When I talk about this race in 30 years, people will think I'm exaggerating. There were literally moments when the wind, cold and rain were so bad they almost stopped me in my tracks. Looking back, those were some of my favorite moments because when the conditions are that bad it's almost like, 'Can it be any worse?' and then mother nature answers, ‘Yes.’ It made me smile just thinking how ridiculous the conditions we were pushing ourselves through were.
The race was like nothing else I've experienced, mentally and physically. We went out much faster than I anticipated and I began to feel sore very early in the race. I've never felt that bad that early in a marathon and my biggest mental challenge was just convincing myself that I going to be okay. I told myself that as long as I was able to put one foot in front of the other, I would keep going. My biggest fear of the whole weekend was that the crowd support wouldn't be great because of the conditions. But those nerves were eased when there was a large crowd to greet us and strong boisterous crowds throughout.
When I crossed the finish line, my legs almost gave out. My immediate reaction was relief followed by surprise when I found out I was sixth. I drank a lot of Sam Adams to celebrate.
- HOKA Athlete Scott Smith from Flagstaff, AZ, who finished sixth at Boston Marathon wearing the HOKA Tracer 2.
#humansofHOKA (📷 Kyle Klosinski)