Boston Marathon 2025 - Hannah Barnet

Running annually since 1897, Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest annual marathon and is no doubt one of the most popular. It is elusive in that there is no ballot entry as with the remaining major marathons, instead your place is earned on strict qualifying times, well unless you want to spend out some serious money for a package deal!

Aiming for Boston 2024 to be my 4th major and star earned, I trained hard and hitting my PB at Chicago meant I had over 10 minutes in hand, which was thankfully enough to gain my entry into this sought after race. However, I soon discovered I was pregnant, but thankfully recent policy changes mean I was able to defer my entry by a year. Although this would mean completing the marathon within 9 months of having my little boy, I never turn down a challenge and accepted that getting round was all that mattered. Although, I had in the back of my mind that I would like to continue achieving sub-3.30 on all my major marathons. This was soon confirmed when James also achieved a qualifying time at the Manchester marathon in 2024, securing his position in the 129th edition of the marathon, meaning there was no turning back now!

It took a little longer than I had hoped to get back into the swing of training, so I just focused on easy miles and trying to get some time on my feet. This being my 7th marathon training block, at least I knew what I needed to do to get through the distance.

Unfortunately, difficult circumstances and a close family bereavement resulted in my training taking a further hit. With only a couple of months until Boston at this point, my options were to try and recover some form of training block, or to request a further deferral. When expressing my concerns, my Dad made his wishes very clear, despite everything he was facing, he wished me to keep going and run Boston with never a doubt in my ability to get round.

We arrived on the Friday evening, meaning a long day for all of us but especially for our 8-month-old boy. After fearing the travel with him, he took it all in his stride and coped remarkably well, helped by the flight crew moving us to a more spacious area where we could set up a safe crawling space!

Leaving Euan under the care of our Mums, we headed to the expo on Saturday to pick up our bibs and for me to pick up my medical device bag. Unusually, Boston is ran on a Monday to coincide with their Patriots’ Day, so Sunday allowed us a bit of rest and downtime ahead of the race.

The most common way for runners to reach the start village is by marathon bus transportation. Whilst this remains the most recommended way for runners to reach Hopkinton, James and I were staying out of the city, and the additional time for us to get downtown alongside the time for the bus run back out of the city just didn’t work for us, particularly as I was trying to minimise time away from Euan. Instead, a bit of research told me we could be dropped off at a location approximately 15 minutes bus ride from the start village, and that there was a shuttle bus service that would take us the rest of the way. To keep costs down and make the race day as smooth as possible, we pre-booked an Uber and then, a bag check and short queue later, we were sat on our yellow school bus shuttle Hopkinton bound.

The start village was well equipped with plenty of toilets, although queues were still long, and tents to provide shelter from the sunshine. In recent years, Boston has changed its policies towards pregnancy and mothers running the race. Now, provision of a space to pump for breastfeeding mums and transportation of pumps to the finish line reduces race day worries, not to mention bonus access to some of the cleanest portaloos known to man! This process was seamless, and volunteers even managed to find 4 x AA batteries for me when I had the sudden realisation I had forgotten my adapter plug to work the pump!

The process of getting to the start line was well organised, with regular announcements to remind you of your wave/corral release time/location, although there were still a few stray and frantic wave 1 runners rushing through our pen during wave 2 release! The 0.7 mile walk felt long and portable suncream stations acted as a reminder of the unbroken sunshine waiting for us. Thankfully it was forecast to be one of the coolest days that week, only reaching around 15/16 degrees.

Now it was time to see whether my bodged training plan was going to be enough. I had researched a lot into the route ahead of time, knowing that Boston is famous for its undulations and “Heartbreak Hill” at mile 21. Despite this, in hindsight I definitely underestimated the toll that a net downhill course would take on my legs. I was aware that success in this race would require a careful combination of banking time in the earlier stages, being sensible in the hillier Newton section, and yet saving something in the legs for the largely downhill final section.

The start sets off downhill but for the most part the gentle downhill gradient isn’t really noticeable until your quads start to tell you so! I went out with a goal of banking at least 5 seconds per mile in the lead up to Newton, which is around mile 16. Although the air temperature wasn’t as hot as previous years, the unbroken sunshine and zero breeze made it feel warmer than it was in the first half, gradually improving as we edged closer to Downtown Boston where we benefitted from the coastal gentle headwind.

Concerns arose around mile 7/8 when my achilles started to tighten up, but a gentle ease off the pace for a quarter mile was enough to keep that at bay. Intermittently my quads would threaten, so I made sure to keep on top of my hydration and gels, taking on board water at every station (usually throwing some over myself too!) which seemed to help.

Reaching the Newton section of the course, where the majority of the uphill gradient comes from, I locked in to a sensible pace on the inclines in order to have something in the legs for the final stretch. Reaching the top of “Heartbreak Hill” felt like a triumph, but this was short lived with the realisation that the remaining miles were to be my biggest test.

The final section is largely downhill, broken up briefly with the odd gentle incline or flatter section. The hills largely behind me meant I was able to settle back into a steady pace. However, as I crept toward mile 23 my quads began to protest, and it became clear I was going to have to dig deep if I was going to cross the finish within my goal time (what was that I mentioned earlier about just getting round?!). I had to remind myself that I was running this in Dad’s memory and that his belief in me would get me round, it was just what I needed to push on for my most emotional finish yet. As we made our way closer to the finish, the crowd support grew and was almost deafening at times, but they certainly carried me along those last few turns to cross the finish line in a time of 3:28:02.

Despite the challenges faced along the way I thoroughly enjoyed my Boston marathon experience, the most scenic of the major marathons completed so far made up for the challenging profile. The organisation of the race was second to none and the phenomenal support from the crowds was like no other. These are just a few reasons why Boston Marathon is a marathon on many a runner’s bucket list!