Race date: 21st April 2025

Report by: Kathy Liddiard

One of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, Boston, USA is the oldest, always held on Patriots’ day (the third Monday in April). The race in 2025 was the 129th running of the marathon and also coincided with the 250th anniversary of Patriots’ Day.

Qualification

Unlike other world majors, Boston does not operate a general ballot to gain an entry. Most of the 30,000+ places have to be qualified for. I did London in April 2024 in 3:27:32 and realised I had just ran a Boston 2025 qualifying time for my age group, which was 3:35:00*. However, obtaining a qualifying time does not guarantee a bib. With the number of places available capped, bibs are assigned to fastest first applications if over-subscribed, with cut-off times being the new time to beat. For the 2024 running of the Boston marathon, the cut-off time was around 5 minutes faster than the qualifier time. I had just under seven and a half minutes in the bank – how close could it be?

I submitted the application and waited until late September before finding out the 2025 cut-off time was nearly 7 minutes. I saw a notification about this first before receiving my confirmation email. It felt like I’d just scraped in with 30 seconds to spare (not much over the course of a marathon). And that was it, the money flew out of the account as you have to provide payment details in your application and I would be doing Boston in the Spring!

*Qualifying times for 2026 have been reduced by 5 mins.

Training

Marathon-specific training began after Christmas and lasted 16 weeks to the marathon, which included a 3 week taper. During this block, I continued to follow my usual training pattern, running 5 times a week with a day of strength and conditioning. Since London in April, my routine had changed slightly to incorporate the 7pm track session introduced in the summer. For reference, a typical week involves:

Monday: easy recovery run

Tuesday: speed/hills session (longer reps)

Wednesday: strength and conditioning

Thursday track session

Friday: rest day

Saturday: Parkrun

Sunday: long run

The main difference of the 16 week block was increasing the distance of the long run and trying to add in a few easy miles before/after Parkrun. Every few weeks, I cut down the long run to around 10-11 miles to allow some recovery before increasing again. I had some longer distance races booked in as a way of having a point of reference throughout the block to tick off another long run and provide race day practice. I found these useful to try out some paces and gauge what I might be capable of for the marathon itself.

Over the course of autumn and winter, the track sessions started to show their training effect and my race times had improved with new PBs in 5K, 10K and half marathon distances. This gave me some confidence going into the marathon block with the aim of getting a new marathon PB too! The two longer races, Stamford 30K in February (2:16:37) and Ashby 20 in March (2:26:39) both went well and helped to generate what would be my A, B and C goals:

Goal A: 3:15 (to maintain the same pace as Stamford and Ashby races)

Goal B: 3:20 (the next arbitrary 5 min interval)

Goal C: sub 3:27 (pb and a better time than London last year).

As well as the above, there’s always a final last goal of just finishing it and getting the medal. It looked a good one!

My weekly mileage topped out at around 80k. There were 4 long runs of 20+ miles, with the longest being 22.5 miles.

Travel

A conversation with the family resulted in the decision to turn the trip to America into a family holiday, with Boston being the start, so not to interfere too much with training. We arrived on Thursday, which allowed three full days to prepare for the race on Monday.

The Expo

We visited the expo on Friday morning to pick up everything required for the race. Whilst there were lots of people, the queue moved freely, with plenty of volunteers pointing people in the right direction. It was a long walk through the system. Bib and gear bag collection was straight forward by showing a collection QR code received on email a week or so earlier, along with photo ID.

The expo isn’t as extensive as London, with only a few key partners and sponsors having a stand. The adidas section was huge and complete mayhem. I gave up on my purchase because the queue to pay was so busy. Thankfully, official adidas merch is also available to buy from a couple of stores nearby so I got what I wanted (the coveted celebration jacket – and other things).

Getting to the start

We stayed in the North End area of the city, within walking distance of Boston common, so didn’t need to worry about transport on race day morning. However, the commuter rail system was easy enough to use throughout the stay.

When you are emailed your race pack information, you are given a wave start time and bus loading time, which allows time to get you to the start in Hopkinton. Bib numbers and waves are assigned in order of participants qualifying time. This placed me in blue wave 3, which was 8:15 bus loading time and 10:50 race start time.

I’d read some articles and a lot reported there was little space for warm up runs once at the start so I decided to walk to the bag drop and bus loading to stretch my legs. At the expo, you are provided with two clear bags – one big bag for gear check with a bib number sticker. The other smaller bag is the only bag allowed on the bus transport to the start. It should only contain anything that you intended to take with you on the race back to Boston or discard before the start line.

If using the gear check, this has to be handed in before heading to the bus. The gear check consists of a number of yellow school buses lined up along the streets a block away from the common. They are each colour-coded by wave and numbered by bib number, so easy to locate. I arrived at the common at 7:30am. Gear check was quick, then I grabbed a coffee to drink on the way back to the common to join the toilet queue, then board the bus. There was the expected queue for the loo and this meant I was boarding a bus at 8:30. The bus journey took about 1 hour 15 mins with some traffic on the way. We arrived at the athlete’s village in Hopkinton at 10am. According to the big entrance sign, blue wave participants were instructed to leave the village at 10:05 to walk to the start (about 800m away). Regardless of this, I joined another toilet queue, got changed, and left the village. I met a Canadian lady in the queue who was starting in the same wave and corral as me. Within each wave, there are 9 corrals (we were number 3). She had been putting sun cream on and generously let me use some to top up what I’d already put on that morning.

