So you live right near the Boston course? That's pretty cool! How tough are those hills? I hope to run that race in 2015, and I hear they're tough.
+35 since last post (Would've been more, but my marathon on Sunday got canceled due to weather! Good thing it wasn't really a target race for me.)
63,515
Yeah, I live a little more than a mile from the course. On Saturday mornings, I meet-up with a group and we run the course in reverse. I haven't actually been back to Boylston St and the Finish Line since last April 15th til starting to do these long team runs.
The hills aren't really tough. They're four hills over the course of 4 miles in Newton with Heartbreak Hill being a .4 mile ascent and being the last hill. The thing is that during the marathon you don't hit them til mile 17 and you don't hit Heartbreak til mile 20.
But there are so many spectators rooting you on, you get a real lift. The only issue I found is that the course gets really narrow due to the all of the spectators at the hills and I had some runners feet ahead, just stop to walk and I had to dodge them so as not to run them over.
Based on the mileage you put in, I think you'd do fine. Outside of the hills, the course is mostly downhill and with spectators along the whole lenth of the course, they really keep you going.
A few pics from running this weekend, they don't give you a real perspective but gives you an idea what the road is like. Also note, the race is on the right road, the left road which we're training on is a carriage road that runs parallel.
Start of Heartbreak Hill
Part way up Heartbreak Hill
At the top of Heartbreak Hill and looking down