This was my second attmept at a sub-2:50 marathon and it went almost as well as I had hoped. Here's what I thought of it in April of 1997:

For me Boston Marathons have always started with the trip out and the friends who go along. Travelling is almost as much of the event as the race itself. This year Keith (a guy I met at the 1996 Santa Fe Institute For Complex Systems Summer School and who is from Ohio but who now lives and works in Norway and runs 2:45-2:50 marathons) Downing would be making the trip with me. I picked him up from a conference in Indianapolis and we headed to Boston after hanging out a day in West Lafayette.

Our first step was driving to Keith's home town of Streetsburo, OH to spent the night at his mother's place and pick up a friend of his, Carson Heiner. From there we made the drive to Boston and got into town around midnight on the Friday before the race. We checked into the Boston International Hostel, a fine establishment located only a few blocks from the Hynes Convention Center (the location of the race expos), the start of the bus ride out to Hopkinton and the start of the race, and most importantly, the finishing area. I'm never sure how well, or how far, I can walk after a marathon.

We spent Saturday attending the marathon expos and buying too many souvenirs. I got a Boston jacket, my fourth, even though I had promised myself I wasn't going to buy yet another one. My rationalization was that this year's model was supposed to be made to run in. I also bought the panoramic photograph of last year's start. My rationalization of this was that Nimbus (fellow marathon runner, Purdue physicist and master micro-brewer) Couzin and I were featured prominently in the very center of the picture. How could I pass that up. Next up was a poly-something-or-another shirt to run the race in incase the weather was cold. I had to have that. My spree of mass consumption ended with the purchase of a marathon training book written and autographed by Hal Higdon. He wrote:

For Jim: Good Luck in the 101st Boston Marathon! - Hal Higdon 4/19/97

I felt special until Keith bought a copy with an autograph that read:

For Keith: Good Luck in the 101st Boston Marathon! - Hal Higdon 4/19/97

That afternoon we toured the campus of M.I.T. and managed to traverse the entire Infinite Hallway. Afterwards we partook in the heaping hospitality of Peter (another guy I met at the 1996 Santa Fe Institute For Complex Systems Summer School and surely one of Australia's very finest) Dodds. Peter and his other friend Peter prepared a feast of pasta which we ate while watching the Bulls lose to the Knicks in their final meeting of the regular season.

Sunday began for me by sleeping in. Carson, Keith and our fourth roommate at the hostel, Steve (a friend of Carson's from Ohio) Godale, participated in the International Friendship Run. My lack of participation in the run reflected only my desire to be well rested for the marathon and should not be construed as a feeling animosity towards the fine gathering of international runners. Damn foreigners!

Sunday afternoon we ventured to the expos again where I resisted any further temptation of purchase. I did partake in a few free samples of Power Bars, PR Nutrition Bars and Gatorade. Our main objective was to attend the course talk and marathon slide show. Unfortunately the slide projectors were experiencing technical difficulty, but the course talk was all the inspiration Keith and I needed. It can be a very emotional few days and for me, the course talk often starts the ball rolling to the buildup to the start of the race.

The rest of the day was spent reading various parts of Hal's book and debating the suggestion therein. We concentrated on the final few days or preparation and specifically the carbo-loading the night before the race. Hal suggested eating two smaller meals instead of one large one. To this end we thought it a good idea to get to the pre-race pasta dinner as early as possible and eat during the entire event.

By 5:45pm we were indulging in vast amounts of salad, pasta, bread and various fluids while an Army band played a wide variety of music. During the meal I asked Steve about his training. He'd qualified for Boston with a marathon time between 2:45 and 2:50 and I wanted know his secret. Plus I'd heard some rumors to the effect that he ran some really, really high mileage weeks. The rumors were accurate and Steve told me he'd averaged130 miles a week over the course of an entire year and that his highest week was 201 miles. I was impressed, but wondered why his times weren't all that much better than mine and no better that Keith's. Still, I was quite impressed with his training and was sure he'd beat me because of his work and higher seeding.

