On Monday, April 18th, I woke up at 4:50am to get ready for a marathon that started at 10:00am. (As a side note, the marathon is on Monday because it is the day Massachusetts observes Patriots' Day.) I had slept pretty well. I think I only woke up once or twice in the night. I also slept in my calf compression sleeves, so my feet were feeling good (miracle!).
I got ready and went to catch the 5:30am hotel shuttle to the "T" (Boston's subway). There were eight other runners with me. When I got to the "T" stop, I ate my oatmeal with dried cherries and chopped walnuts (which I'd eaten every day for weeks) while I waited for Jonelle to come over from her hotel.
After she arrived, we rode the "T" with a bunch of other runners to Boston Common where they bussed us to Athlete's Village (near the start line) in Hopkinton.
It was cold since the wind was blowing pretty hard. We waited in line for our turn to get on the bus. It was pretty crazy to see so many people with bright green bags standing in the cold and waiting to get on a bus.
Our bus left Boston Common right around 6:50am. We arrived at Athlete's Village right around 7:50am. There were a ton of people sitting around. There were also some snacks (bagels, Gatorade, bananas, Powerbars), port-o-potties, and a jumbo-tron. It was quite a sight! I didn't get a picture because I was so cold I didn't want to take my hands out of my gloves. When the sun was shining it wasn't horrible, but the wind was pretty brutal.
We hung out for a while, and then dropped our green bags off on the appropriate bus, went to the bathroom, and then waited for our wave (two) and corral (seven) to be called so we could walk the .7 miles to the actual start line.
Once we made our way to the start line, we entered our assigned corral (which was based on our qualifying time) and then waited for our wave to start. The race started at 9:30am for the elite women, 10:00am for the elite men and wave 1, 10:20am for wave 2, and 10:40am for wave 3.
Running this race was pretty weird. It's probably from my lack of training, but I didn't feel mentally prepared for the race. I'd only run once (on the treadmill at the hotel) during the week before. However, I'd been abstaining from treats (dessert and candy) for the week prior in an attempt to do something else to prepare myself.
Basically, I just woke up that morning and was like, "Okay, I guess I'm going to go run 26.2 miles today." The whole race is kind of a blur because I didn't have every stop mapped out in my mind before I started. I'm normally very much a planner, especially when it comes to races.
Right about the time we were having our picture taken above, my dad and Brian were making their way to mile 10 with balloons in tow so I could easily spot them.
While waiting for me, Brian snapped some interesting characters. This Batman (and Superman, not pictured) passed me up on the course. It looks like he's giving directions even though there's no way anyone could get lost on the course.
An American flag body suit. I have no idea how people run in things like that. I'd feel claustrophobic. And where does one find a suit like that anyway?
Along the route, we ditched our top layers (long pants, hoodie, long sleeved shirt, and gloves for me). There were piles and piles of clothes that get donated to Boys and Girls Club. It ended up being a nice and sunny day that resulted in a sunburn on my arm. I put sunscreen everywhere else, but I was too cold to pull my arms out of my shirt prior to the race.
This picture is from mile 10 when we saw Brian and my dad. It was fun to have a cheering section since I didn't have that at either of my other marathons (Brian ran with me at
Chicago and couldn't fly out when I ran
National).
One section that stood out to me was Wellesly College. The girls are famous for offering kisses to runners, but I just thought their cheers were awesome. There was constant yelling and cheering for what seemed like a half mile. It's hard to keep a slow, consistent pace with cheers like that! It's a great motivator!
At one point while we were running along, I was chatting at Jonelle and one of the spectators gave us a bad time saying, "You're just going along like it's a walk in the park, just chatting away!" I guess we made it look easy by enjoying ourselves. :)
I definitely enjoyed the first half of the run more than the second half. (I ran the first half at a 9:36 min/mi pace vs. a 11:57 min/mi for the second half.) I started feeling more drained after about the halfway mark so I suggested we listen to music for the last half. I also took an Excedrin and Ibuprofen at some point and that gave me a bit of a boost. I was taking in water at most of the water stops since it was so hot. I also took some gels, but they inevitably gave me a stomach ache about a minute after I took them. I also tried using
Lara Bar bites, which didn't seem to bother my stomach, but took more time to chew.
The picture above is from the Newton Hills, which come around mile 16 and ends with "Heartbreak Hill". Everyone talks about how horrible these hills are. We walked them, so it was great for me! But really, those hills have nothing on the hills around Seattle.
We saw Steve and Annabelle around mile 22. Since we were walking anyway, I thought it'd be fun to get a quick picture with Jonelle. Fun!
At some point, I could feel the KT Tape that I had put on at the expo was starting to give me blisters. I had to take a quick stop, take off my shoe and sock and pull the tape off then lace back up and go again. It's moments like that that make me so glad I wasn't racing for a certain time!
When I had about 5k (3.1 miles) left (about mile 23.1), I decided to see how I could do on my own. Jonelle was having a ton of foot and hip pain (not to mention, she has a 13-week-old baby!). Plus, I'd already elbowed her numerous times and tripped her once on the course, so I figured I'd top it off by ditching her.
Brian and my dad were waiting for me around mile 25. After snapping a few pictures, Brian jumped in and ran with me for a minute to see how my foot was doing and then told me they'd see me at the end. I took a couple of walk breaks toward the end because I was getting tired (being on your feet for 4+ hours will do that to you!).
However, as I was coming up on the end, I'd think to myself, "I'm about to finish the Boston Marathon," and I'd start to get emotional. Thinking about finishing each marathon has brought out some strong emotions in me (don't worry, I don't full out cry about it or anything though). I haven't had any other experiences quite like finishing a marathon.
After crossing the finish line, I got my heat sheet, medal, water, a banana, and a bag of replenishing food (chips, bagels, etc). Then I found the bus with my green bag and then walked to the family meeting area to find Brian and my dad. It was so good to have them there!
I put on my compression sleeves, changed my socks, and then we took a few pictures. Then I was ready to get back to the hotel and rest. Later that night we went to eat at Uno Chicago which was right next to our hotel. That's one great thing about running a marathon: no guilt about eating whatever you want when you're done!
All-in-all it was a good experience. It wasn't vastly different from the Chicago Marathon as far as spectator support goes. But there was a constant stream of people handing out orange slices, bananas, gummy bears, licorice, water, Kleenex, baby wipes, etc...
When I think about it, running a marathon is pretty crazy. Basically, I paid over $100 to have some people bus me an hour away and then spent over four hours running back. Insane? Yah, maybe a little. But there is something about the marathon... The day I finish I think, "I'm never doing this again." But the next day...well, that's a different story.
Final Time: 4:46:29 (my watch said 4:46:32)
Pace: 10:56 min/mi (10:47 min/mi on my watch)
Division Place: 4,689 of 5,307
Sex Place: 9,036 of 10,281
Overall Place: 21,818 of 24,338
Total for the Week: 26.2 miles (according to my GPS watch I actually ran 26.55 miles)
Total for the Year: 165.97 miles
