Figuring it was a very tough course with lots of hills, Grzegorz Kazaniecki knew there wouldn’t be much scope for a personal best at the Boston Marathon. Hence he didn’t really train for it at all. In the three weeks leading up to race he did a bit of light jogging but before that he hadn’t been running at all.

His intention was just to run it relaxed and casual, just to earn the medal. There’s a means to an ends though for Grzeg and that is that having already done the Chicago Marathon, the London Marathon and the Berlin Marathon, he was well on his way to earning the Abbotts World Marathon Major Six Star Medal. Boston would be the fourth one out of the six. But of course, he still had to complete it first and with his lack of preparation, that could always prove tricky.

Grzeg is quite a seasoned marathon runner now though so he knew what to expect, although he wouldn’t perhaps have known the enormity of the hills he’d have to face at Boston.

Grzeg’s fastest marathon yet was the 2024 London Marathon which he completed in 2:54:35. He managed to get into peak shape for that one and surprised everyone by how well he did.

The Boston Marathon is in fact the world’s oldest annual marathon and with $150,000 up for grabs for the winner, it always attracts the big names making it a very tasty field.

Flying over to America with his two sons, Grzeg had them on hand to cheer him on and they also took the opportunity to explore the city a bit and do some sightseeing.

The plan for Grzeg was to run the first half of it without stopping, keeping a decent pace going despite the hills. The first four miles of the route are on a downhill trajectory, so you get eased into it somewhat.

Grzeg got through the first 5k in 21:31, which was 6:56 pace. He then went on to clock a 21:39 for his next 5k, reaching the 10k point in 43:10.It was a good sold start from Grzeg and he followed that up with another 21:31 for next 5k. Then a 22:06 saw him reach the 20k point, leading him on to the half marathon point in 1:31:39. That was about as smoothly as he could have hoped for it to go in the first half.

He started to slow down a bit as he worked his way up to the 25k point. Then he ran out of energy after that and walked up all the rest of the hills. It starts to get very hilly from mile 16 up to mile 21 so that section would have been pretty slow going for Grzeg. He also had to step off the course at one point to use the facilities.

Going through the 20 mile point in 2:31:59, he then went on to reach the 35k point in 2:50:50. There was still a pretty long way to go though. After the 21st mile though it’s mostly downhill or flattish so the end part isn’t too tough if you’ve got anything left in the tank.

Reaching 23 miles in just under 3 hours 4 minutes, Grzeg went on to reach 24 miles in 3:12:42. He then arrived at 40k in 3:20:32. That left him with a couple of kilometres to get through.

Getting to 25.2 miles in 3:24:04, Grzeg now had just one mile left till he reached the finish line. Going over the line in 3:32:54, Grzeg had finished in 13,999th place. That was out of just over 28,400 participants.

John Korir won the race in 2:04:45. That averages out at 4:46 per mile and he was going through each 5k in about 14:30. Sharon Lokedi was first female in 2:17:22, putting her 19 seconds ahead of Hellen Obiri. Calli Thackery did well to finish 6th female in a time of 2:22:38.

There were some other Dorset based runners competing at Boston. Matt Underhill of Egdon Heath Harriers finished 794th after a fantastic new PB of 2:40:33. That put his average pace for the run at 6:08 which is very impressive on a course with almost 1,000ft of elevation, even though he had been hoping for faster.

Richard Swindlehurst of Twemlow Track Club got round in 2:46:34 which put him 4th in the 55 to 59 category. He was 1,543rd overall and came away with an excellent average pace of 6:22.

Alex Door of Egdon Heath Harriers was there as well and she found it pretty tough going in the heat. She did well though off the back of limited training and managed to get round in 3:21:58 which put her in 10,714th place. Out of the women in the race, she was 2,583rd and came 321st in the 40 to 44 category. Her average pace for the run was 7:43 per mile.

Sarah Swift of Poole Runners was training for the Comrades Marathon in South Africa which is 56.4 miles with a hell of a lot of elevation. The Boston Marathon was quite good training for that and she managed a PB of 3:20.26 which put her in 10,276th place overall and 2,362nd female. She was also 43rd in the 50 to 54 category. Her average pace was 7:36 per mile.

After that she went on to complete the London Marathon six days later in 3:38:26 which was an incredible achievement so soon after Boston. That was definitely good training for the Comrades though and she was undoubtedly going into that in her best shape ever.

Ultimately, Grzeg was pleased with the result he got considering he hadn’t actually trained for it. It was a very good time under the circumstances. He’s now taking a short break from running but will be back on it in a couple of months time get into shape for next year.