This was my first Boston Qualifying attempt. I worked with a coach and actually followed a real training plan (and not just weekly mileage goals). The training had gone well and I had been pretty consistently meeting & beating my time & pace goals. So I was pretty confident going in.
What I did not prepare for was race execution, in particular, fuel. I had a general idea of taking 4 – 5 Gus during the race and more or less counted on the race support stations to supply them.
I don’t remember how many Gus I actually got. I do remember missing grabbing one Gu and didn’t take the extra 5 seconds to double back and get it. And I remember getting a Gu at mile 15, expecting to get maybe two more after that but not realizing that would be my last one (were the late stations missing? unsupplied? I don’t remember).
The bottom line: no fuel the last 11 miles.
So I hit the wall at mile 23–so close! Was right in my pace group up til then. Just crashed, badly, and walked much of the last 3 miles, missing my BQ by about 10 minutes.
The moral of the story: execution is everything. Now I start races with 2 extra Gus and keep a running supply (hehe) of 2 or so til the final miles.
So no BQ, but valuable lessons learned; and did get a nice visit to the Schultz Museum.
Russell Yee 