September 12, 2020
COVID-19 has stopped most in person races. The 124th Boston Marathon was postponed to September 2020 from April then finally turned into a virtual running event. The BAA went all out in an attempt to make this as good an experience as possible given the circumstances. The rules were simple. Run a 26.2 mile course of your own choosing between September 5th through the 14th and upload your time to the special 124th Boston Marathon phone app. You had to have qualified for the 2020 Boston Marathon in order to enter this event even though it was virtual. The organization offered a virtual goodie bag, interviews, virtual expo, and more. The experience kicked off with the receipt of a virtual experience gift box.
Lets track back to the end of July. Boston Buddies came up with a super idea for an “August Challenge” open to any member of Boston Buddies group.
Interested members were put into groups of 15 and required to log a minimum of a 5K per day for 1 point for the group. Additional points received for reposting an intro video as well as entering the 261Fearless event. I was on #TeamJaguar. This was a good event to keep me moving everyday throughout August. When I didn’t run, I walked at least 3.1 miles with the dogs. As for the 261Fearless, Move the World event, this is a 4 event series to run/walk/swim any distance to empower women around the world. I entered all 4 events for Boston, Chicago, Marine Corp, and NYC .
These events kept me motivated and training for my virtual run which was originally planned for Sunday 9/13. Since rain was moving in for Sunday, a quick switch to Saturday the 12th proved better. The temperature was cooler at 47 degrees but still nice running weather. My course was mapped out, as flat as possible around this area and still had a 700 ft elevation gain. I uploaded a PacePro Pacing Strategy to my Garmin for marathon distance and a pace of 8:50 min/mile. This would get me a 3:51 time. Originally I had an even pace but decided I would bank time only slightly so started with a 8:40 mile goal to finish with a 8:59 mile goal. I was almost spot on.
This virtual run of 26.2 miles was regarded as any other “real” marathon. So I ate conservatively on Friday but had my usual sweet potato lunch and fish with pasta dinner. Had a very restless night and ate my ½ plain bagel with PB at 2:30 am. My start time was 6 am. Got up at 4 am to eat a Clif Bar, lay back down for half an hour then got up and took care of the cats. Drank a 5Hr Energy at 5 am which only kind of helped get the system moving. My stomach wasn’t comfortable. As it was too cold for Ted to ride the bike along side as originally planned, he would ride in the truck as my mobile aide station. He set out about an hour and a half after I had left.
Headed out at 5:57 am with a 7 mph wind. I ran a 4 mile loop around Proctor, back past the house then headed out toward Frankfort Center. This was a quiet, farm country loop before heading out towards the village of Frankfort. We even saw some turkeys! Benefits of running in the early Fall.
Ted caught up around 9 miles, at 10 miles I was out of Frankfort Center heading toward the Village. I was carrying a water bottle, vest and had a shug and gloves on to this point then tossed them all to Ted and ran in a tank with long shorts, Injinji socks, and my Hoka Carbon X.
My pace was fantastic at this point and I felt really good. Those initial 4-5 miles weren’t the best but by 10 miles, things were looking up.
8:55, 8:39, 8:44, 8:51, 8:34, 8:48, 8:46, 8:50, 8:43, 8:32
I had Honey Stinger Gels at mile 5, 11, and 17. Had 3 Gu Chomps at mile 21. *Should have had an extra gel instead of chomps. I drank water about every 5 miles until nearing the end when I drank about every 2 miles.
Feeling good, moving along with Ted along side in the truck. Traffic wasn’t too bad with only one fast, too close truck zooming by me. Miles 11-15 were still going well.
8:44, 8:45, 8:47, 8:41, 8:44
Had to stop in nearby bushes for a pit stop which seemed to take forever because I had been holding on for ages not wanting to stop. So I played catch up not to lose the pace. By mile 16 I was heading towards my company C-Flex at the end of Industrial Drive, turning in the driveway and heading back. This is when the knee decided to get nasty and I really had to hold on to mile 25. Miles 23-24 were the worst physically and mentally with no one to run with and get over those late race hurdles.
9:39, 8:58, 8:47, 8:39, 8:48 8:43, 9:03, 9:34, 9:35
At mile 25, I was slightly ahead of the original mileage plan since I was going to do a 3 mile loop and then loop a bit on the return run but thought that could be rough so I did the 4 mile starting loop and hit mile 25 early so my finish line would be about a quarter mile from our house. Wow was this a good change in route plan to get me through the last miles!
Mile 25 at 8:38, 26 at 8:52 to finish at 26.31 miles at 8:51. *Since it seems every marathon I run is more like 26.3, that’s what I ran for my virtual.
Uploaded my time to the Boston App and got my finishers certificate instantly.
Strava stats: 26.3 mi, 8:48 / mile average pace, 3:51:33 moving time (RIGHT ON PLAN!), elapsed pace 8:51/mile.
In retrospect, this wasn’t so bad, running 26 miles solo. I didn’t wrestle with a crowded course, people jostling for position, passing, me passing them, etc. There was an up side along with it being pretty darned terrific finishing my run, walking to MY house, loving my doggies and kitties, and taking a bath in my own clean tub! YAY! Not to mention lying on my own bed until I felt ok to get up.
I sincerely hope that come April 2021 there will be a 125th Boston Marathon held along the iconic course from Hopkinton to Boston and I see that beloved CITCO sign at mile 25 once again. This year would have been my 10th consecutive year running that course. That was my goal. Although I may have run along with the BAA for 10 consecutive marathons, last being virtual, it won’t happen for me until I go through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley (and hear those screams!), Newton, Brookline, to Boston.
2017 BAA Boston Marathon Boston, MA April 15-17, 2017, Photo: KevinMorris@PhotoRun
Lets all hope, pray if that’s your thing, that this year of pandemic is only THIS year and people get smart, wear masks, be vigilant, respectful, so we can bid it good riddance and run together again.
Joanne
