Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon

Last Sunday morning marked the start of the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon in Boston, and the conclusion to the Runner’s World Heartbreak Hill Festival! It was also my third and final race in the Hat Trick.

After another early wake-up, Loretta and I drove over to the Boston College campus for the race, which began at 7:30am. The race had corrals again, just like it did for the 10K, which I liked.

We both went to the back of the pack because we had planned on doing the “run/walk” method. I knew because I hadn’t been running the past few weeks that this race was going to be tougher and slower than all of my other races. At times I felt like I was shuffling through the final miles of a marathon, because my legs were so fatigued. It was my first time EVER doing a run/walk method, but I knew it was the right decision when I felt strong while running, powering up the hills and generally feeling okay until about mile 9 or 10. I used the stopwatch on my phone to time 8 minutes of running, followed by 2 minutes of power walking. This worked great until about mile 9 when the walking kind of took over.

By the time we hit Heartbreak Hill, I was tired, and was ready for the race to be over. As soon as we got to the top, I ran to the finish line, which was just around the corner. I was so happy to see it, for the third time this weekend.

We were handed our medals, and I shuffled over to the finisher’s tent for some Gatorade and snacks. I was SO thirsty! Running so many miles this weekend, combined with the warm weather was really tiring! I just made sure to hydrate well before and after each race, and on the course as well. Thankfully, the half marathon course had water every mile and a half, along with a few Gatorade stations, and a Clif Shot station. However, there was no water available at the Clif Shot station, so I carried it for about a mile until I got some water. That could have been planned a little better!

My final time for the half was 2:37:28, my slowest road half marathon (I think my first trail half was faster). But I’m 100% okay with it, because I had doubts in the beginning I could even finish the Hat Trick! Just the fact that I finished all three races this past weekend amazes me.

Overall, the races in Boston were very well organized and were very fun to run! I’m really glad I signed up for the Hat Trick, because otherwise I probably wouldn’t have come all the way to Boston just to run a half marathon. It was also great being able to run on portions of the Boston Marathon course! As a runner, this was amazing and I definitely felt a lot of emotion while I was out there! I know it will be the only time I’ll ever run a race in Boston.

Three races and 22.4 miles completed. We are awesome.