And so it continues: it is my home course, and the course I have run the most and know the best. Yet it is the one where I have the greatest difficulty coming in with a time that is good enough for Boston. I knew that today wasn't going to be that day, so I aimed lower to just run even splits (ie running about equal halfs). But even that failed: After 1:44 for the first half I lost a good ten minutes to finish at 3:40:42. Oh well. There is always next year...
But it was a simply sunningly fabulous day, and the race was once again very, very well put together. We were worried about extra security: not a real issue. The streets were lined with people and even Lisa and Julia managed to cheer me on at mile 13 (still smiles), mile 19 (grimacing, about to fall apart) and 25 (hanging in). And Anna was working the mile 18 water stop. The worst where miles 20 to 22 when I walked a fair bit. The race results have details; maybe I'll update the chart I made in prior years.
One minor FAIL was a wait at the end for gear check. That was pathetic. I guess the folks manning the stand didn't keep bags sorted well enough so lines were long, and slow. Oh well -- the rest was fine, and it remains one of the nicest marathon races.
Oh, and the other FAIL was that my Nexus 4 phone couldn't hold a charge til I was done. What's up with that? The running tracker traced me til around mile 20, and then the phone shut down for lack of juice. Disappointing too. But hey, it spares you, dear reader, the look of some bad post-race selfies...