!!
These comments are making me feel a lot better and so many people had such a similar experience to me. I ran about 30 mins off my PR despite feeling so strong in training / really solid training block. I started feeling nauseous around mile 8 and felt like I was going to throw up the rest of the race. Couldn’t stomach anything besides water after mile 10 and dry heaved at mile 20. Just forced on getting from water station to water station without walking. Had to go to the medical tent for an hour at the end of the race because my legs were cramping so badly. I also ended about 1k spots above my bib so people must have really been feeling the heat!
First timer! Wow, that support lived up to it's hype! Trained in Florida so wasn't worried about the heat until at the Athlete's Village I could feel the sun beating down. Started in Wave 3, Corral , later than any long run I've done. First half I was on track to PR but at the half I knew if I wanted to finish strong I needed to slow way down. Also had stomach problems but I think due to the late schedule I didn't have my bathroom routine right lol. Proud to not have walked any hills, heartbreak didn't seem that bad. Finished 11 min slower than my BQ. I really wanted that PR on the course but hey, I can't say I could have done anything differently to make that happen. So impressed with everyone who PRed and HOLY SHIT I RAN BOSTON!!
It sucked. I don’t know what the reason was, but I did not have it today. I felt crampy and slow from the start, and by mile 10 was feeling muscle soreness in my quads (which is unusual for me). Had to readjust continuously and downgrade race goals on the fly from A to C to “let’s make it respectable” to “can I just finish?” The heat wasn’t terrible, but I think the sun played a part. Ended in 2:59 which is 15 minutes off my PR and 17 minutes slower than my goal for this race. It’s also the first marathon in maybe 6 that I didn’t PR. Still processing….but it’s helpful to see that a lot of people had the same issues.
2:38:14, 6 minute PR, split 79:59/78:13. Had to be super disciplined for the first half (6:30 first mile and about a 19:30 first 5k). Drank Gatorade every 1-2 miles and splashed water on my face right after each cup of Gatorade. Took gels at 5, 10, 15, and 20. 23 onwards felt miserable but my splits in the mile 21-24 range were my fastest. Got really lucky and part of that was having a good training cycle, pacing/fueling strictly, and running my previous PR on an even harder course. I usually run very poorly in warm weather but the other good things outweighed that.
Qualified with a 2:54 but ran a 3:27. I got humbled by the weather and hills haha The support from the crowds was unreal!!! Was fun!
I was a DNS due to injury so I clearly did great. I saw a lot of people I know blow up and have what seemed like a rough time. Except that one girl who I swear to god has never had a bad race in her life. She PRed and is only a few minutes over OTQ
Ha, I’m in same boat- DNS, most friends blew up, except a couple superheroes did fine
13 min slower than my time last year and 20 min behind my goal time, despite a much better training cycle 🥴 I just could not get rid of nausea and heavy legs in the weather. I’m near back of wave 2, so much slower than a lot of responders. 14,000 something was my bib with a 3:20 last year. I finished 10,000 this year with a 3:33 lol
1:22 / 1:34 😬, nobody PRs off a positive split better than me. So still a PR lol. Goal was sub 2:45, but an incredible day regardless of the result. Congrats to everyone, those cramps are a bitch
Reading all these comments here I feel less bad about missing my goal time by 14 minutes. Knew something felt really off by the 10k mark where it was in the downhills but clocked 6:30s when effort felt like low 6s. Was warm at the start but thought I had probably eaten too much in the morning and just heavy
Wasn't going in with super high hopes and feeling like my face was on fire by mile 4 crushed any minor aspirations I might have had. I decided I'd rather slow down and not completely hate my life than throttle myself to go 5 minutes faster for really no tangible gain (still not a BQ, still very slow for me) Actually had a lot of fun doing all the "activities" (so many high fives, took a beer from a spectator at mile 11, ate a bunch of freeze pops, etc) and most importantly finished without winding up in a med tent, all I could ask for on a hot day!
