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AMAA Journal,  Summer-Fall, 2005  by Dave Watt

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Another warm sunny Monday in Hopkinton greeted the AMAA contingent of marathon runners at the 2005 Boston Marathon. For those competitors who had endured the heat of 2004, the forecast high of the low 70s was not welcomed with enthusiasm. YIPPEE was not heard on the buses to Hopkinton on the 3rd Monday in April. Yet despite the warm start, a headwind kept runners cooled as they approached downtown Boston.

I have run Boston twice, both times with the weather playing a factor. That's the nature of Boston. Most runners will take bright sun over a headwind, although a headwind in Boston brings in cooler breezes off the water. I experienced those conditions during my first Boston and was fortunate enough to have a slight headwind combined with overcast skies. The second Boston I ran was the second warmest, or hottest, Boston since 1976. My last run in 1989 was eerily familiar to the 2004 race.

The reason Boston runners pay attention to wind and sun is that those two environmental factors are big determinants of your race performance at Boston. And it's no coincidence that the noon start affects how much those factors affect your fun meter on marathon day. At the completion of this year's race, we saw many more smiles from AMAA veteran marathoners than that from a year ago. Probably just enough to urge them to return to the rolling hills of the famous Hopkinton to Boston road race.

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Listed are official chip times of members who ran with AMAA numbers and those who attended the symposium, but qualified on their own. Some names may be missing due to lack of information.

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