Slept like a baby the night before Game Day and kept it pretty loose with the exception of some worries revolving around a tweaked calf. Opened it up a bit with Poo (Orin Schumacher) on Sunday to check it out and I had some get-up-and-go but could feel some tightness in each stride. Oh well, things happen…

Roll in the morning to the VIP area and start hanging out with the beautiful people. On the bus ride out I realize that I am having a really good hair day
and figure that’s got to be a good sign. Decided the night before that the calf sleeve I’d been sporting couldn’t go 26.2 so I pack my tall socks for Game Day. Once I get settled into the beautiful people gym I decide I better do a couple strides down the hallway to make sure everything is going to hold up. Feels tight…shoot!!. So back in the beautiful people gym I decide I better go with the calf sleeve after all. “Anyone got an extra pair of socks”? Blank looks. No dice. Oh well, can’t wear the shin guard and the tall socks…would be like wearing a wool sweater. No bueno in a thon.

Off to the coral we go. Do some late coaching with my pupil Supa Freak (K.C. Taylor). Make sure that he understands game plan…chill for six, settle into pace for the next six, smile for the girls at Wellesley, take the right in Newton by the fire station and get ready to put in some work, crest Heartbreak, say a prayer by the cemetery and then hang on for dear life.

Bamski, gun goes off!! Stay in the middle of the road and let the crazies go crazy. The Commander (Al Whalen) is close by and then moves ahead. First mile 6:05. Keep it chill!! Mile 2 5:58 and I ease past Commando. Keep talking to myself through about seven miles trying to slow down. Mile four is fastest in 5:54.
Right about this point Poo eases past me. 10k just about 38 flat. Little quick…relax find your rhythm.

From 10k to the half I have two 6:06′s with the rest low teens. Half 1:21 and some change. Good but about 40 seconds faster then my plan. Keep rolling.
More of the same except for a 6:22 15th mile. Now it’s Newton time. 6:27, 6:28, 6:20, 6:26 and finally 6:36 up Heartbreak. Good. Twenty miles just under
2:06…this is the money split my friends. This is where the Dog starts doing some easy math. Forty min 10k gets me home in 246. Thirty nine gives me 245.
Let’s do this…

The backside of Heartbreak has more downhill then I remember. Not fun at this point because my quads are now feeling like hamburger helper after the early
downhill slopes. 6:14…that’s ok. Keep this going. I make it past the cemetery where I crumbled in ’03…these are all good signs. Run tall…6:20
23rd mile. This can work. What is it that I hear?? Go Oregon!! Go Oregon!! I hope that’s not my boy the Commander!! Holy crap. I just want to cruise this
in and take my 246. What’s so wrong with that? Shit, there goes a friggin blurrrr of neon blasting by me on the left.

This scene gives me flashbacks to a childhood cartoon and I play the role of
Wile E Coyote while the Commander is Road Runner.

“If you’re on a highway and Road Runner goes beep-beep!
Just step aside, or you might end up in heap!”

Vapor time!!! All that I see is Al’s limbs churning quickly with a distinct
ferocity. I have no answer. There is no other gear my friends because I am
already Red Lining. A couple more 620-somethings and my only chance against the
Beast is a late cracking….one last up and down that totally kicks my butt and
finally the right on Hereford. Time to swing left and get this beotch over.
Finish still looks a ways away and all I can think is to try and minimize how
much elapsed time I give away down this last stretch on Boylston. I get closer
and see the clock ticking and trying to take away my 246…that would suck.
Press…then a bit more…almost there…get passed by a sprinting gal (Kelly Flathers) about 20
meters from the finish…classic!!  Final 2:46:45

Notables:

Orin Schumacher 2:42:21, Al Whalen 2:45:35, K.C. Taylor 3:01:52