Even better than …
Quick entry for now
. The 114th Boston marathon has been successfully completed, again under 3 hrs, the 5th consecutive time. While this marathon was one of the hardest because of ugly head-wind gusts starting after 5 ks and a hilly course with quite a few of 300 – 1.000 m climbs, the atmosphere was just outstanding – the Americans can get really crazy when it comes to sports. Sometimes the noise was deafening.
The second half was especially tough with the wind getting stronger and more climbs coming up, especially Heartbreak Hill, a hilly section in the suburb of Newton between miles 17 and 21. My feet worsened as soon as kilometer 15 and I had to run very carefully in order to avoid early cramps .
After Heartbreak Hill it is mostly downhill. But with sore legs this is quite a task to accomplish, especially when time is against you. I almost sped up too early but managed to overcome a cramp problem with just 1 mile to go soon enough in order to finish in 2:59:31 hrs: mission accomplished.
Then it was another long walk to gather my changing clothes and meet up with Sylvia, Jean-Pierre, Susi, Stefan and Julian and celebrate the successful run. We went to Jakobs Wirth, a Bavarian beer house in Boston city, and relished on Fish and Chips, Paulaner Hefeweizen and a Guiness. Spiro, a friend from Melbourne, joined us, putting a perfect end to a breath-taking day.
More on the marathon soon…