The sun was shining (which I struggle running in) and the forecast had confirmed this for the duration of the race, along with a headwind picking up later on. The temperatures for Boston didn’t seem too hot (around 13 degrees) but I hadn’t accounted for inland feeling a lot warmer than that. Given the conditions and research telling me water on the route was provided in cups, I had decided to carry a soft flask to drink from to minimise the amount of stops I’d need to make. The plan was to make the 250ml flask last, get rid of it, and continue with a stop or 2 at a station to swallow some more water.

Even on the walk to the start line, so many people had lined the street and were handing out food. There was even a drinks station and more portaloos.

We arrived at the start line and walked up past the corrals (starting with number 9 at the back) to find ours closer to the front. Marshals at each corral entrance were checking bibs before allowing entry. You are allowed to start in a later wave or corral but you cannot be promoted to a faster wave. Given my improvement in race times since qualifying, I was slightly concerned about being stuck in a big group going at a slower pace than I wanted so I got as far forward in my corral at possible to help deal with those concerns as much as I could.

We were stood in place for 5 mins before the wave began.

The Race

As you can imagine with a field of around 30,000 runners, the start was very condensed with little room to move around people. I decided to try and conserve as much energy as I could and decided to run with the group and use the slower start to warm up into my pace.

The first 2km were about 10 seconds per km slower than I was aiming for but it was early days and I’d have time to make it up. By 5km I was back on track for goal A. However, I was already very warm and, with little shade on the course so far, I started to think about how much distance was left to cover and how much more water I would need. I decided to change the hydration plan to keep the flask for the entire race and stop at the water tables to pour in a cup to keep it topped up. I figured this would save me more stopping time compared to taking a gulp each mile (I can’t drink from cups at speed). I’m glad I changed my plan as it meant I stopped only 4 times along the way to pour in the water, then I could carry on sipping it in my own time.

The next 10km ticked over and I crossed the 15km timing mat in goal A average pace. All looking good so far.

As for fuelling, I had successfully used Maurten gel 100 in previous marathons and in training, taking one every 4.5-5 miles, so didn’t mess with a tried and tested method. As a sponsor, there were 3 Maurten gel depots along the course after 12 miles, so I opted to start with 4 gels to save pocket space, and pick up a final fifth one along the route. At the first gel depot at 12 miles, I’d consumed 2 gels so grabbed one to leave me with 3 for the remainder of the race. Then I dropped it while trying to secure it in a pocket! At least I had 2 more depot opportunities left to secure my final gel! The next gel depot was at 17 miles so I grabbed one there and kept it in hand, so no more fuelling drama.

I crossed the 20km timing mat and using rough mental maths of 23 mins per 5km I had dropped pace a little. I crossed the half way timing mat at 13.1 miles in 1:37:27, which was exactly what I needed for goal A. However, I’d need the second half to match, and with the four Newton Hills still to come and the downhills encountered so far already mushing my quads, confidence was starting to wane.

Just in time for the first of the Newton Hills, at mile 16, the forecasted headwind picked up making an incline you wouldn’t bat an eyelid at turn into a real mental battle. It was at this point I had to reassess how things were going. The downhills already felt agonising in my quads and there was still another 15km to go, with two more hills, before the infamous Hearbreak Hill.

I continued on up the next 2 hills, and subsequent downs, where my pace was noticeably (and understandably) slipping. Then it was time for Heartbreak Hill, complete with a sign to tell you that it began, and an archway at the top. It lasts around 900m with 30m of elevation, so not that scary in itself. But when it comes along at just over 20 miles with a headwind, it is a little bit heartbreaking! At least it was only 5 miles remaining, mainly downhill with a few lumps on the way. It was time to dig in and not let too much more time slip away. Before I knew it, the CITGO sign (marking 25 miles) came into sight.

I already knew that goal A wasn’t possible today but I could try and finish closer to goal A than goal B. Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston are the final 2 turns of the course. The wall of sound from the crowds cheering on those final streets is like nothing I’ve experienced before, and fills me with emotion as I’m writing this a few days later. I was trying to soak it all up and as I turned onto Boylston I could see the finish line 500m ahead. My watch had just ticked over 3:15 so I gave it my all on the last straight to try and sneak under 3:17. I crossed the line on 3:16:54! A new marathon PB and 10 and a half minutes quicker from London last year!

Post-race

Unlike a lot of races, you don’t get the medal immediately and there’s actually a little bit of space to have a picture by the finish arch without a marshall herding you forward. It’s a block before you reach a water stand, then another to receive the medal and foil blanket. There’s also a food table where you are given a bag brimmed with more drinks and snacks. This isn’t light to carry when your legs feel like lead. I then slowly walked another block to the gear check buses from the morning and collected my bag.

The event is so well organised and celebrated by runners and non-runners alike around the city over the weekend. The support on the whole route is constant, with residents and supporters standing out on front lawns and curb sides. It feels very special to have completed the Boston marathon and this will be one I won’t forget.