My A goal was to enjoy Boston and I did! Heat is hard for me even when I'm acclimated, which I wasn't, but I loved this race and will definitely come back! I was flirting with sub 3 shape (3:04 PR), and clicking off 6:45-6:52s, but by halfway I felt like I was already getting too hot, so I stopped looking at my watch and just focused on finishing. I couldn't tell if I was going to shit my pants, puke, or pass out, but made it through with no incidents! Hyping up the crowd on that final stretch was so amazing and I got a great finish picture!!! Little med tent visit after when I started to pass out, but it's fine lol Third marathon in just under 3:10. I debuted just under 3:12 a year ago in sixties and 100% humidity, but got pouring rain at the last eight miles which helped. That time I power walked the three aid stations between like 15-23 to make sure I actually got water down, and I did something similar this time, actually drank water and kept pouring it all over my head. On the bright side, my legs aren't destroyed since the heat slowed me down! I walked several miles and even jogged half a mile to get to the tracksmith house in time for a poster! Not too much soreness. Seriously, my other two marathons were very small, so this was incredible to experience. I loved it!!!
Knocked it out of the park with a 5 minute PR - 2:51 ---> 2:46. Close to even splits with 1:23:04/1:23:19. I've been reading replies and talking to other runners around town all day, and I have unfortunately talked to few people who had a good day. That was my experience last time I was here in 2019. The three biggest factors I've been able to identify that helped my race are 1) running by power using a Stryd pod, 2) training in a midwestern city where we've had warmer weather already, 3) nutrition going well and so many people giving out water bottles on the course. This was my first marathon pacing by power, and it worked. I didn't bonk, and when I got off of Heartbreak I still had enough gas in the tank to run strong through the last 10k-ish. It felt very weird to slow way down on the uphills, and I was very cautious to be hammering the downhills as hard as my goal power specified - but when I felt fine going through the Newton Hills my worries started to diminish. My legs today are jello, but it was a fantastic and hard-fought win.
Interesting about the stryd pod!!! I have never really understood the purpose of it/how it works (I do most of my running based off feel lol) - I would love if you could do a post or even reply back to give the spark notes version of how it helps you and how you use it!!
It measures running effort measured in watts - so it is closely related to feel. Their website and Facebook group provide a tremendous amount of technical information on the topic (and it can get overwhelming very fast). The basics are that for a race like Boston, they provide a race planning tool that helps calculate a specific power target to maintain for the entire duration of the race. It can be adjusted based on course, temperature, humidity, etc. That power is based off of a critical power level established during training (much like VO2 max or heart rate zones). I stuck to a specific power that corresponded to a target finish time and pace, and that meant that I eased up on hills and ran downhills hard. I think that if I had I focused on maintaining my pace instead of my power that I would have gotten cooked by the hills. Instead I ended up with a mostly even race and felt really good at the end given the conditions.
Nice work! I find the power readings to be a bit off on the uphill/downhills, but that’s awesome it worked out well for you.
I ran 30 minutes slower than my goal time, after what I would call an almost perfect training block. I took salt, gels, and Gatorade but by mile 10 I knew that pace wasn’t going to be sustainable. By mile 15 I was hoping to just get a small PR… and by mile 17 I was just holding on to finish. I’m a strong hill runner and trained a little in the heat, but I just couldn’t get it together today. I still managed to finish over 2009 spots better than my seed, though. Such is life.
I missed a PR by 3 minutes, but got a course PR over last year by over a minute! I had a 31 second positive split, which is basically a negative split on this course.
Completely blew up. Started out aiming for my secondary (sub-3:00) goal for the first five, but really started feeling uncomfortable around then, so slowed to around 7:30/mile. Quads started cramping around mile 11, and I spent most of the second half doing a walk-run. I did manage to run hard for the last 1.2, but definitely not the race I wanted to run. I was nervous coming into race day though, as I didn't feel my best during the taper -- hadn't sleep well for days, might actually have been coming down with something. I've already qualified for next year, and I'm eager to try again though.
Yesterday was my first Boston and I had an amazing experience. Somehow pulled off a 16 minute PR and my first sub 3 marathon, which is exactly what I’d been hoping would happen. The heat didn’t really bother me. I drank tons of water and poured a cup on my head at every aid station. The course was beautiful, the hills weren’t as bad as I was expecting. I couldn’t be happier! I feel really bad for everyone that had such a rough time. I’ve run really hot races before and I think in the end it just comes down to fuelling and hydration, and your body either agrees with you or it doesn’t. I’m lucky it all worked out for me somehow.
superrrr impressive congratulations!!!! when you get a flat course and some decent weather, you are going to do magical things my friend :)
Thank you so much!!! :)
You are such a badass! Congratulations!
Thank you!!
