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FLRC Newsletter - Aug 2003
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| Boston Finish |
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I'm pleased to report that I finished the 2003 Boston marathon this morning, Sunday July 13 hitting the finish line at 9:41:10 a.m. I ran the first 14.5 miles on Patriot's Day during the race but then I lost momentum after seeing my family at a nice party near mile 13, so I went back and joined them. I went from 14.5 to 16 several times since as part of my 'commuting run' from our home in Wellesley to my office at Bentley College in Waltham. Today I started from the 16 mile mark and ran in. This gives me a time for the year of 82 days, 21 hours, 41 minutes, 10 seconds...or in usual marathon notation a 1989:41:10. Amazing how about 2000 hours can sneak away from you like that.
I was delighted that fellow High Nooner John Whitman, in town for a conference, parked at BC and ran down Heartbreak Hill to meet me around the 30K mark and ran with me to Coolidge Corner (23.5) before going back to get his car. We tried to provide some long distance good vibe for all of you running Boilermaker. I look forward to hearing your race (and, as always post-race) reports.
A few great things about finishing Boston on a beautiful Sunday morning three months after Patriot's Day:
- You really get a feel for the course that you don't get when there are all those people blocking the runner's view of the sidewalks. There are a LOT of nice bakeries, for example. John was surprised to find the very pleasant carriage road on the far side of the median on Heartbreak Hill.
- Thanks to early 90's High Nooner Will Riddell and family, who volunteered to come in from their home in Cambridge and cheer at the same spot they did in April. It seemed like too much to ask so I finished without crowd support, though a group of Asian tourists were taking pictures of the finish line and I might have gotten in one. Thanks also to Chris Mansfield who came down from Concord NH yesterday and ran an hour with me to finish my Boston training.
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- A good statistics teaching example: This race helped my average Boston time. Since it took me almost eight years to get back and finish the 1990 race, my mean time for my 26 Bostons is about 3.7 months. At a little under three months, this one helps. The median hardly changes at all; going from 3:07 to 3:08. Those outliers are tough on the mean. Here's the distribution of my 26 Boston times and the years I ran each interval:
Under 2:40 1 (1981)
2:40- under 2:50 3 (1980,1983,1984)
2:50- under 3:00 6 (1979,1987,1991,1992,1995,1998)
3:00- under 3:10 6 (1977,1982,1988,1996,1997,2000)
3:10- under 3:20 6 (1986,1993,1994,1999,2001,2002)
3:20- under 3:30 2 (1985,1989)
3:30 -under 2000:00 1 (2003)
2000 hours or more 1 (1990)
- John Whitman picked a tough week to be in town. He did the Fresh Pond 5 mile yesterday morning in 30:49, almost always good enough to make the top five and get in the Boston Globe Sunday sports. Last week, when the race was on 5/5 and lots of people had raced on the fourth, 37 minutes did the trick. This week he was eighth as a lot of fast Seans and Kevins from various local clubs showed up. HighNoon is not without some presence in the paper today though, as Melissa Harrison (Rick's daughter) was 4th woman in the 2.5 miler in 17:08.
- Finishing the way I did today was very efficient use of Boston's
public transportation system. I parked near the Riverside trolley
stop, ran the half mile over to the Boston course, ran to the finish,
and added a couple of miles back out through Northeastern and into
Brookline, where I could get an outbound D trolley above ground, which is
free and brings you right back to Riverside!
OK, now time to start training for a fall marathon (actually today's long run WAS the start of training) so I can qualify for 2004!
--Rick Cleary