Boston 1999

Fatima Roba winning the 1999 Boston Marathon in 2:23:25 on a warm day.

Christoph F. Eick's Boston Marathon on April 19, 1999

To Start: 2:07
Miles 0-5:   8:58 7:28 7:34 7:09 7:22
Miles 5-10:  7:18 7:16 7:18 7:14 7:23
Miles 10-15: 7:29 7:08 7:10 7:14 7:24
Miles 15-20: 7:12 7:35 7:39 7:35 8:03
Miles 20-25: 8:52 8:04 8:48 9:18 10:20
Final:       8:35 1:55

gun time: 3:27:42 chip: 3:25:29 congestion graded: 3:23:14

I planned to break 3:16 in the race; I ran the first half of the course in 1:37:40(gun time), but due to temperatures in the 60s combined with tailwind and sun shine felt "hot" from the beginning of the race. I kept on schedule through mile 18, and started to slow down then. Quite severe leg cramps (including hamstring cramps --- I never faced hamstring cramps before) reduced me to a walk at the end of mile 24 and most of mile 25. I guess it was too warm to try for a PR on this day, and even without the leg cramps I would have not broken 3:19; the temperature at the start in Hopkinton was 56 degrees, but the sunny day sent temperatures soaring during the race, and it got as high as 73 in Wellesley, 68 degrees at the finish of the race. I placed 3332nd overall in 1999. On the positive side I requalified for Boston 2000.


This shows how I looked like near the end of the race.

The lessons I learnt from this race were to put on sun protection when it might be warm (sunburn even if minor creates additional stress for your body), not to trust the weather forcast (I didn't bring my singlet to the start of the race, because of the predicted temperature between 54 and 58), and to drink more water at water stops (at least a full cup every other mile, if it is warm; I drank a lot of water in the 24 hours prior to the race).

Boston Marathon short after the Start of the Race.


Finish Line Boston Marathon

Boston 3:10-Pace Plan Mile by Mile

Miles   0-5: 6:58 7:06 7:03 6:58 7:20    35:25

Miles  5-10: 7:07 7:07 7:15 7:06 7:15    35:50  1:11:15

Miles 10-15: 7:24 7:16 7:17 7:18 7:25    36:40  1:47:55

Miles 15-20: 7:01 7:31 7:28 7:15 7:25    36:40  2:24:35

Miles 20-25: 7:46 7:10 7:14 7:16 7:14    36:40  3:01:15

The  Finish: 7:15 1:30                    8:45  3:10:00

Remark: To finish in 3:10 you have to run 7:15-pace; if you plan to run a different pace, you can adjust the table by adding/substracting the difference from the listed splits (e.g. if you plan to run 7:30-pace, just add 15 seconds to each listed split time). The pacing plan takes uphill and downhill sections into consideration (e.g. mile 21 (Heartbreak Hill) is by far the slowest mile --- take a look at the course map depicted below)

Amby Burfoot's Suggested Boston Splits


Projected Time 5M Split 1OM Split 15M Split 20M Split 25M Split Adjusted Finish Time
2:07:12 23:20 47:31 1:11:47 1:36:08 2:00:OO 2:05:49
2:10 23:51 48:34 1:13:99 1:38:15 2:02:40 2:08:41
2:15 24:46 50:26 1:16:11 1:42:01 2:07:23 2:13:38
2:20 25:41 52:18 1:19:00 1:45:48 2:12:06 2:18:36
2:21:06 25:53 52:43 1:19:37 1:46:38 2:13:08 2:19:41
2:25 26:36 54:10 1:21:49 1:49:35 2:16:49 2:23:34
2:30 27:31 56:02 1:24:39 1:53:22 2:21:32 2:28:32
2:35 28:26 57:54 1:27:28 1:57:08 2:26:15 2:33:30
2:40 29:21 59:45 1:30:17 2:00:55 2:30:58 2:38:29
2:45 30:16 61:38 1:33:07 2:04:42 2:35:41 2:43:27
2:50 31:11 63:31 1:35:56 2:08:29 2:40:24 2:48:25
2:55 32:06 65:23 1:38:45 2:12:15 2:45:07 2:53:24
3:00 33:01 67:15 1:41:35 2:16:02 2:49:50 2:58:21
3:05 33:56 69:07 1:44:24 2:19:49 2:54:33 3:03:20
3:10 34:51 70:59 1:47:13 2:23:35 2:59:17 3:08:18
3:15 35:46 72:51 1:50:02 2:27:22 3:04:00 3:13:16
3:20 36:41 74:43 1:52:52 2:31:09 3:08:43 3:18:14
3:25 37:36 76:35 1:55:41 2:34:56 3:13:26 3:23:11
3:30 38:31 78:27 1:58:30 2:38:42 3:18:09 3:28:08
3:35 39:26 80:19 2:01:20 2:42:29 3:22:52 3:33:06
3:40 40:21 82:11 2:04:09 2:46:16 3:27:35 3:38:03