I ran the Boston Half on November 9, finishing in a time of 1:56:02, which was good enough to nab top place in my division (honestly requires that I admit that I was the only one in my division due to travel disruptions that prevented others in my division from making it to Boston).
This race report could be entitled "don't do what I do, kids." Or "why I think that what would normally be a bad decision was the right decision this time." More on that below.
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This was my second year doing the Boston Half, and I entered it both because it was a great opportunity to come back to Boston and compete in the Para Pro division (and enjoy the fantastic hospitality of the BAA) and because it could be a tune-up for my upcoming December marathon. After a challenging summer, my training was going decently well until last weekend, when I had a really tough long run. Out of breath, no energy. I was concerned but blamed it on training fatigue and the hilly route I had chosen. And then overnight I developed sinus pain and a scratchy throat.
So I was sick. I wasn't bedridden, but I felt like crap. And this was lousy timing, given that the Boston Half was less than a week away.
I'll skip a detailed discussion of my head cold (not flu or covid, I tested) and just note that I was laid up on Monday-Wednesday. And as the cold faded away on Wednesday, the fatigue remained and my asthma started to flare like it always does after any viral infection.
A doctor's appointment on Thursday confirmed the asthma flare. I left the doctor's office with instructions not to exert myself for a few days (which I interpreted as Thursday-Saturday) and a prescription for prednisone. The latter was not a surprise - when my asthma flares, there's only one way to tamp it down, and that's with oral prednisone.
However, under WADA rules, oral pred is legal outside of competition, but banned in competition. Yes, there are ways to get a TUE and technicalities about what is in competition versus outside of competition - you can read more about all that here. But I was uncomfortable getting a TUE. I'm not judging others who would, since they are complying with the rules. But I personally didn't want to do it since I believe that pred enhances my performance when I take a large enough dose to control an asthma flare.
In the past when this situation has arisen, I've just skipped the race. And that would have made a lot of sense here, especially with my goal marathon a few weeks out. But this was the Boston Half and the BAA's support of the para-divisions is really important to me. I wanted to support that by showing up if I could. Additionally, I thought I had a decent shot of winning my division even with the asthma flare. So, I made the dumb-but-right-for-me decision to hold off on starting the pred until Monday and race the Boston Half as best I could safely, with the knowledge that it wasn't going to be pretty. [The fact that I was confident that I could manage my own effort and not push myself to a dangerous point also came into play.]
***
For my trip up to Boston on Friday I took the Amtrak Acela high speed train from DC rather than flying. I had booked the Acela several months ago, theorizing that 6.5-7 hours on a train was more relaxing than 5+ hours spent navigating airports and security and cramped airplane cabins. (Conclusion - it was). My choice ended up being prescient as my travel was completely unaffected by the FAA reduction in flight capacity that unfortunately resulted in several athletes being unable to make the race.
The Amtrak Back Bay station in Boston is a 10 minute walk from the hotel I was staying at, so it was an easy trip up. I left DC around 9:30 am, played on the computer for a few hours and then checked into my hotel room at 4:30 pm.
Saturday was a double shake out. I'm (like always) trying to perfect the timing and amount of my PD meds for racing. While taking the train up to Boston, I took both a larger and a smaller dose of Rytary (one of my meds) about 5 hours apart. And I noted that while I was very jumpy on the larger dose (what I usually race on), I was much calmer on the lower dose. That jumpiness and tenseness - called an "exaggerated startle reflex" definitely hurts my race performances.
So, I did two shakeout runs on Saturday split by about 5 hours - the first on the lower dose, and then the second on the higher dose. The lower dose felt much better, so I decided to try that for Sunday.
[the obvious question is: why can't I just go with the amounts that work the best for me in training? The answer is that what amount works best for my running seems to be affected by my overall training volume over the past few days - the amount that is enough when I'm running 60+ miles a week is too much if I'm tapering.]
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Sunday morning dawned with perfect weather for this race - low 50s, overcast sky, some wind but it wasn't much of an issue. I took my lower dose of Rytary around 6:45 am, gave it a few minutes to kick in, and then headed out for my warm-up. The designated warm up area had no flat spots - just up or down. Which gave me plenty of opportunity to confirm that uphills were going to be painful today. [when my asthma flares, it limits hard efforts much more than easy efforts, and uphills seem to be the worst.] So...I struggle on downhills because of Parkinsons, and now I was going to struggle on uphills from the asthma flare. Did I mention that there were no flat sections of this course? This was going to be fun.
I returned from my warm up to the Para tent to head over to the starting line. While in the tent, I learned that I was the only woman in my division this race - the others had not shown up - presumably due to travel disruptions. Unfortunate news, but certainly beneficial to me.