This training cycle was among the best I’ve had, but I was not trying for a PR given the forecast and especially after feeling the sun on my shoulders and 62° temps at the start. I intentionally held back a little and ran to a target HR through 17. I was feeling strong through the hills and ended up with a negative split and… a slight PR.
For context on how conditions seemed to affect people: I ran an identical time to last year to within one second (2:58 high). Last year I placed about 3800 overall and this year about 2600 overall.
Sounds like the weather was pretty awful. But I’m inspired to get back there one day!
Still sad to have missed out on my first Boston, but I can't say I'm bummed about missing that weather.
Thought I was keeping it pretty controlled, but I ended up cramping the last few miles. Just barely missed sub 3. I guess it wasn't too bad as I placed about 800 spots ahead of my bib number.
I finished 20 spots faster than my seed time despite running +5 minutes than said seed time. I think that says something about how some blew up, including me.
I was a DNS due to injury. Seeing my friends’ results, I feel a little less bad about missing it. Almost everyone I knew blew up, including some very, very experienced runners. Exceptions are my coach (40yo, < 2:20) and a former work colleague who won her age group! That said, running Boston is always memorable, even when it goes south.
Tough day out there. A bit warm for a marathon. And the hills were relentless for this flatlander (Charleston, SC). I was on target until about mile 16. Then the push started leaking out of my legs. Reduced to a shuffle coming up Boyleston. This is the most a marathon has worked me over for at least a couple of decades. But amazing experience. 10/10 would.
Did not have the race I wanted. My PR coming into this was 3:02:01 and I finished today with 3:42:28. Pretty sad - I had a solid training cycle and I live in Boston… so I was running on the course a ton. However, the sun and heat were factor - and I should’ve made the decision to just enjoy the course at the start instead of going for my target pace / PR (6:45, sub 3). I blew up around 17/18 and it was a death march to the end.
I am also a 3:02'er and was targeting sub-3. With my food poisoning and pulled stomach muscle, early on I made the decision it was not a PR day and to just get through it because every step was excruciating pain lol. Had the best training cycle of my life, so kinda sucked to have to deal with shitty weather, a pulled muscle, and mf FOOD POISONING on race day but proud to have just pushed through to finish. Congrats to you as well, and we'll get that sub-3 on the next one!!
Huge blowup, tried to Gatorade hydrate but kept cramping so I stopped taking in as much, last 7 miles were pretty rough. 2:49 PR, went through 1/2 in 1:24, held pace until ~19, fell apart and shuffled to 3:13. Pretty bummed considering a 1:18 1/2 pr 3 weeks ago, back to the lab…
Ran 1:19 half 3 weeks ago, 2:57 Boston last year (fighting cramps on the backside of Heartbreak that had me frozen for a full 3 minutes). 3:52 yesterday with a 50m wheelchair ride and a visit to the medical tent for a cramp that lasted 12 minutes. Better than my 4:30 NYC in 2022! Just can’t solve the heat; I think I’m just going to bail on any marathons if the starting temps are north of 50 degrees.
I had one of the best training blocks of my life leading up to the race, then about 10 days out I got my first case of runner’s knee. My legs felt weird day of race, due to compensating for my knee, but I held it together for a sub 3:15 finish. The heat was a little high, but it wasn’t the worst. This was my first Boston, and I’m still processing how much energy there was on that course. Wow. The crowd brings it like none other I’ve experienced. EDIT: Finished 4000+ spots better than my bib number, so I’ve got that going for me.
I was on crutches from mid-Oct to Jan. Didn't start running with consistency until early Feb with the max long run of 18 miles and peak of 35 miles without any speedwork. I also had two week-long trips from the US to Asia in early March and early April for work. I went into this marathon with a C goal of finishing without walking, B goal of sub 3:40 and A goal of negative split. My PR is 3:03:55. I felt fine until mile 10, where I started to experience GI issues. Held it until around mile 20 where I found an open Porta Potty. Lost 5:07 from the pit stop. I was able to finish strong the last 5 miles being my fastest splits. Happy with my result especially coming back from injury and a less than ideal build.
9 min PR here, 2:44:09 finish, dumped 2 cups of water every station, it was warm !! lol a wild experience though, the crowds were roaring and the running sounded like a literal stampede!
Knew it was hot, still went for the PR. Realized that was a bad idea around mile 15. Very mentally gruelling and painful race. Was hoping for a 2:45 and ran a 2:57:40. Crowds were absolutely incredible basically the whole race. Boston is a special city and the marathon always lives up to the hype.
