Jim J Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Longtime ISA member Mark K smoked it again in his second Boston Marathon a few days ago posting a 3:04:01 (7.01 mile) pace! Mark is no 19 year old spring chicken and that is an unbelievably fast time. CONGRATULATIONS! Here is short clip of the finish line. Mark crosses at the 58 second mark in black. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Kast Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Very cool, Mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gary L Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Congratulations on this accomplishment Mark I am sure you are as proud of yourself as we are proud of you for finishing such and event. I guess Chicago is next right? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Congratulations on this accomplishment Mark I am sure you are as proud of yourself as we are proud of you for finishing such and event. I guess Chicago is next right? Thank you guys. I fell off the face of the planet the last few months. I've done little more than remove rubber from the bottom of my shoes. It was particulary rough this winter. I'm still tired and feeling like I have been run over by train. Qualifying for and running Boston, is nothing short of an honor. It's the oldest marathon in the country, steeped in tradition and just plain better. Boston is a one way course (the same as it was 115 years ago). It's held on Patriots day which is a huge Holiday in Boston. The kids are off school, so they use the school buses to transport you from Copley Square in Boston to the tiny ass town of Hopkinton. Where you freeze your ass off at the highschool for two hours. The course is a tiny road (with 27,000 runners) everyone is trapped in their house. They are BBQing out front, drinking beer, drinking beer, the locals hold out water (and beer??!!) and orange slices and there are rows of kids holding out their hands to high-5 you. I SWORE to myself, I was going to avoid every single one of their germy little hands and cut every corner and shave every second off... But you just can't...cause your running Boston! The people are so wonderful, you can hear them coaching their kids on how to hold the drinks out. At mile 10 you go thru Wesleyan (sp?) College. It's known as the Weslelyan tunnel. You can hear the roar from 1000m away. The girls from the college try to get you to slow down and kiss them. All I'm going to say is..."What happens at Boston, stays at Boston". Seriously, no stops. They all look like kids to me. Though an innocent peck for tradition sake, would not have been a big deal or in my opinion a violation of dad/husband ethics it might have more importantly f'ed up my time. By this time I had realized that I was kicking arse and needed to stay focused. It's down hill most of the way up till mile 16, when you hit a series of hills thru the town of Newton. They are not particularly steep but if you went out even slightly too fast...you are toast. They end at mile 21. This hill is affectionatly known as "HeartBreak Hill". Then it's downhill and into Boston. Where you are surrrounded by Red Sox fans, waiting for the Patriots Day game... another much larger tunnel. Here is where you see the carnage of runners that went out too fast. Limping with miles to go. Here is where the risk lies. Anyway... I was pushing hard. Real hard and felt okay till mile 24. I never came totally unglued but the last 2 miles all I'm gonna say is I was out of my body. I was pretty close to passing out after the finish. So... Gary, to answer your question. Yes Chicago is next. But to quote Frank Shorter, "You have to forget your last marathon before you try another. Your mind can't know what's coming." Are there still smallmouth around Chicago? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rich mc Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 your committment is rewarded. good job. your in such good shape, if i had you rowing my boat it would be speed trolling. rich Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scott Ferguson Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 Running the Boston Marathon sure is a new way to get in shape for power wading the Kankakee. I'm very impressed. Congratulations. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 your committment is rewarded. good job. your in such good shape, if i had you rowing my boat it would be speed trolling. rich LOL. I don't know about rowing, but I thought about getting one of those pedal powered kayaks. I could pay the thing off by charging people a few bucks to pedal them around all day. A human trolling motor! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Clifford Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 That was an awesome blow-by-blow account of your experience, Mark. Best post I've read here in a long time. Thanks for making us feel a part of it. ....and CONGRATULATIONS!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bterrill Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Awesome! Well done Mark! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve S. Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Excellent job Mark and good to hear from you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark K Posted May 17, 2011 Report Share Posted May 17, 2011 Sammy Wanjiru died yesterday. This guy was a real racer. Here he drops Kebede at the end of Chicago 2010. This finish is incredible. Keep in mind the avg pace for these guys is in the 4:40s for the whole 26.2 miles. I think thats about 12 mph. You have to witness in person to see how fast that really is. The mid point of Roosevelt Rd bridge is the start of the final 400 meters where he produces an incredible kick (uphill) and drops Kebede. http://www.flotrack.org/coverage/237467/video/359189 They don't show him almost faceplant from exhaustion after he crosses the line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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