As a member of the Para Pro field, I still had an obligation to race to the best of my abilities, so I couldn't just jog the race and collect the win. But at least I had a bit more leeway to play it safe (racing to the best of one's abilities does require one to finish the race...). As for competition, I always like to unofficially compete with the men in my division. Officially it doesn't matter at all, since there are separate awards for each gender. But unofficially, I like competing. So I chase the guys too. And there were quite a few male T35-38s racing today.
***
The race started with the same downhill as last year, and just like always happens on downhills, I got dropped by most of the para field. I'm always rigid in the first miles of a race if I have to stand for a few minutes before starting, but this was extra. I decided that the lower dose of Rytary had been a bit too low, so I popped a 1/4 tablet of sinemet (short acting med) while running the first mile. It was a bit awkward, but downhill running is awkward for me anyway, so no great loss.
As for whether it helped - it didn't obviously hurt, which I think probably means that it did help.
The race itself was rolling the entire way, with almost no flat. On the downhills, I tried to manage my balance while catching my breath. On the uphills, I tried to push things as hard as I could safely. Which was honestly not very hard - just running already had me uncomfortably close to oxygen debt.
Much of the race was a blur, simply because I felt lousy. And so I was doing my best not to think too much, because as soon as I started thinking, I started thinking about how crappy I felt....
The course had several turn-arounds, and at each one I had a chance to see how far I was behind the men in the T35-38 division. I could tell I was making up time on all of them, but at the halfway point the leader - Joe Drake - was still far ahead. I didn't know if I could make up that gap, but I was going to try.
After mile 8, there was a solid climb - I remembered this from last year. However, unlike last year the course allowed for a bit of a breather before climbing again towards the finish. Sometime during the breather I passed the second place male T35-38. Which was a nice distraction from just how lousy I felt.
So now there was just Joe ahead. I scanned ahead for a tall figure with a white hat and pink compression socks. I would occasionally see what I thought was Joe, but I couldn't be sure. The crowd of runners was thick enough at this point that it was hard to pick out any individual.
The last mile of the course was essentially a big serpentine to the top. Once I passed the 20K marker I tried to empty the tank as best I could. I was successful, but unfortunately I was working with a very small tank.
I crossed the finish line and almost immediately saw Joe standing there. So, I didn't quite catch him, but I was close (officially he edged me by 20 seconds). Next time, my friend. Next time.
***
Splits were:
- First 5K: 28:42
- Between the 5K mark and Mile 4: 7:46 for .89 miles.
- Mile 5: 8:55
- Mile 6: 8:45
- Mile 7: 8:34
- Mile 8: 8:32
- Mile 9: 8:54
- Mile 10: 8:34
- Mile 11: 8:40
- Mile 12: 8:56
- Mile 13: 8:41
- last bit: 1:04
Other notes:
- It was absolutely perfect weather for this race - 42 degrees, overcast skies but no rain, little wind.
- I really enjoyed the train ride both ways and think that's my choice for traveling to Boston from now on. When you factor in the time it takes to get through security, board, and fly plus travel to/from the airport, taking the train is really only an hour or so longer. The train is much more comfortable than flying, and I really enjoyed watching the country go by outside my window (especially the stretch in Connecticut or Rhode Island where the train runs right along the Atlantic Ocean).
- Unsurprisingly, I felt awful the morning after this race. My asthma flare got worse and I lost my voice - resulting in another doctor's visit and a confession of my sins. Ultimately, I ended up having to do a week of antibiotics (doxycycline) to clear up a laryngitis/bronchitis thing. What could have been one down week due to sickness turned into at least three - a nice illustration of why it's generally a bad idea to race when you are recovering from a cold and/or are experiencing an asthma flare. [That's also why this report has taken so long to write.]
- Given the above, I still think racing was the right decision here. It would have been completely different if this was a race that I had entered as part of the open field - in that case it would have been an easy call to skip the race and rest. But besides the fact that I wanted to support the para divisions, there was also the point that...when you accept an invitation to be part of an elite or pro field, that comes with an obligation to show up and race to the best of your abilities if you can, even if you don't like the weather or you don't feel 100% that day or you'd rather use this race as a workout or you could jog the race and still pick up some cash.
Of course, there are exceptions such as a personal emergency or significant injury (I've withdrawn from elite fields in the past for both). And if you know several weeks out that you're not going to perform well and someone else can take your slot and run better, that's OK too. I once withdrew from the elite field at Indy Monumental for that reason - my training wasn't coming together and I knew that there was a waiting list for the elite field, so I gave up my slot so someone else could have it.
But here, I knew my race was going to be really ugly, and I was fairly sure I'd feel awful after, but I was a) in the pro field, b) past the point where I was contagious, and c) confident I wouldn't do any permanent damage to myself. So, I showed up and gave it my best shot. And I'm really glad I did.