By 9:30pm we were quite full and were being booted out of the party. Back at the Hostel we read more of Hal's book and got ready for race. Hal suggested laying out your racing clothes and so forth, which we did to keep busy and take our minds off any last minute jitters.

Monday morning we got up bright and early. The weather was sunny and clear. No rain and a projected high in the upper 50's. A little too hot perhaps, but not bad. My hydrating began with 16 ounces of Gatorade that I drank while getting dressed and eating a banana. A short walk lead us to the first of many lines we were to wait in that day. Five minutes later and we were on a bus bound for Hopkinton and the start, 26.2 miles from the center of Boston.

The bus ride was relaxing and I ate a bagel and drank some more Gatorade. The people on the bus were talking and excited about the race. I tried to plan my strategy for the race and my second attempt at a sub-2:50 marathon. Hal had a lot of suggestions that I wanted to read and put into practice. One of his contributors had noted that even the most elite of marathon runners start slow, get fast in the middle and then faded in the end. The winners fade the least, but still slow down somewhat over the last quarter of the course. Thus, Hal suggested planning for that when deciding what pace to run for the marathon. There was a very explicit mathematical plan that he suggested. Of course he ends the section with a statement to the effect that the Boston course is one that will defy most pace charts. Still I was developing a simple plan that I hoped would fit the course.

Hal's finally bit of wisdom proved to be one of the most helpful. With regard to hydrating he suggested drinking quite a bit up to an hour before the marathon and then stopping. Then just before the race drink a final 12-16 ounces. This allows for the runner to be hydrated while maintaining an empty bladder. A combination I had not proven capable of and which lead me to make pit stops in all of my previous Boston Marathons.

When the bus arrived in Hopkiton I ate my last bagel while Carson, Keith and I toured the athlete's village. More than 10,000 runners crowded into the field's behind the Hopkinton highschool. There were bagels, water and Gatorade for everyone. We filled our bottles and found a place to sit and stretch. I made my final calculations for my pace strategy, figuring my goal was 10,000 seconds or 2:46:40.

Due to the slowing down mentioned in Hal's book and the up-hill nature of Boston's second half, my plan was to try for a 6:15 per mile pace over the first half which was mostly down-hill, and then switch to a 6:30 per mile pace over the second half. This plan was a bit like playing with fire, it could warm me, but I could get burned by going out too fast and then crashing in the second half. Still, I needed to put myself in some realistic position for a sub-2:50.

During my planning we all made many trips to the nearby woods in order to relieve ourselves of the burdens of over hydration. In addition to this I was able to make a "fruitful" trip to one of the myriad port-o-potties (or would plethora be more accurate) and return to my planning session with a completely clean system. This has always been a good sign for me and hinted at a good day ahead.

At 11:00am finished drinking and started stretching out. Then I applied suntan lotion to avoid a sunburned scalp as I had gotten on my first Boston Marathon. With my head shaved as usual for a marathon, I needed extra protection from the bright sun. The sky was mostly clear with some clouds on the western horizon that I hoped would blow in and provide some shade for the course.

At 11:30am we headed to the start of the race. On the way I ran into Paul (Purdue mathematics graduate student and local running rival) Loomis. Paul had soundly thrashed me at the Sam Costa Marathon we ran a month ago. It hadn't been my best race and Paul had run very well. He was in good spirits and shooting for breaking three hours for the race. This should have meant an easy win for me over Paul, but I'd thought the same thing at the half marathon and gotten a big surprise.

I felt confident as Keith and I jogged about half a mile as a final warmup. My bout of plantar fasciitis seemed to be under control and no longer a problem and everything felt good. A final few swigs of Gatorade and two more trips to some of the local trees for hydration relief and we were ready to get into the crowd for the start.

Keith and I were seeded in the first starting bin, right behind the elite runners. We pushed our way to the middle of our starting bin and to the left side of the road. In past races that's seemed to work well for me. Not long after we found a spot the starting gun sounded, without much warning, and the crowd surged forward. Keith and I crossed the starting line together after about 15 seconds. As the crowd thinned I lost sight of Keith and tried to settle down into my own pace. Keith was planning to run the first half at a faster pace and I wanted to stay with my plan.

