The app looks a little different this time - but there’s no reason I can’t re-use this picture from October.

(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 16)

Back in October I published “John In The Boston Marathon: A Viewer’s Guide.”

It’s a little surreal that I’m now publishing my second “Viewer’s Guide” in six months.

I honestly thought, when there was little Team Framingham waitlist movement back in January 2020, that was my last hope for running the Boston Marathon and it wasn’t going to happen.

Now, here we are with me running my second one - and on the actual Marathon Monday in April!

I so appreciated all the support back in October…now here’s how you can bolster me up again tomorrow. (!)

Everything is back to being a little more how it’s usually done this time around.

Instead of the rolling start (get going when you feel like it to increase the social distancing for runners), we will be started in waves, like any other big race.

I’m in the last wave, which will start at 11:15am….my start time could be anywhere between 11:15 and 11:30-ish.

So any time references are based on that start window. I know Kathy posted updates on my timing back in October…maybe she’ll do that again and tag me if anything is significantly different than what I predict here.

At the risk of setting myself up for disappointment and having you all know about it, I do have a goal for this marathon.

I would like to finish in under 5 hours - closer to 4:45:00 if possible (that’s 4 hours, 45 minutes, which would mean about 4pm…not 4:45pm. Confusing.) - and try to hit somewhere between 10:45 and 11:00 minutes per mile.

I think that’s reasonable. Back in October I wasn’t paying much attention to my pacing the first six miles because I was just taking in everything around me and that affected the rest of my run. I’m hoping that just having had the experience of doing it before makes me more disciplined this time as far as pacing.

I’m thinking about timing differently this time too, more in terms of chunks than specific miles. Here's what I’m keeping in mind as I run as far as time goals:

I hope to hit 6 miles at somewhere between 1:05:00 and 1:10:00
I hope to hit 12 miles at somewhere between 2:10:00 and 2:20:00
I hope to hit 18 miles at somewhere between 3:15:00 and 3:30:00
I hope to hit 24 miles at somewhere between 4:20:00 and 4:40:00
And then I’m hoping to finish in the 4:45:00-4:55:00 window.
Another way to think about it is if I can average around 11 minutes a mile through 20 miles I’ll be in great shape. Then anything goes once I’m through those last hills.

As many of you know, Marathon Monday is a holiday here in Massachusetts. It’s Patriots’ Day, celebrating the anniversary of the start of the American Revolution and the Battles of Lexington and Concord, and Paul Revere’s ride, all of that. (This one happens to fall on the actual anniversary of Revere’s ride, but it’s always celebrated on the third Monday of April.)

This is the first time since 2019 that the Marathon is being run on Patriots’ Day and the Red Sox have their traditional 11am start (so fans can leave Fenway Park and see runners coming through Kenmore Square…probably too soon for me to be there though).

Unlike October, when the race was held on the Monday in October that everyone has off (Columbus Day in some places, Indigenous People’s Day in others), I understand many of you not in Massachusetts will be working Monday…and the rest of the week. (That’s the other traditional thing here - this is the spring break week so although I will still have work, I won’t have to shuttle the girls back and forth everywhere all week like I did in October the week after the race.) [Another note: because of where Easter fell this year, this is one of those rare years where the Massachusetts spring break aligns with at least New York’s.]

But if you can spare me some positive vibes while you’re at work, I’ll take them. And if you care to send a cheer in some way (the app allows for that) - I really enjoyed seeing those - even the ones that were sent in-the-moment during the race - after I got home.

If you’re out on the course, and you snap a picture or some video, I love looking at those after the fact as well.

It’s a game-time decision right now whether I’ll be bringing my phone with me. There’s a chance I don’t at all (I didn’t in October), or maybe I take it to the Athlete’s Village and run with it to Framingham before I hand it off to Kathy….or maybe I just keep it on me the entire way.

But if you text me, I have my watch, and there’s a good chance I see it…and an even better chance I won’t respond until afterwards.

As you read this I’m probably trying to figure out how to put my name on my bib so that people I don’t know can cheer for me too..

If you’re out on the course, let me know ahead of time where to look for you…I hope to at least wave to you if not give a high five as I go by.

I’m going to try to focus a lot more on the running this time around than what’s around me.

But I’ll inevitably be looking around - it’s just too great an experience not to.

What I’ve Been Enjoying

“Exile On Main Street” - The Rolling Stones
“Their Satanic Majesties Request” - The Rolling Stones
“folklore” - Taylor Swift
Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
Nomadland
Little Miss Sunshine
In Bruges

One of the things I have to do during this little experiment is make decisions. That can be an overwhelming thing when I’m faced with listening to any album I’ve never listened to before or watching any movie I’ve not already seen - both of which there are a ton of. What I’ve learned to do is just watch the first thing I land on that makes me say, “Oh yeah, I meant to watch this a long time ago.” It’s been a helpful part of this exercise.

Notes

*I mentioned the app - there’s a new one this year, different from the one that you may have used to follow me in October. Here’s the link to where you can download it for your iPhone. If you have an Android, it exists wherever you get Android things.

*There will be lots of pictures in lots of places in the coming weeks. You can stay on top of it all by following me on all the social media: You can Like the Facebook page here, follow me on Twitter here, and the running Instagram is @johnnyrunsalot.

*If you’re curious what will be on my mind at certain points of the marathon route, that’s what I’ve been writing about these last several weeks. I’ll link you back to last week’s post, and from there you can find links to the rest of the series.

*If you haven’t donated and you’re waiting for the day before the marathon to maximize the impact on my motivation, well, just don’t forget to do it today, OK? Here’s the link to the site where you can give. And if you haven’t read everything I’ve written since December, I am running the Boston Marathon again with Team Framingham, raising money for the Massachusetts Wonderfund, which works with the Department of Children and Families to help make life a little bit easier for children in tough situations, like if they need to be moved from their home. I appreciate each and every one of you who has given, whether it was through the site, or by coming to the Exhibit ‘A’ show, or by buying a Super Bowl square. I’ll be thinking about you while I run for sure.

*I have spent so much time thinking about what to wear for the marathon - I bought a new shorts and t-shirt combo that I thought would look good in the pictures and then decided maybe another shirt was more comfortable…and now it looks like I’ll be running in a long-sleeve tee. At least to start. I’m not sure if I’m going to need to take that top layer off at some point or if I should just run the whole thing in long sleeves. But it’s pretty good running weather no matter how you slice it.

*I think I’m also going to wear a hat. It’s going to be sunny and the top of my head gets sneaky sunburn sometimes.

*Baseball season’s been fun so far. Good start by the Mets. They put up a statue of Tom Seaver at Citi Field that they unveiled on Friday. A lot of Mets fans are all worked up that the Mets didn’t have statues at the ballpark. It honestly never bothered me - I could take or leave the idea. But seeing the Tom Seaver statue - it’s pretty great. I like it a lot.

*We’re finally here. I’m so excited. I’ll be sitting around today resting my legs and making sure everything is in order for tomorrow. Thank you for all of the support!