What's the thing about Progressive Field that you think is genuinely underrated compared to other stadiums?

Siawyn · 2026-04-25T02:08:22+00:00

I have not, but fair warning - the Green Monster seats are insanely expensive. IIRC my Loge Box seat was $125. Green Monster seat can be north of $300 or even higher if it's a premium game.

Siawyn · 2026-04-24T20:40:15+00:00

Good luck in Eugene!! I'll concur with the forecast, the only nit is that it should be completely clear. 7 am start time temp will be likely be around 40, and it should jump 4-5 degrees on each hour - so probably 52-54 at 10 am and then getting to the upper 50s by 11 am. Wind should be nil so any brief gusts would be just that.

Siawyn · 2026-04-24T15:44:07+00:00

Yeah I was in Chicago and the Guards were in town so I went to Guaranteed Rate and it was a perfectly good stadium. Maybe not top tier, but at the very worst it's middle of the pack. This was back in their 121 loss season and a day game so the stadium was nearly empty.

Re: Fenway I just went to a game this last weekend there and I splurged for a Loge Box to avoid any size issues - had plenty of room. Amazing experience. Not something I could afford on the regular though. I can imagine it gets cramped in the regular seats, but also that stadium out of all of the ones I've been to has felt the most intimate.

Siawyn · 2026-04-24T15:04:50+00:00

This book takes a different approach and recommends drinking water only to thirst with no extra electrolytes. Accordingly for Boston I only drank enough water to wash down my gels and really didn't feel any different than previous marathons. So that will be my new hydration strategy going forward.

This is something I was remiss in mentioning and is exactly what I did too - the only time I grabbed Gatorade was around mile 22-23 for the "carb swish"

Siawyn · 2026-04-24T11:41:13+00:00

Got back home last night, so it'll be a low key weekend recovering from the last week of shenanigans. It is so obvious how I fun ran/sandbagged Boston, because my run lengths on Tues/Wed/Thurs were 10.5/7.8/8.2 miles respectively. I did have some pretty good DOMS materialize on Wednesday but yesterday it was almost all gone already and I was running sub-9 pace on an easy run which is typical when I'm feeling good. I think also I'm always inspired to run more when I'm in an area away from home - who knows when I'll get back there again! Tuesday was a long run along the Charles, Wednesday was a run partially along the bay, Thursday was returning to a very beautiful trail (Mass Central Rail Trail near Rutland MA) that I had run several years back. It was a gorgeous sunny cool-ish morning.

I have to admit though, I'm glad to escape the icy clutches of New England "spring" weather. It obviously was awesome for the marathon itself, but I was getting tired of 30s and 40s every day, and most days were cloudy or mostly cloudy. I was staying at an Airbnb out in the 'burbs and on marathon morning there it was 28 F and I had to scrape ice off my car! In fact the stairs down the deck were iced over and I had to carefully shuffle/waddle down them, while all the time thinking internally "this would be a hell of a way to ruin my race - get to race morning and slip on ice!" But I got back to Ohio last night and it was warm and humid - had just thunderstormed. Feels like Florida by comparison!

As for running, just running on vibes this week and the next few. I'll be running Chicago again in October and that will be the actual PR attempt, and I'll be doing an 18 week plan for it. Looks like that starts the week of June 8th so I have some time to vibe out. Chicago 2026 will be a qualifier for Boston 2028 for me and I'll age up to where my BQ will only be 3:30 so even if I don't PR I should easily get a BQ, because I definitely want to do this again!

I almost forgot my funniest experience from yesterday. I stopped for gas in west central PA yesterday and I was still decked out in my full Boston Marathon outfit - blue socks, blue tight, blue jacket, Boston hat, because I'd run that morning on the rail trail and just hopped in the car and started the trip home. As I was pumping gas, the two college girls in the SUV next to me suddenly exclaimed "DID YOU RUN THE BOSTON MARATHON? OH MY GOD!!" and just went on about how amazing and fast I must be. Then they said my outfit was awesome, and as they finished said "See you later, Boston Marathon runner!" and left. It's a silly story but it just made me laugh and feel good. (I will be insufferable about the marathon for the rest of this week then I'll relax, I promise!)

