Race Report: Boston's Run to Remember

We weren't quite sure what to expect out of this half marathon outside of a recommendation from someone who ran the Run The Reservoir 15k, and a couple of mass emails from the race organizers to registrants leading up to the race. Honestly, we signed up without looking too much at the website, and decided to run it on a whim because we felt so good after the Willow Tree Half Marathon.

There were 4,039 finishers in the half marathon, plus a field of runners in a 5 mile race.

The course went from the Seaport in South Boston up to about Harvard and back. MUCH of the course was an out and back on Memorial Drive, and given a bit cooler temperatures and less humidity, this might have been really nice, because the view of the Charles River was phenomenal. Unfortunately, we both came away from the race just remembering how HOT we were on this (long) section of the course. The entire field of about 4,000 runners also had to turn around at a cone in the road at about mile 6 or 7, which was the "out" of the out and back. This was slightly annoying because with that many people it was definitely a pace interrupter.

There were several water stops along the route about every 3 miles which we felt were totally adequate as far as where they were located. They could have been organized a bit better --- often we had to go to the table and search for a cup of water or Gatorade. Additionally, there didn't seem to be any garbage cans at the water stop. I understand that many people don't use them, but some do- and it really would have helped because there was a lot of debris to run through.

Here's a personal pet peeve that we had --- runners, if you're going to use Gu and you're NOT at a water stop, please, PLEASE hold on to it, stick it in your pocket (or wherever you just took it out of), but please DON'T throw it on the ground. The race volunteers will pick up the debris that's left on the ground at the water stop, but they're not out on all 13.1 miles of the course to pick up your Gu wrappers. We were just feet from the Charles River and there was, what we felt to be a LOT of litter on the course. As runners, we enjoy nature, the environment, a clean earth, whatever you want to call it - so we really should not be the ones to ruin it. Please.

Back to the rest of the race --- Great views of Boston Gardens on the way back, nice section of Comm Ave, and a quick trip through Downtown Crossing and the Financial District back to the finish.

Mixed reviews on the finish. For the last half mile (at least) you could see and hear the finish line. The last half mile (again, at least) also included a pretty arched bridge, zero shade, and a bunch of silent spectators (seriously, no clapping. at least at the post 2 hour mark). I didn't mind the finish at all. Loved watching the finish line get closer and closer, which got me up the hill on the bridge and helped me power through the heat. Ryan and our friend from Jog New London really disliked the finish.

Post race there was plenty of food and water, although it was a bit crowded and chaotic. I'm not sure how you avoid that when you're in a city as opposed to a more open park atmosphere and you have over 4,000 people looking for a cool drink.

Other notes - plenty of parking. Lots of porto-potties at the start/finish and EXCELLENT use of pace markers at the start. Really helped avoid a slow first mile filled with people darting in and out.

Race Calendar Updated

Put about a half a dozen new races up on the Rhode Island Race Calendar. We plan to run the 5k in Newport this weekend -- looking forward to it! Has anyone else run it before?

Willow Tree Half Marathon Race Report

There were a few things about this race that were awesome and a few things about this race that I'd love to see change if we do it again next year.

The course was not very scenic, hard for spectators to get out to, and heavy on the potholes while we were on the road, but great as a run. All of the hills were in the first half with an easy, flat second half. There were some pretty cool spectators who DID get out on the course, including the coolest little girl playing the harmonica at mile 2 and two awesome kids playing Beastie Boys around mile 4. Also, the Team in Training signs all through India Point Park were a really nice boost for ALL of us. (But good for you, Team in Training, because you totally made me want to join up for one of these races.)

Organization was not a strong point of this race. From the get-go, the website was hard to navigate, slow, and not really full of information. When the maps finally did go up, they were confusing. There were some water stops at the beginning of the course that were not where they should have been, according to the map, so I just stopped expecting them after that and I don't know if the other ones were in the correct locations or not.

The start and finish were pretty convenient downtown. I see where they were going by putting the water kind of far away, a little inconvenient, but definitely limited the crowding that sometimes happens right after the finish.

We had a great run. The weather was perfect. Ryan broke his previous best time, I was a couple minutes slower, but I'll take it because I felt much better, had some kick and the end and didn't feel like a zombie after. Ran with our friend from JogNewLondon.com who did really well too!

Not sure we'll do this one next year, but definitely enjoyed the day. Looking forward to ditching the long runs for a while and getting in some fun 5ks before it gets hot this summer!