[GRP Run] Marathoners Set New PRs at Boston
Katie Kellner (photo courtesy of Alison Wade / @fastwomen)
GRP Sprigs took to the streets of Boston on Patriot’s Day (April 18) for the 126th Boston Marathon. Annmarie Tuxbury and Katie Kellner competed in the elite field placing 23rd (2:38:15) and 31st (2:40:57) respectively. Caroline Williams started in a later wave but ran a very strong race. She experienced some timing snafus when her chip didn’t record correctly off the starting line resulting in a delayed result. The official updated results list clocked her with a 2:42:29, good for 34th place overall.
All three posted personal best times in the marathon distance. A major focus for each of these runners is to achieve the 2024 Olympic Trials Qualifying Standard of 2:37 (8 minutes faster than the 2020 trials standard of 2:45). Admittedly they were disappointed to not reach that milestone yet but setting PRs on a hilly and windy course such as Boston indicates great progress towards that goal.
For runners in the northeast, Boston is one of the most highly anticipated events of the year. Kellner says “there is nothing more fun than running the Boston Marathon when you live in Boston and are a part of the running community here.” She admits, “I wanted that OTQ and I believed my fitness was there, but as everyone warned, Boston humbled me.” She hit a wall in the Newton hills but pushed through, explaining: “running solo into the headwind for 16 miles was tough and the early downhills crushed my legs more than I anticipated. Pretty sure I was running with my heart, not my legs.” Despite the struggle she was happy to walk away with a 9 second PR and she feels very encouraged by progress in both training and racing over the last month.
Caroline Williams (photo courtesy of Alison Wade / @fastwomen)
Willams is also coming off one of the best quality training cycles of her career. She “took a chance” on herself going out hard right from the gun and struggled to hold the pace in the second half but managed to improve her PR by minutes. She acknowledged the crowd as a contributing factor- “gosh I heard them loud and clear”- and left the race with a great feeling. “This was one of the best days, weekends, and training cycles of my running career. Never have I been this happy with not hitting my goal.”
Annmarie Tuxbury (photo courtesy of Alison Wade / @fastwomen)
Tuxbury agrees that solid performances are about more than just the results sheet. “While I was well off my time and performance goals for the race, my main goal was to get to the start line and get to the start line healthy,” she said. “I won in some ways before I started.” This was her first Boston Marathon and she admits the learning curve can be steep. “I always respect the distance but I did not completely respect the difficulty of the course...it was hard.” The pace of the leaders strung out the elite field early in the race leaving Tuxbury, Kellner and others around them battling the winds solo for much of the race. Despite the conditions, Tuxbury also walked away with a PR of 50 seconds.
Full results here