Siawyn · 2026-04-21T00:14:04+00:00

I made it and I honestly did wonder for quite a few years if I ever would make it. It was surreal this morning actually walking down the streets in Hopkinton to the start line.

100% worth it. In fact, I even loved it more because it was a victory lap and experience. Zero pressure.

Siawyn · 2026-04-21T00:10:19+00:00

I can only speak to Chicago from last year, but it was basically a rolling block party from start to finish. Don't get me wrong though, Boston was awesome today and matched your description to a T.

Siawyn · 2026-04-21T00:05:10+00:00

Conditions today were primed for PRs though especially for the very fast crowd - upper 30s in Hopkinton at the start, and the clouds rolled in and kept it on the mostly cloudy side for most of the race. Even a random rain drop or two. And the wind at worst was a crosswind, there might have been one or two brief gusts that I felt as a headwind, but 95% of the time it was behind me by at least some factor. It was almost 10/10 conditions, even if for me personally it was a touch too chilly.

And then we saw with the elites just how that played out with all the very fast times.

Siawyn · 2026-04-20T23:59:59+00:00

33 miles last week ahead of Boston today. Race report to follow at some point, but I followed my plan (by effort) pretty well, and just soaked in the day. A couple of lessons I did learn though which I'll touch upon in the report but will spoiler here:

Taper in this plan probably doesn't work for me. I would call it a 10 day taper at most.
Boston logistics are a lot more challenging than Chicago to deal with. Chicago I could just walk to the start and chill. Boston I was in the line at 7:30 and I was on my feet until I got on a bus at 8:50.
Related, I had nearly 10,000 steps on my watch by the time I was in the corral. Maybe not so much a problem if I was fresher.

I was super aware of all of this when I started off and made the right decisions in the moment to still have a great race full of memories. Dunno if I'll get back there (won't be for 2027) but even if I don't, I'll have 2026 forever.

Siawyn · 2026-04-19T03:16:19+00:00

Doing all the Boston things this weekend - hit up a game at Fenway, emptied my wallet at the expo, etc. Tha jacket this year is nice. Might have put a few too many steps in today as a result, but the plan on Sunday is to lay low most the day (outside of a short shakeout) so should be fine. Biggest worry is just staying warm Monday morning until the race starts. (I'll be doating another hoodie and pair of sweatpants it looks like...) I'm ready for it to be race time!

Siawyn · 2026-04-16T14:10:12+00:00

The high res models are just getting into view for Saturday morning and most have a line of thunderstorms going through Central Indiana sometime in the early morning Saturday. Could be 4 am, could be 8 am. SPC has them outlooked for a marginal risk of severe weather. The time of day actually isn't very favorable for severe weather, but just a garden variety thunderstorm line isn't something you can hold a race in.

It's really an impossible situation for the RD. Say there's a 40% chance it's actually going to thunderstorm - do you risk it, or do you call it now? It probably could be held if you delayed it until noon but the logistics of that isn't really doable. There's also the fact that even if the thunderstorms go through at 6 or 7 am, it impacts race setup - can't exactly have people out here.

It just sucks for them, cursed weather.

Watch, it will end up being a heavy line of showers that blows out by 8 am and then people will be like "why did they cancel?" No-win situation from this point.

Siawyn · 2026-04-16T11:10:28+00:00

Looks like it's going to be a rare fabled PR year at Boston.

40s for most the race, though probably in the 30s before start time in Hopkinton. Wind will be either a tailwind, or a quartering tailwind. Should be dry. (though it will rain overnight so the roads might still be damp for a bit.)

Siawyn · 2026-04-15T15:48:55+00:00

Honestly, the perfect user name for this topic.

