The Marathon starts at noon, though my sister and I probably won’t cross the starting line until 12:20 or 12:30. We start in Hopkinton. Once it’s through, we’ll go through about 7 towns. Here’s the breakdown.
The first 8 miles or so are all downhill with a key stop at TJ’s food&spirits at mile 2 and a few lakes. Theresa and I are pretending that the first hour is just a warm up. We’ll “start” racing at mile 6.
At mile 9 we should be running by the Cochituate state park. If we’re keeping up to pace that should be around 2pm.
At 13.1 miles we cross Wellesley, which should be huge. Runners world describes it like this:
Because of the way the course bends, the celebrated shrieks of the school’s 2,400 students will reach your ears well before you pass by them. If you don’t get chils once you hit this gauntlet of sound, say even the most hard-boiled Boston vets, you must not have a pulse.
And with Theresa being a wellesley grad, I’m sure it’ll be even more exciting.
The next 6 miles or so, up to 17.5 are much more up and down. A few long upward grades. We’ll pass by the Newton Fire Station on Commonwealth Ave around 3:10pm. So if you happen to be in the area…
Heartbreak hill is at mile 20.5. Theresa, who has done this twice before, informs me that it’s a depressing hill because you turn a corner and it keeps going up.
After heartbreak is BC, which should be a party, and then we reach cemetery mile. It’s described like this in Runners World:
“I call it the Cemetery of Lost Hope,” Squires says. Treseler adds, “It’s really a no-man’s-land. All of a sudden, everything goes quiet. It’s very easy to become distracted or deflated.”
we should be running shortly after Hour 4.
Then we reach beacon Street. and it’s a straight downhill 5 miles to the finish line.
Theresa and I will be wearing bright yellow shirts. Mine will say “Run-asaurus” Theresa’s will say “Run-Zilla”
GOODLUCK GUYS!
btw, why am I calling you between 3-4pm if you’re still going to be running?
he’s gonna have his cell phone and thinks he’ll be able to answer it during the running.
i don’t think that’s feasible but then i’m not a runner
Good for you dude!
Run the London Marathon, 25 miles of pure tourist heaven! lol
I have never, and have no plans to do so.
Unfortunately it was on yesterday (sunday) so you’ll have to wait until next year!