So Long!

Just a quick note before I head off to the airport for my flight to Peru. It's been a pretty long day already. I was up at 4:00am to have breakfast before the 8:00am start of Boston's Run to Remember Half Marathon. This was my last race of the season and my 3rd race in the last three weeks. I was hoping for a new personal best (my previous best time was 1:13:03), but the weather looked like it might not cooperate. At the start of the race, temperatures were already over 70F and it was very humid.

Luckily, Jeff had agreed to pace me for part of the run, and so the first few miles felt nice and comfortable and I was able to tuck right in behind him and another runner. By 2.5M, the other runner had dropped off, and Jeff had said that he wasn't feeling well and didn't know how long he could hold the pace. At 3M, Jeff dropped off and it was just me and the leading brigade of squad cars. With 10M+ to go by myself, I was a bit nervous.

I managed to maintain the pace until the turnaround point past Harvard Square. At this point (6M in ~32:10), I turned back into the wind and started to feel the combination of the heat, humidity, and the long solo effort. My splits going back along the river were a bit slower, closer to 5:30 than 5:20, but once we turned back onto the bridge, I managed to bring my focus back and brought the pace down. The 2M between 9 and 11 miles were in 10:37.

At 10M, the course starts a gradual ascent around the Common. The change in grade was exacerbated by the fact that the sun had come out and the general late-race fatigue. Finally, we crested the hill and crossed the bridge back over to South Boston where the race had started and finished. I gave it everything I had, knowing that this was my last race, and broke the finishing tape and collapsed across the line in 1:10:35.5. The last 1.1M had been at 5:12 pace.

Overall, this was a great way to end the season: 3 races, 3 PRs (31:39 track 10k, 15:36 road 5k, 1:10:36 road half marathon). This was also just a great, fun race. The crowds were very supportive all along the route. I heard a ton of "GO JUMBOS!" I'm glad I wore my Tufts singlet!

Now, I'm heading out to shake-out the legs a bit before the start of 26 hours or so of travel. Hopefully, I'll be in Huaraz, Peru by about 6pm tomorrow night. After that, I probably won't be able to post until about June 11th, since I'll be in the remote wilderness. So, don't worry! I'll check in once I get back.

Thanks to everyone for their support this season. It's been a great one and I couldn't have done it without the help of a ton of different people. Thank you all so much for giving me the opportunities to continue doing what I love.

Hasta pronto!

Edit:

For anyone interested, these are the approximate splits from the race:

1M: 5:15

2M: 5:25 (10:40)

3M: 5:25 (16:05)

4M: 5:22 (21:28)

5M: 5:21 (26:49)

6M: 5:15 (32:05)

7M: 5:27 (37:33)

8M: 5:30 (43:03)

9M: 5:18 (48:21)

10M: 5:16 (53:37)

11M: 5:33 (59:10)

12M: 5:28 (64:38)

13.1M: 5:48 (1:10:36)