Boston Half Marathon 2007
time: 1:49:31
pace: 8:22/mile (5.11/km)
Was a minute 56 secs slower than my Feb Half Marathon in Hyannis. 😦 And my pace was off by 9 seconds!
In Feb for Hyannis, I was in training for the Boston Marathon and at the top of my training. This half marathon was to be a practise run for the New York City Marathon in Nov. But I did not get into the NYC lottery, making it difficult to get motivated. And I suffered from heel pain all summer (now you know why I wrote all those heel pain articles) and could not run on my heels for most of my training. Today was the first time in months that I ran any distance on my heels ~ and transiently felt a stab of pain at about mile 6.
Enough excuses!
And wow, what a scenic but tough course! The course runs through Boston’s Emerald Necklace, a chain of nine parks linked by parkways and waterways. My friends who ran it last year had correctly warned, “it is very hilly!” At the halfway, we run through the Franklin Park Zoo, past the giraffe pens, birding area, tropical animal trails and the alligator area; before turning back around. Sorry did not pause to enjoy! :-))
No excuses! A fabulous run and I am very pleased. In this off-season, needed to maintain form and was expecting to do better than a 9:00 minute pace. And did way better than that! Now I rest for a few months and restart training in Jan for either the Boston or London Marathon in April 2008! Yaay! Run ARUN Run!
Arun Shanbhag 