The first mile came around at 6:40, so a 6:35 pace when accounting for the start. A bit slower than I had hoped, but I wasn't worried. There were still 25.2 miles to make up those 20 seconds, or crash and burn. The race hadn't really even begun. The pace felt effortless and I worked hard not to push too hard as I have too many times in the past. But with the adrenalin of the start and feeling good it was hard not to run too fast. The most important thing now was to get my head in the race. To do this I tried to concentrate on the next mile time. I added 6:15 to 6:40 and then set out for a 12:55 time at two miles. This seemed to work as I managed a time that was only a few seconds slow.

Around three miles I caught sight of Keith and pulled close enough to talk a bit. We didn't have a long conversation as Keith pulled away, running a little faster than I wanted to go. Maintaining my focus,I let him go and worked to keep a steady pace. At the 5K (3.1 miles) point my time was 19:45, so 19:30 since I crossed the starting line. I'd now established a 6:17 pace overall and had run the last two miles at a 6:14 pace. Everything was perfect and I could even see the leaders way up ahead, though that wasn't going to last.

The miles came quickly and I was able to hold close to my 6:15 per mile target pace. I lost a few seconds each mile, but I wasn't concerned. A little conservation in the first half could pay high dividends in the second half. The crowds were thick and cheering loudly. Water and Gatorade station were located at each mile and it was easy to drink as much as needed. The sun was bright and the temperature was in the middle 50's. The only bad thing about the weather was a slight head wind which could slow things down just a bit. My position in the crowd was pretty steady I was passing a lot of people, but an equal number of people passed me.

We passed the Framingham Train Depot at the 10K (6.2 miles) point and the total time was 39:20, so 39:05 for my time. My pace was up to 6:18 and I'd run the last 5K in 19:35 for a 6:19 pace, but I was still pretty happy. I was running closely with two men from El Salvador. The crowd cheered and yelled "Go El Salvador" as we passed by. At the seven mile point a man with a bull horn reminded us to check our form in the mirrored windows of an electrician's shop in Framingham, just as Jim Fixx hand mentioned in his "The Complete Book of Running." Never one to shy away from a mirror I did sneak a glance. Of course I looked great, but I was shocked at how tall I looked. It was probably the five foot tall man from El Salvador running just in front of me.

The race still hadn't begun. In the weeks before the marathon I had dreaded the first half, recalling some of the major landmarks and also noting the distance that still remained to be run at each. Now in the race I couldn't let myself think things like: nine miles down, 17.2 to go. I felt okay, but I didn't feel great. Each mile was a little slower than I had wanted and I was missing my goals by a little more each mile. At that point, to help get a little more speedy,I started trying to pass people as well as keep shooting for the next mile time. I also started trying to push harder on down-hills while resting a little bit on the up-hills. Nimbus had employed this strategy very successfully at the Grandma's Marathon in Minnesota and it seemed like a good idea.

Lake Cochutata in Natick signalled that we were 15K (9.3 miles) into the race,the time was 59:10, so my split was 58:55. My pace was slipping a bit and was now 6:20 per mile. I'd run the last 5K in 19:50 for a 6:24 per mile average. We were now into the flattest part of the race and I didn't have that many down-hills to boost my speed. Plus I was starting to get a little tired, nothing drastic though. Ten miles was coming up and Hal had written that a runner should feel fresh at ten miles in order to have a good marathon. I didn't know what feeling "fresh" meant exactly, but I didn't feel bad. Ten miles came a little later than I wanted to in 1:03:50 overall, a net time of 1:03:35 and a 6:22 per mile pace.

At this point I did think I was doing okay. An hour had passed and I had run ten miles. A whisper in my head mentioned the 16.2 miles still to go, but I tried not to listen to that. The race was now about to start and I didn't feel like I was dying. It's all relative. It's not so much that I felt good, but that I didn't feel really bad. This was enough to start a bit of confidence building. The men from El Salvador had fallen behind as I began hearing the cheers from behind me. There was a guy from Canada in front of me and a Costa Rican that I set my sights on. Too bad I wasn't fast enough to be shooting for some guys from Kenya.

