How I Got My (Boston) Unicorn 🦄

WARNING: this blog post is a race report from the 2022 Boston marathon that I started writing it nearly 1.5hr ago. Because life got in the way, I only managed to finally finish it today. So a bit dated, but still hopefully relevant to those of you who will at some point run Boston!

It’s been a life-long dream of mine, after living in the suburbs of Boston (Wellesley) for 18 months over 10 years ago: running the Boston Marathon and especially running through the streets of Wellesley on my way to the finish in Boylston Street. Not an easy feat as, unless you run for charity (requiring to raise a pretty decent amount), you have no alternative but to qualify for it. For my age range 40-44yrs old this meant running an official marathon time under 3:40.

Thankfully, I had managed a 3:37:16 in the New York City Marathon in 2019. However, getting in the Boston Marathon is still not a given as each year, whether you get in or not depends on the ‘cut-off time’. Practically, what this means is that there is a set number of places for people who manage a sub-3:40 for my age range, and they are allocated in increasing order of qualifying time. So it could be that all places have gone by the time they start looking at people who did 3:35 or above (because for that year most 40-44yrd old female runners applying for Boston managed some marathon finish times under 3:35). I was lucky when applying in 2021 that the cut-off time was 0 minute 0 second so all sub 3:40 female applicants in my age range got a place for the 126th Boston Marathon. As a side note, I saw a few days ago that the cut-off time for applications to the 2024 marathon is back to 5:29, so I call myself extremely lucky to have been able to run it with my 3:37 time. But when applying in 2021 I knew that it was my final chance to use my NYC 2019 qualifying time before it became irrelevant.

A finish line worth the pain!

The timing of the Boston marathon itself wasn’t great (is it ever?) as I was in the middle of completing a MSc and was wondering where I would find the time to fit in marathon training. But I also remembered that I may never get the chance again, so I somehow had to make it work. So the first thing I did was to contact my truster coach at ExecFit Training, Trevor Da Silva, so he could design a training plan. I cannot recommend enough having a training coach if you can afford it: not only will it remove the mental hurdles of having to think on a weekly basis about how far and how fast you have to train, but it also means that you’re unlikely to do too much or too little and injury yourself while training or on the day.
So I started training following Trevor’s plan. Because I had been training with Trevor since my first ultra-marathon in 2018, Trevor knew exactly where I was at fitness-wise and he knew how much he could realistically push me. I told him that with the studies contraints I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself and would be happy with a 3:50 time. He thought that was achievable so I trained for that. I found that although fitting in the training around the studies was tough, it was ironically very helpful in helping me manage the stress of the exams. It really worked and helped me to put things in perspective. It also took me back to my student days in Edinburgh and the first exam of my final MEng year. I was so stressed the day before the exam that I was still awake past midnight, which was making it worse as I panicked about being too tired to understand the exam questions (for any of you who it may be familiar with it, the first exam was on finite-element analysis, I didn’t think I could wing it). So what I did back then was to get out of my campus room and run around the campus. It was dark, there was absolutely nobody around, but it helped a lot: when I returned to my room, I finally managed to get some sleep. I digressed, but the point I am making here is that if you think you can’t fit in marathon training because you have way too much on, then it may actually just be what you need to alleviate stress.

Fast forward a few months and apart from a foot injury that required me to dial down the training, everything went to plan and I was soon ready to fly out to Boston. Unfortunately I had not managed to find accommodation close to the finish line so I just had to accept I would be taking the T (local metro/tube) home. But i was happy I had booked an apartment as that meant that sticking to a strict pre-marathon diet was much easier (In NYC, where I stayed in a hotel, I found that much more challenging as it’s hard to find a place that serves plain pasta). My pre-marathon diet is always pretty strict and boring and consists of porridge for breakfast, toasts with jam, fruit or soup for snack and plain pasta (nothing in it, except a squirt of ketchup) and fruit for lunch and dinner. And zero alcohol.

