Monday, April 18, 2011

More Than a Feeling

BOSTON: LIVE

AT THE FINISH

Seth comes in at 2:48:33, tremendous race, and Dave Ploskonka gets under 2:50 with an amazing last 7 kilometers, running 2:49:33.  This is the best marathon of Dave's life and one of the best performances we've ever seen.  Keep in mind this is a guy who put in over 100 miles per week the last two weeks, including a 50 mile race just two weeks ago.  Suzanne brings it back over the last couple of kilometers to finish at 3:10:03 (aaahhhh) for 230th F.  PR for her.  Harvey stops the clock at 3:16:06.  Meg McNew and Carly Page have made it to the finish, 10 seconds apart on chip time but due to the start offset, are a few minutes away from one another.  Meg ran 3:25:09 and Carly was 3:25:19.  Great work for both who have really overcome some tough breaks the past two months.

At 5k, Plosko (20:30), Seth (20:53) and Harvey (22:41), Suzanne (21:48), Carly (22:09), Meg McNew (24:48).  In the PRO field, Ryan Hall said "fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on Jesus" as he once again is pushing the pace, pumping his fist, asking if spectators can smell what the Rock is cooking.  Kiwi Kim Smith has an enormous lead on the women's field, which includes Kara Goucher in the pack.  Lead women are through 15k right now.

At 10k, Seth (40:45), Plosko (20:52) and Harvey (44:56) all look to have sped up slightly in the second 5k.  Suzanne (43:28), Carly (44:38) and Meg (48:33) have cooled out, running a little more reasonably in their second 5k.  Kara Goucher and Desiree Davila seem to be slipping from the main pack just a little, passing the half in 1:11:42.  Ryan Hall is once again holding his hand up to his ear and pumping his fists as the lead men pass through Wellesley.  When will he learn.  Kim Smith's lead is being reduced to a simmer as the hills approach.

At the HALF, Seth (1:23:43), Ploskonka (1:25:34), Harvey (1:34:28) all look to be running well.  Seth's 5k splits have been 20:53, 19:52, 19:13, 19:30, 19:27.  Ploskonka on PR pace.  Suzanne (1:34:27), Carly (1:36:08) and Meg (1:41:26) all running strong.

Through the hills, Seth on 2:47 pace still and Dave at 2:51 pace.  Suzanne and Harvey both under 3:10 pace right now.  Seth and Dave are now through 35k and still running strong.  Seth's last 5k was 20:15 and Dave's was 20:10.  After a tough split to 25k, Carly looks to have regained composure through 30k.  Meg McNew running very even. 

At 40k, Seth is holding on to sub 2:50 pace.  Dave just ran a 19:17 5k from 35-40k and keep your fingers crossed might get under 2:50.  This would be huge.  Suzanne is just holding on to sub 3:10 pace at 35k.  Harvey, Carly slowing down, but will get to the line.

THE WOMEN'S RACE was insane.  Desiree Davila ran the most amazing performance by an American woman in 20 years at this race.  She fought all the way to the finish...Desiree reps Michigan, she must have been inspired by the Chrysler commercials.  14mph tailwind is what we're hearing.  GREAT RACE for Ryan Hall.  Maybe we can put his quote back up on the right hand side.  4th place, PR 2:04:58 for Hall, 1:01:57 at the half.  Would have been 2nd place at London yesterday.  2:03:01 for the winner, won't be ratified due to the downhill nature of Boston.  Would like to know the effect of the tailwind. 

13 comments:

brennan said...

A wise man once said "TNT - it works"

Awesome performances!

RM said...

2:48:33 for Seth

2:49:33 for Dave - this is a 7 minute PR

alyssa said...

A wise woman once said "ultras make people faster."

We are all so fast and so quick and so pretty!

RM said...

Suzanne finishes just outside 3:10, 3:10:03 official. 2+ minute PR for her.

RM said...

Harvey - 3:16:06

Meg McNew - 3:25:09

Carly Page - 3:25:19

Carly hasn't run in the last three weeks, and Meg McNew only started running 3 weeks ago. Both did great.

I have an analysis of the race by 5k splits, if anyone is interested.

RM said...

More comments from me:

Dave's personal best there was 3:57:13, so over 7.5 minute personal best.

Suzanne's was over 2:20 better than last year.

Meg McNew was within 90 seconds of her best time there (2010).

Really incredible stuff.

Dart said...

MAB French Toast! Great work everyone.

Jen said...

Thanks guys for the follows and shoutouts! Its nice to know people are watching. It took me asking 5 volunteers before someone knew who won the women's race. Yeesh.

Jen said...

Oop. That was Carly, not Jen.

David Ploskonka said...

Ryan, thanks for tracking this. A few points, for clarification:

1. My fastest Boston Marathon prior to this was the 2:57:13 that I ran in 2009, but my fastest marathon was the 2:56:32 that I ran at the National Marathon in 2009. So this was a 7-minute PR (in my 7th consecutive Boston finish . . .)

2. Although it feels like ages ago now, I ran my 50-mile PR at Bull Run on April 9th, or 9 days prior to Boston. ("a little less than a week and a half"?)

3. I attribute this performance to going big with both mileage and speedwork. So I'll keep showing up at TNT on Tuesdays and running fast, and I'll keep showing up at whatever crazy ultras are happening and going long (and relatively fast). Because, as a wise, non-gender-specific person once said "to race faster, you need to run faster." :)

RM said...

Going back through the comments, I just saw that I typed a 3 instead of a 2 in Dave's Boston PB, but I don't think it tricked anyone.

I think 2011 is the year of believing in yourself. We have had some beyond amazing performances from the mile to the marathon so far.

ADDITIONALLY

He tried to sneak it past us but Cheese reminded me that WILL KNOX ran Boston yesterday. He ran 2:52:28. Check out these 5k splits:

20:23, 20:25, 20:19, 20:19, 20:13, 20:17, 20:42, 20:42

THE KRIS said...

great job people, it's nice to see so many being the hammer not the nail.

Seth said...

Thanks for all the support everyone. Some truly monster performances coming from so many people this year! Very exciting and encouraging. I guess I will be back to TNT and the other group runs after some well deserved rest.