Around this time I got a big moral boost was when I saw Steve Godale just ahead as we passed the church and town green of Natick. If I could catch a guy who ran 130 miles a week for an entire year, well then I wasn't too shabby after all. Since I didn't know Steve that well, I passed him on the far side of the street. In the past I haven't enjoyed being passed by people I know and thought that he might feel the same way. Some discretion seemed appropriate. Plus I didn't want him to challenge my overtaking of him!

Just before mile 12 we passed into Wellesley, still about half a mile from the women of Wellesley College, you could already hear the roar. The down hill along the campus let us pick up the pace as the cheering got louder and louder. I was so amazed with the decibel level that I lost my concentration and forgot the goal for mile 12. The boost we got from the loudest part of the course more than made up for it.

At the half marathon the time was 1:23:32 and my split was 1:23:17 for a 6:21 pace. The bad news was that I was slower than my desired 6:15 pace, but the good news was that I had run this half marathon 22 seconds faster than my bad Sam Costa race. My plan was now to slow to a 6:30 pace, but I decided to try to keep aiming for 6:15's and hitting 6:20-6:25 miles for a while longer. The hills were coming and I still wanted a few miles at as fast a pace as I could go without risking burning out too quickly.

The race was heating up, as was my brain. It was all I could to to add six minutes and 20 seconds to my time at each mile to have something to aim for. I stopped trying to remember my splits and put all my effort in pushing forward. It seemed to work as I kept a steady pace, probably closer to 6:30 than 6:20. The down-hills still called for faster running and I passed several people on the way down and held on during the up hills. Too cool off I doused myself with water that I had grabbed some water from a small boy along the side of the road offering runners cups as they passe by. I'd seen many young boys and girls jump for joy when a runner took their water. It helped me a lot to see that sort of thing and know how much the spectators enjoy the race so much.

Mile 16 was almost all down-hill and I pressed hard. My left hamstring was beginning to tighten. Thoughts of my first Boston Marathon and a 4:04 finish from a hamstring injury crept into my head. But I pushed them out and tried to relax. The pain in my legs was manageable as was the pain on the balls of both feet that had now become a constant companion. It was this same point last year where my neroma (pinched nerves) started hurting. But there were only ten or so miles left and I knew I could make it. Any pain was the least of my worries as we crossed into Newton and the hills started in earnest.

I struggled up the first of the four major hills with a seven minute mile. My plan of taking it easy on the hills was no costing me too much time, so I had to push hard. Hill number two was better, but Heartbreak Hill loomed large. Even though I couldn't see it, I knew it was there. On the way up the next hill I passed a wheel chair athlete pushing hard up the hill. As always the courage and determination exhibited by all marathon runners is, to me, most prominent in these athletes and as I passed him and managed to summon enough strength to yell some encouraging words, I found myself inspired by his effort.

This inspiration and the slight down hill before Heartbreak Hill let me pick up some speed so I could start my charge upwards. Up to this time I had been passing people pretty steadily. The Costa Rican and Canadian were now distant memories. Steve hadn't overtaken me and very few people had. As bad as I felt, most people must have felt worse. Still we all pushed ahead. The crowds of spectators cheered us on and did the best they could to encourage us and give us the strength not to quit. As we started up Heartbreak Hill I chanted a private mantra and charged upwards passing a lot of people and catching the smallest of second winds. As I crested Heartbreak I began my push down the hill to get back whatever time I could that had been lost on the hills of Newton.

Just ahead of me I saw Keith slapping high fives with the kids lined up along the course and "waving" to an old college friend. I worked to make up the distance to him and just after the water/Gatorade stop before mile 22 I was just behind him. As I passed I tried to say something inspirational, but could only manage a few words of encouragement and a big thumbs up sign. He said something, but it didn't register and I pressed on down the hill.

By now I was having trouble making the 6:30 per mile targets for each mile. My pace was slipping closer to 6:40 and 6:45 each mile, but somewhere along the way it occurred to me that the one positive thing about Heartbreak Hill was that it meant we'd already run 21 miles and that there were only 5.2 miles left to go. The last part of the course is a net down-hill, but the hills are rolling and each down-hill has a smaller rise associated with it just to make life a little harder. Still my down-hill running was strong and I felt good, at least relative to being run over by a car.