I felt as prepared as I could have been, but as nervous as always before any marathon. But I was also very excited to be running through parts of Boston I was once familiar with but that I had not seen in over 10 years. And the route elevation was trending downhill, with just one small glitch in the infamous Heartbreak Hill around mile 20. I was lucky that my wave start was not an early one so I only needed to catch the bus to Hopkinton at around 8am, which was much more acceptable than the NYC 5am bus trip to a late riser like me. After the expo I even get to hear from one of my running idols, Kathrine Switzer, who became the first woman to run the Boston Marathon as an officially registered competitor.

So pleased just to have made it to the starting line

The morning of the marathon finally arrived and I got on the bus. I don’t remember much of the bus journey, I think I was probably still half asleep. But once in Hopkinton, it felt real and the excitement was palpable. At that point I just couldn’t wait to get going (and not only because I felt cold despite the additional clothing I had brought with me). Once we started I soaked in the atmosphere and it was just as I had imagined, if not better: Boston marathon supporters take their role pretty seriously and make a day of it. They’re all sitting in their front yard, decorated for the occasion and all ages come to cheer the runners. It feels like a party, and within the first few minutes the nerves were gone. Such an enjoyable experience and I felt so privileged to be there, taking part in this legendary race.

I tried to rein in the excitement so as not to go too fast and burn myself, especially with the slight downhill. I was also looking to see whether I could spot the famous Boston marathon cheering dogs: Spencer and Penny. Finally spotting them on the side of the road gave me a huge boost. Sadly Spencer and Penny passed away this year, leaving a huge hole in the heart of Boston marathon lovers.

The miles were passing but I started to realise that the downhill was not just downhill and the uphills seemed to materialise way before I was expecting them. i probably had slightly idealised the race profile, despite looking at it prior to the race. I knew I had prepared for hills, so they were doable, but nevertheless hard especially when you don’t expect anything too significant before mile 20. I kept focusing on the absolute joy of being able to run the Boston marathon at all and kept putting one foot in front of another. I was most looking forward to approaching Wellesley and seeing what, if anything, had changed in the past 10 years. I also knew that Wellesley students are reknown for their marathon-cheering skills so I knew I would know when I was approaching the town.

And of course Wellesley didn’t disappoint!! I even felt a little tear forming in my eyes when running down the main street. It looked a little bit different from how I remembered it, with noticeably my favourite coffee shop. Pete’s Coffee, having closed down. But I still recognised that beautiful town that was my home for a little while. Then onwards to Newton and more hills. I couldn’t remember how far Heartbreak Hill was supposed to be, so every time I ran up a slight hill I wondered if that was it. But no. So I kept running. A bit downhill. A bit uphill. One of my toes on my left foot was starting to hurt. I couldn’t figure out why as I had not had this issue with previous marathons. I brushed it off, there was nothing I could do about it anyway. Still no sign of Heartbreak Hill, where was it? Had I missed it? It turns out I had. To me, it had just been another hill. Weird, because if you look at the marathon profile, it does look a bit higher than the others. But maybe the noise from the supporters had helped me through it without me noticing it. Also I had trained on quite big hills back home, so maybe that was another reason. I was now looking forward to approaching Fenway park and seeing that famous Citgo sign.

My toe was still hurting and now my thighs felt sore too, although I had no idea why. I had run previous marathons in the same clothes so didn’t think it would be chaffing. Once again, the best option was to ignore the pain and push through. Just a few miles left!!

The last few miles flew by. I was in the middle of the city, on my way to Boylston street and that iconic blue and yellow finish line!! The crowds were incredible, so much energy and kindness. The approach also reminded me of the horror experienced by the 2013 marathon runners and I thought about those who died. A wave of sadness and anger swept over me and I felt more determined than ever to cross that finish line and somehow, surrounded with my fellow runners, contribute to the ‘Boston Strong’ movement.

Crossing that finish line was incredible. No doubt the highlight of my running life. A possibly one-in-a-lifetime event, not to be taken for granted. But one I would like to experience again once day, if my body lets me. It was definitely worth the bleeding toe, the lost toe nail and the serious burn from chaffing on my thighs. I even managed to beat my expected time and finish in 3:44:32, which I was pretty happy with. So if you have ever dreamt of running Boston and you are in a position to either raise the amount of money needed or are fast enough to qualify, do it. It’s a memory you will cherish forever.

Happy running!