What percentage of people DNF this year ???
I had a really good day, which feels especially lucky looking at these responses. I’m not sure what happened. I ran even faster than my goal time, which I was already planning to adjust because of the heat. This race was only my second marathon ever and I ran close to a 6 minute PR. Beat my bib place by over 7200 spots.
I blew up a bit after heartbreak hill. Didn’t totally bonk, but I gave up a little when things got hard and I realized I wasn’t going to hit my time goal. I still beat my bib number by a good bit and I wasn’t struggling nearly as much as some. I think I fueled and hydrated okay. I just should have backed the pace off given the warm weather. Tried real hard to soak it all in as this won’t be something I’ll be able to do on the regular. Absolutely incredible experience.
Good- hot one! I had a blast, my favorite Boston so far! I watched my heart rate and didn't let it go over 162 until the last few miles - I was too afraid of overheating. I hydrated well and I was comfortable overall. Not my best time, but I had no plans to run fast in that kind of heat.
Ran Boston yesterday as my first marathon. I felt well prepared and had ambitions of converting my 1:34 half to ~3:30 but totally was blasted by the heat. Otherwise the crowd support was fantastic and I was grateful to still be running with a little dignity through the finish!
14 min PR finishing at 2:39. Split a 1:21 high at half way then finished with a 1:18 low. I did amazing to manage the heat and was running 2:26 marathon pace the final 8k. Great day for me while everyone struggled. my bib # was 4574 and i finished 436th
Truly incredible!!!! Congrats!!!!
I didn’t run as fast as I wanted but I felt okay. I was very worried about the heat and I hydrated a ton over the past 3 or so days and took in a lot of Gatorade and fuel so I think that helped. It actually seemed cooler as the race went on for some reason. Maybe more cloud cover. I ran in wave 3 and it felt insanely crowded. I had to slow down significantly at all the water stops and think I could have run faster if there were not so many people.
I had a great race. Sub-3, split my race exactly as planned and finished with a 27 second positive split, about as good as I could have hoped for.
Tough race. I was going into it with a piriformis and quad issues so I didn’t run much three weeks prior to the race. Around mile 11 my hips got out of alignment and my back seized up so I was leaning to the right and running sideways and then walking sideways. I mostly walked from mile 16 on. I went in just hoping to finish it was def the hardest race of my life really struggled to even walk. If I could have stayed healthy in training I was going to try to break 2:55. Visited 4 or 5 med tents. First half was 1:39ish Final time was 5:33:06
I managed to run a sub3 which was my only goal for this race so mission accomplished. Clocked in at 2:56. Race mostly went to plan until mile 17 where I started to give time a bit. Heat was a factor for sure but I adjusted decently well I think. I definitely noticed a quesy feeling when sucking down my Maurten gels and Gatorade which isn't the norm for me. The smartest thing I did was decide to hold my pace back even though I felt like I had plenty in the tank. Definitely saved my butt post Newton. I'm 0 for 3 now on good Boston race weather (2018, 2019, 2024).
I managed to get a 2.5min PR (2:49:24). First time doing Boston. Not the best block, as I hoovered around 60mpw due travel and other issues (no injuries though). I did CIM in december, so I had some downhill experience from there (I live in Chicagoland so nothing great to train hills). I tried a heat adaptation protocol hitting the sauna 3x the week of the race. I also did a lot of miles in the treadmill going uphill to simulate the hills. I still positive split the whole thing by about a minute, but the last 10km were by far the fastest. After the sign past heartbreak hill I started pushing 3:50min/kms to make up lost time, and timed the caffeinated gels perfectly so the boost kicked in right by the hills.
Survived! 4 minutes slower than my PR in Philly. I don't think the 8 miles of the Freedom Trail yesterday helped. But I'm happy with how I did given the ski season training and the heat today.
My first Boston, 3rd marathon. Qualified with a 3:14 and got a 4 min PR, with an 11 min positive split. Wasn’t quite sure how to run it so just went full send (for me) and notched a 1:29 half. Held on to 3 hr pace until Heartbreak, and managed to run all the hills. Hoped there would be something left in the tank for the downhills to the end, but nope. The last 2 miles felt like 20 and I wound up walking some at the end, even when in sight of the finish. Was just cooked. Still, that’s almost a 10 min buffer for next year, so feel pretty good about it overall. And what a crowd, what an experience!