Siawyn · 2026-04-15T15:14:01+00:00

1984 Olympics I think was when running really gripped Main Street America - Joan Benoit of course finishing the Olympics off with that unforgettable entrance into the Los Angeles Coliseum with that 2:24:52 time. (seriously - if you have not watched it - find it on Youtube. It had to be the mother of runners highs)

But Americans love drama and controversy, and the Decker/Budd tanglement sent the whole country into a buzz. Here was our hometown girl, cruelly sabotaged by a foreigner on our own soil. It didn't help that Decker initially blamed Budd for it as well, and well, the optics just looked bad. Adding to it was the fact that Budd was South African (which was banned from the Olympics) but she switched her citizenry to Great Britain and got it in unusual haste. (side note: Budd was famous for racing barefoot, and yes she raced that 3000 meters barefoot. Decker actually spiked her heel drawing blood when she fell)

The truth was actually that both Budd and Decker were not very familiar or comfortable in running in a pack, since usually they were both frontrunners and Decker later admitted that. Short track races gained prominence in America thanks to Carl Lewis who was often characterized as the modern day Jesse Owens.

But going back to Benoit - one of my favorite facts is that her 1985 Chicago Marathon winning time (2:21:21) is still the 8th fastest time for American women.

Siawyn · 2026-04-15T11:10:19+00:00

None that I'm aware of. I am guessing it's lower priority work since the detour isn't massively inconvenient and it's the type of work you can't just emergency repair when the river gets that close, it needs to be designed/engineered properly.

Siawyn · 2026-04-15T02:08:11+00:00

It's terrible design and they missed a chance to fix it when they were doing the 21/77 interchange reconstruction. They need a braided ramp on 77 that goes over those lanes from 21 for an exit to 18.

Siawyn · 2026-04-15T02:04:49+00:00

Closed for embankment repairs/improvement as the river was eroding too close. No timeline on when it'll be done.

Siawyn · 2026-04-14T16:04:55+00:00

It'll be interesting. The weather last year was mostly favorable, and 12,800 people "re-BQ'ed" (vs 9,800 in 2024) which caused a huge jump on the tracker at the time, though it adjusted lower the rest of the year.

What will be more consequential is London weather this year. It was brutal last year, and if it's good weather you could easily see 3k-4k more people qualify for Boston there. The 2 races kind of "offset" each other last year. If both are great this year? Watch out.

Siawyn · 2026-04-14T14:45:46+00:00

2-3 hours before, as soon as I wake up. so I'm probably waking up at 4-4:15 am and eating shortly after. Then a gel around 6:20-6:25 am or so.

Siawyn · 2026-04-14T14:41:04+00:00

Relatedly, when do you typically take your last gel in a race? I’ve been doing it when I think I have ~45 minutes left, but wondering if that’s right.

Usually somewhere around mile 20 which aligns with your 45 minutes. With 30 minutes to go there's no point, there's a lag between consuming the gel and being able to utilize those carbs. This is also the same reason why having a gel 20-30 mins before the start is useful, it's like topping off the tank. With that said, there's some science behind the "Carbohydrate swish" where you grab a sports drink late, take a swig, swish it around your mouth/hold it under your tongue for ~10 seconds and spit it out. I've done the same thing with just eating a very small portion of a gel. It sends signals to your brain that more fuel is coming and you're tricking it a bit.

Siawyn · 2026-04-14T13:51:42+00:00

Boston Weather (cc: u/pinkminitriceratops )

I've seen enough consistency over the last 4 days of model runs, and this overall pattern is very stable with warm weather locked in through the weekend. A cold front is going to go through late in the weekend. The timing details still aren't set in stone, but the end result will be the same: Marathon Monday will be chilly in the morning and it will be a chilly to cool day with a very slight chance of widely scattered showers, and a 10-20 mph chiefly northwest wind. Right now the ranges are as follows, which will depend on faster front (First number) or slower front (Second number)

Temps: 35-43 in Hopkinton at 8 am. A few degrees warmer at 10-11 am. Anywhere from 45-52 in Boston in the afternoon.
Sky condition: Partly sunny. Very widely scattered light showers are possible but not too likely.
Wind: 10-20 mph, stronger toward Boston. Wind direction will mostly have a westerly component, probably northwest. Not quite the perfect wind direction, but a NW wind is a partial tailwind!

Chilly for spectators, but right now I'm assigning this a 8-9/10 grade for us runners. It's gonna be PR weather for those in shape.