Hal dedicates and entire chapter of his book to the last 10K of a marathon and I tried to recall what I had read. The idea that helped the most was to try and pass people. To that end, I worked hard to overtake as many people was possible. The miles were coming slower, but they were still at a sub seven minute per mile pace. Very few people were passing me and I was catching a lot of runners. A few of us ran at about the same pace and pulled each other along. When the wind got tough we clung together and tried to catch a draft.

We were getting into downtown Boston and the Prudential Building was visible. That was the finish and seeing the building drove home to me how close we were. At 24 miles I knew we only had 2.2 miles and I could manage that. Mile times didn't quite register. I could still add 6:30 to the last mile and know what to shoot for, but I have no recollection of the mile splits involved. The crowd of runners was getting thin and finding people to pass was harder. We were all trying to kick in whatever we had left and the pace picked up a little bit. I just didn't want to quit, I wanted to be able to push and work the entire way, not give in and work as hard as possible. That's what it's all about and I wanted to give all I could over these last two miles. All the miles I put in gave me confidence that I could make it so I kicked with all I could muster.

At the 25.2 mile mark we had a single mile to go and the time was 2:44:37 which made my net time 2:44:22. I made an extra effort to memorize this as I started my kick in the last mile. Not only did I want to know how fast I ran the last mile, I also wanted to know if a sub-2:50 was possible. For a second I thought I could still make it, it seemed that a 6:38 mile would do the trick. Then I realized my addition had been in error and that it would take a 5:38 mile to break 2:50, which I knew was out of reach.

Just before the second to last turn I heard Peter shouting my name. I waved, but didn't turn to look as I didn't really have the strength. Just a few more minutes and I'd be done. While a 2:50 wasn't going to happen, there was an outside chance that I could run a personal record (PR). I couldn't think well enough to figure out what to ran, all I could do was run. The last straightway was lined with cheering spectators and seemed to last forever. The finish line looked too far away. Still a last push brought me home. I ran the last ten yards waving my arms in the air before switching to the traditional finishing pose I strike while pressing the stop button on my watch. The time there still reads 2:51:12. I'd started it a little late and my official finish was at 2:51:14 for a net start to finish time of 2:50:59, 14 seconds over my PR set last fall in Chicago on a much faster course, but four minutes faster than my time last year.

My second half marathon (13.1 miles) was a 1:27:42, for a 6:42 per mile pace. All my times were almost identical to my times in Chicago last fall. This makes me very happy as the second half of Boston is much tougher than the second half of Chicago. Also the winning time this year in Boston is more than a minute slower than the average winning time over the past ten years. This indicates that the head-wind we ran into cost me almost a minute and a half, which would have put my time in the 2:49 range. My overall place was 353 out of over 10,000 runners and was good enough for second in the state of Indiana out of about 90 runners.

Steve finished about 15 seconds after me and been closing in on me, but I held him off. Keith ran a 2:54 for his first Boston Marathon and Carson finished in 3:10, running strong over the second half. Carson had met up with Paul Loomis during the second half and run with him a while before pulling away. Paul came in at just under 3:14, which gives me a victory to even us up for the Sam Costa half marathon.

In the finisher's area after the race Keith and I ran into Chuck (a Boston University physics Ph.D. who I had met in the finisher's area at the 1995 Boston Marathon) Furgeson. Chuck had run a 2:48 and seemed in good spirits. Even having times as close as we did it seemed a long shot to run into him not just the once, but twice now. It's a small world.

There's so much more to write, I didn't do the 1.5 million person crowd justice, but there's so much that's a blur and this is long enough already. In summary, while I didn't break 2:50, I think my effort was good and on a day without a head wind I might have done it. My finishing place was the highest I've ever managed in Boston and my second half was strong and I caught a lot of people. So I've managed to make some gains from my Chicago Marathon condition. Hopefully I can build from here for a 2:45 or better in Chicago this fall.

Back to the Running Vita of James B. Elliott