30 years ago today - Boston Marathon

30 years ago – April 1989: I lowered my mileage down to 328 for the month, mostly because I was aiming for a good run at the Boston marathon.  This was my first shot at the marathon and I trained very hard with a goal of breaking 2:15. The week prior to the marathon I headed to New York City for the second annual Ekiden Relay.  This was a big money race that had teams from each of the 50 states and some international teams. Somehow, I ended up running the shortest leg of the relay a 7.5km (4.41 miles) dash through Central Park.  I ended up running the 2nd fastest time of the day 20:44 (4:42 pace), our team took 4th place and I came home with $3,000.  The others on the team were Tim Gannon (14:10-5k), Paul Gorman (10.1k -9th pl), Dennis Simoniatis (9.3k-2nd pl), Wally Collins (10k 30:12, 10th pl).  Nine days later I lined up at the start of the Boston Marathon.  This was my first and only (?) Boston and my first Marathon, although I’ve done 50 races of the marathon and beyond since then.  I joined 5,122 others on a 67-degree day.  I felt great through 20k, and still pretty good through 30k, but the last 10k was just brutal.  My splits were 31:10, 32:10, 33:10, for the first 30km.  The last 12.2k took me 45:32 (5:59) pace but it was a lot worse than it sounds.  I staggered across the line and was promptly escorted to the medical tent and from there to the hospital.  Over 10 pounds of IV fluid later I was released.  Ouch!  I ended up finishing in 2:22:03 for 17th place.