Goodlife Toronto FULL

When athletic types get together, irreverently a measuring stick of sorts gets pulled out.
Whats your longest distance?
Have you done an ironman?
Whats your marathon PB?
Have you done Boston?

And shamefaced I had to say 3:49, and no never qualified. And for a while I was OK with that. Then a friend qualified and registered and I realized I was jealous and maybe I did want to run Boston. Thankfully 2016 was an El Nino year and the winter was good for training.
I started following this plan, however, I just could not hack it. The distances were too demanding and it was really hard to get the speed work in while the snow was covering the sidewalks, and I got sick. About two weeks of low energy, no appetite, so I adjusted and started following the Mcmillian plan on strava. Thus I did a hybrid of both. Which meant I ran alot more then I had since 2011, and thanks to segments on strava, I ran fast.

Going into to race, I felt prepared. A few niggles here and there. Followed a taper. Legs felt ok. Could have dropped a few pounds, but that is the story of my life.
Weather forecast was not good, but whatever, I could deal with rain and wind.
Stayed at the start line at the Novotel which has seen better days. Race started at 7:30, Went down stairs at 7, found a friend and chatted, realized I needed to have another poop and went back to the hotel at 7:15 and still had lots of time on the start line in the rain in my garbage bag.

Prior to the race I looked at the course map a bit, knew roughly where it went and the elevation changed anticipated. Honestly though, I admit I do look around to much. I look down and watch my feet so I do not trip on Toronto rough roads. I did look around on the Young street section, downtown, and a long downhill section. Mostly I just watched my splits.. until 16k  at which time they were gone so I just kept an eye on the pace bands I had and the basic stop watch feature on my expensive garmin.
At around 35k, my belly got a little sore and I stopped to pee in a bush and found satellites again, which is when I needed them the most.
I think  pace fell off around 30k, which is when I hit the Lakeshore. I pushed and struggled but the kilometers flew by. The wind was tough, and honestly I did not want to do this again or else I would have gave up at 38k and walked it in. As it was I walked up a hill and made a stranger promise me that I would run when I got to her. I knew my math was OK and I would finish around 3:35 as long as I kept at that pace which was why I needed my garmin to make sure I would not go slower then 5:30.

 A+ + goal was sub 3:25
A+ goal was sub 3:30
A goal was 3:35
And there was no not getting my goal as I had to much invested in qualifying for Boston Marathon. Regular massage all through the winter, hotel, food etc.
Crossed the line at 3:35:45, which I am very OK with. It was hard to be estatactic at the finish line due to hypothermia setting in, and in my group of four friends attempting to qualify only  two of us achived it, but the two who worked the hardest did not.

It is sinking in that I did this, and I get to go to Boston and buy a Boston jacket which I have always lusted after.
BUT in my head I and wishing I did a sub 3:30. I got in via lottery for Chicago Marathon this year and initially though I would just cruise to a finish, now I want to race it. I want to do some trail races this year as well so we will see how that goes. Recovered nicely, except for chafing. It is bad, really really bad. I think I may scar, thus I can get rid of my dinner plate metal and just have that as a reminder of the day I qualified for Boston.