Boston Marathon 2024: Runners share the hardest part of the race
"When you're already breathing hard around like mile 10 to 13, and you realize it's not even close to being done."
As the oldest continuously run marathon, Boston holds high value to runners around the world.
The famous 26.2 mile course makes its way from the starting line in Hopkinton, through Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, and Brookline before finishing in Boston’s Copley Square.
Varying in altitude and terrain, the course takes runners over hills, under bridges and through “tunnels.”
Boston has a reputation for being a tough race. In fact, the course has so many turns and changes in elevation that it cannot officially count for a marathon world record.
Making today’s race even tougher for runners, temperatures were in the high 60s, with a lot of sunshine making the heat feel stronger.
Whether runners were suffering from dehydration or from the seemingly endless hills, here’s what Boston Marathon finishers said was the hardest part of the race.
Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.
“The middle third. I told myself that the most painful thing was worry. I was worried that I was going too fast already, since it was only the first third, and I was wondering how I would finish the last two thirds.”
— Bofei Cao
“I’d say the hills in the middle, and then towards the very end when the dehydration was really setting in, and I started to get all crampy. It’s a tough day, it was warmer. We’ve done this before and it was rainy and cold, so this was the other end of the spectrum. It’s hard to get enough water on the course with all the people, and the cups flying everywhere.”
— Scott Gammon
“For me it was probably the downhills. They just take their toll on you for a while. Then it was the heat. It was a hot day. It was a tough one and they didn’t really feel the wind. There was a tailwind, but a tailwind makes it worse on a hot day, actually.”
— Larbi Benhabib
“Honestly, the beginning, and this is not like a typical answer, but like when you’re at mile 10 and you realize that you still have like 16 more miles of that. When you’re already breathing hard around like mile 10 to 13, and you realize it’s not even close to being done.”
— Emma Wilson
“I expected Heartbreak Hill to be hard, but then that last five to six miles after felt so long.”
— Madison Overby
“I would say the final two miles were like mentally and physically challenging. It’s like right at the end of the race, so I was exhausted, and the heat was kind of getting to me.”
—Erica Eades
“I would say after Heartbreak Hill, I just felt awful. I was just struggling all the way back right after it. The hill was alright, because you knew it was gonna be hard. But the whole other section after that when you thought, okay, it’s gonna be downhill, it’ll be easier… that was the hardest thing.”
— Simon Hill
“I felt pretty intimidated by some pretty good athletes around me. I was at the very end of wave one so I had all these you know, fast guys, that were making me nervous at first, but you know, I actually ended up having a good day.”
— Garrett Cazier
Be civil. Be kind.
Read our full community guidelines.To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address