Brilliance in Boston: Sub 3 and 30min PB for Sophia Robertson

First off, massive congratulations on such an amazing run! How are you feeling a few days after? Did the Boston hype live up to its billing?

I’m honestly feeling really good 3 days post-marathon, I think I really adapted to recovering fairly quickly during this prep! The energy in Boston was nothing that I could have expected, it felt like the entire city was cheering for the runners, and I’m still on a high from the whole weekend! It’s such a special feeling having complete strangers showing their support for you as you run by. 

It’s no small feat to run a 31min PB and negative split on the Boston Marathon course. What was the race plan coming in? Did you have that goal time in mind, or did you just have an amazing day?  

Going into the race, I didn’t have too much of a race plan as I just really wanted to run based off feel. That being said, I definitely made an effort to go out pretty relaxed, as I find I tend to feel stronger as the race goes on. Around 25km is when I really started to build and get faster. I really wanted to get under the three-hour mark but also didn’t want to go in with too strict of a time goal and be disappointed if I didn’t hit it, so I really just wanted to run and see how close I could get to three hours and see what happened. 

How long have you been working with Coach Bri, and what’s been the big difference maker from this build compared to your previous marathons?

This is my second marathon and the first one that I’ve really trained for. I started working with Bri in late October after moving out to Vancouver for school. For my first Marathon, I was running around 40-50km a week, and for Boston, I was probably averaging around 100km. I think the increase in volume, as well as the big Saturday marathon-specific workouts, is what really helped me improve.  This was my first time having a coach and a real marathon training plan. It seriously made the biggest difference, and I couldn’t have been happier to be with M2M. 

When you look back on this race (or build) 30 years from now, what will you remember most?

Looking back on my whole build and the race itself, I think I’ll remember the amazing running community I was introduced to. Previous to moving to Vancouver, I was very used to just running solo, but after joining a group like M2M, I have been so lucky to meet so many amazing people! 

It might be too soon to ask you this question, but now that you’ve run sub-3 and crushed Boston, what do you want to tackle next?

Although it’s nice to take some time to relax after competing in Boston, I would be lying if I said I already wasn’t dying to start training for my next race. I don’t have anything official yet but Im thinking of doing a few more half marathons this year, and then eventually I would love to do the Berlin marathon as its always been at the top of my list!