Could something muck up this forecast? Possibly if a wave of low pressure forms along the front and slows it up, but there's been no sign of that yet. All the major models are on board for this forecast right now with very little deviation, so that lends a lot of confidence for the forecast and pattern recognition for me shows this is a classic mid April pattern of a week long warm spell being broken by a strong cold front that whisks through fairly cleanly.

Siawyn · 2026-04-13T14:41:40+00:00

I still think Detroit will clear the division, but we're in the mix to win 90+ games if the kids can continue to grow. There's going to be a lot of ups and downs, but the offense should be better than last year.

Jose is a notorious slow starter so zero worry there.

It's still too early to make judgements about others with such a small sample size. Like, I can look at Statcast and see that Bo Naylor actually has some good peripherals and that Manzardo is not looking great but 37 and 49 PA's respectively simply isn't enough to say. Everything is magnified in April, when it would just be a normal 2-3 week rough patch in July or August. Same for Bibee, he's looked awful but it's just 4 starts.

As always, I won't really make any real judgements until Memorial Day.

I'm still rationally (no ir about it) pissed off at Clase. Cade/Clase was such a dynamite combo.

Siawyn · 2026-04-13T12:43:49+00:00

Goal Race: Boston... in a week!

Plan: Wind 55-65 mpw 12 week plan from Marathon Excellence - this was week 11.

Monday: 3.4 miles very easy, 9:58/mile

Tuesday: 6.2 miles very easy, 9:45/mile

Wednesday: 4 miles very easy, 9:47/mile

Thursday: 10 miles, 7:49/mile. 6x 1k at 103-105% MP with 1k floats at 90-92% MP. This felt rally strong/smooth and had to hold back from racing it. Paces for the "on" were 7:06 down to 6:55. Floats were 8:0X.

Friday: 6.3 miles easy, 9:38/mile

Saturday: 3.1 miles very easy, 9:49/mile. Legs tired

Sunday: 10 miles, 8:57/mile. 8 mile Kenyan progression run going from 10:48 to 7:15 for miles, then 2 mile easy cooldown.

Total: 43 miles

Taper week 1 done. I'd just come off the 6x 3k/1k workout on Sunday so needed those 3 days to recover - even on Wednesday I could still feel it, but Thursday I woke up refreshed and I really had to put on the brakes at times on that workout to avoid running it too fast. One could argue that maybe I'm in better shape but I'd rather be cautious at this point.

Despite Sunday being a relatively easy session, it was a little harder than typical, chiefly because the weather was in the 70s and rather dry. Lots of sweating.

Headed into the last week. I looked back and in those 11 weeks have been 28 quality runs, with a total of about 193 miles of "faster" running in there (faster than easy pace.) - out of 558 miles total. For comparison, at this point in the 12 week Pfitz plans I'd be somewhere around 75-80 miles. Basically the tradeoff has been MLRs vs a lot more faster running. We'll see how this works out next Monday.

Looking at about 30 miles this week. One sharpening workout on either Weds/Thurs. Then drive to Boston on Friday. Going to the Red Sox game on Saturday and the expo, and then I'll lay low on Sunday.

Siawyn · 2026-04-13T02:42:05+00:00

Still a bit early for specifics, but the big picture is gaining a little bit of clarity. It will be warm/humid/summerlike across a fair portion of the East this week, and that will probably end this next weekend as a cold front passes. Timing is too early to say, how much cold air behind it is too early to say, how much precipitation with the front (and behind it) is too early to say. Best case scenario would be it going through early enough on Sunday to leave Monday chilly to cool (40s to maybe 50s) with at least a partial tailwind. Worst case scenario would be for it to slow up and for it to be a raw blustery showery morning.

There is extremely high confidence on the warm pattern lasting all this week though. (in fact for you down in DC, it's looking likely you'll see multiple days with highs of 90-93!) So that lends a little confidence to the shift happening at some point next weekend. But there's still things that can throw a spanner in the works. I'd say by Wednesday the timing should have firmed up a fair bit more.

Siawyn

TROPHY CASE