Hey all. I wrote up a quick “Boston Postcard” from Thursday when Kellyn Taylor, Scott Smith and I first got to Boston for our course tour trip. Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday were so darn busy and I was so darn tired from said course tour (yes- I did a lot of running) that I didn’t do another one. So I’ll try and do a quickie recap of the rest of the week here. Enjoy!

Friday started with Scott and I taking the T out to the same spot (17 miles) that Kellyn I had gone the day before. We ran from 17 to 26 and made notes about the Newton Hills. Scott’s killer at downhills so (not unlike for anyone running Boston) the key will be getting up and over those hills with enough in the tank (and the quads) to really take advantage of the friendly last 5 miles. I snapped a pic of him right before Heartbreak Hill.

Once we got back, and I might point out here that I had just run 9-milers two days in a row, it wasn’t long before we had to get ready to go to BU for Kellyn’s race at the John Thomas Terrier Classic. I knew she’d rock it pretty good. She really wanted sub 4:30 but at the very least wanted to break her PR (4:34). She got the latter going 4:33 and finishing second. Not too shabby.

Saturday was sort of a carbon copy of Friday except there was no way I was going to run 9 miles again. So I took the T out to 17 with Kellyn and ran through the hills but wussed out at the 22 mile mark and hopped on the T back to our hotel while Kellyn finished up. That did afford me a bit more energy for the rest of the morning and so I checked out the shops in the Prudential Center. Found this gem of a shirt:

Then it was off to the BU Track and Field and Tennis Center one more time. The building was buzzing leading into the men’s mile. We’d love to think it was because Scott Smith was attempting to break 4 for the first time but let’s be real…the mile doesn’t really pay the bills for us. It’s still fun though. And the crowd certainly got what they wanted in the fast section with 7 sub 4s, a 3:55 for the win from Shadrack Kipchirchir, a 3:55 from NCAA XC Champ Justyn Knight and the 500th ever U.S. sub 4 from Emmanuel Bor. Unfortunately Scott came up short in his bid. I’ll tell you what though, he gave it a shot and dug down as deep as he could. And even though in his post-race interview he mentioned thinking I would give him crap because he ran slower (by .03) than I did when I ran here I can tell you I would never do that. Would I?

Saturday night’s post-race “party” included some pizza and one drink each for Scott and Kellyn and I, followed by watching our guys run at the UW Invite on the internets. We were gutted for Aaron Braun who came up just short in his own sub 4 attempt with a 4:01. But we were also proud. He really went to the well out there. That kind of willpower will come in handy in Boston for Scott and Kellyn in April. After that it was off to bed with 22 miles on tap in the morning.

The above pic was our “before” shot of Kellyn, Scott and Wayne Levy from the BAA who served as our course guide for the morning. Seriously- I can’t thank Wayne enough for his willingness to meet up and share not only 22 miles with us but also his years of wisdom about the course…with a little Boston history thrown in! And I have to also thank John Hancock for bringing us out to Wellesley College before the run to meet with several of their employees who are also training for Boston. And guess who was leading the group? 1983 Marathon Champ Greg Meyer! I got to chat with Greg at the water stop he had set up for the group at the 3 mile mark (did I mention I was just driving along, not running?) and it was super cool to hear his thoughts. My big takeaway was that he said back in the day Billy [Bill Rodgers] and the guys used to say that Boston was a “road race but just longer.” After studying the course I see what he’s saying. It’s not like a Chicago or a Berlin where you just train for even splits and rhythmic running. It’s constantly going up or down (sometimes way up or way down). To me it’s like a big 26.2 mile cross country course. We’ll certainly prepare for everything Boston is going to throw at us. Cheap plug- if you’re running Boston and you want to join us you can purchase our 10-week Boston Training Plans on Final Surge HERE.

After the run we were able to get a quick shot of Scott and Kellyn at the Boston RunBase store in front of the huge Boston Marathon Course Map. Pretty cool:

And then our final stop was at the Tracksmith store on Newbury St. It’s unlike any retail space I’ve been in before. They call it the “Trackhouse” and it really does feel like a house, but one that you can buy stuff in. We were there to record a podcast with the Tracksmith gang. It’s a new show and I believe Scott and Kellyn were the first guests. The episode drops this week and I think you guys will dig it.

So that was our weekend…We’ll be back in April and ready to crush!!

Time to Fly,

– BEN