My Running History

(You can find all of my pained images here, my bib was 15609. Can you tell which ones were taken during mile one and the rest from mile 2 on? Okay, maybe an exageration, but you can see the majority of them are of me suffering).

I, Afton Parker, have run the 113th Boston Marathon on April 20, 2009 in an official time of 3:32:22 (although my official watch distance also said it was 26.4 miles)!!!!!!!! If I can run, you can run. And so I'll tell you my story:).

I don't have any pics due to a lousy camera that failed on me the day of the race so I've been waiting to post anything while I'm getting the pics of others. Shelah, my friend I ran it with has posted her version of the race on her blog and my sister Autumn posted her spectator version on her blog (which I've copied a bunch from so I can have a copy:).

Since the official colors of the Boston Marathon (I just tried to abbreviate that, but since B.M. doesn't look very good, I'll use BAA, the Boston Athletic Association), are blue and yellow, I'll celebrate with those. I'm just going to give you a little running history before the marathon news since I know you're dying to read it.

There are a few things you should know about me first:

1. I don't consider myself a runner (don't you have to look like one, love running, and just do it because you enjoy it?)


2. I don't particularly enjoy running. I enjoy a few rare moments of running: when you're in shape enough to go out for a short run, the elements align, and you're able to run, not jog, and you feel like going faster and your body loves you and you love it for a special moment in time, it's not begging you to stop and you're not criticizing it, together at last! There are few feelings to compare with that. Also, I love the end of a run, when you stop.


3. I ran sprints in high school, just enough to get by in a small town, but was nothing special (except to my parents:). I hated running long distances, which included 2 miles or more. I thought the cross country team who ran 3 miles was insane, who would run that far? Who could run that far? You could sort of pick them out, the long lean kind, usually the pretty minimalist kind, smart, that was my impression. As you can see--that is not what you see in this pic. We were coming around the final bend of the BAA here and I felt like death.


4. Somehow I'd still always had "Run a Marathon" on my list of things to do in life (but you have to realize this list is about into the 800s and also includes learning like 7 languages which I really don't intend on learning).


5. My races:

*I ran my first 5K the weekend after Josh and I got engaged in 2003.

*That summer I ran a 5 mile race Josh's mom got us all into and I was absolutely terrified about it. I couldn't imagine actually running that far. I couldn't sleep the night before.

*I ran a 10K in Pendleton, OR where my gma lives in 45 minutes and came in first out of women--I still wasn't able to convince them that they were a mile short (we know exactly where they messed up too) and there were only three women, still, a good newspaper clipping!

*I ran several 5Ks with Josh and stroller since his firm sponsored so many (no entry fee, hurray!). Hazel's first 5K Josh came in 2nd in his age group for men, I came in third in my age group for women and Hazel came in 1st for hers:). But she didn't get the cool tile. Obviously, this was not a large race, remember, I was pushing a stroller, but still felt good. I pushed the double in a couple too, the pics from the race are pretty funny!

*I ran my first half marathon in Hartford with Josh and my friend Alicia in 2005. It was awesome. I was prepared, it rained, and I still loved it--I felt so empowered! Isn't that the cheesiest real word?

*I ran the Huntsville half in TX in 2008 with Josh. It was hot, muggy, and we were sick.

*I ran the Memphis marathon Dec. 6, 2008 with Josh and part of his family. It was incredible. The area was fun, having family all participating made for a big ol party and the excitement from the city was huge. Being my first was pretty amazing, such a rush. A month earlier my goal was just to finish under 4 hours, but then I ran with my friend Shelah and the pace she got me down to for our 21 miler meant that I should be able to qualify for Boston if I kept it up. The hills were hard and my body saught revenge through a bathroom break for all the mean treatment I'd given it, but I still managed to squeek across the finish line in 3:38 and qualify (needed 3:40:59). My watch said the distance was 26.45--you can imagine how excited I was when it hit 26.2 and the finish line was nowhere in sight and time was a tickin.

*I ran the Surfside half with Josh on Valentines Day, 2009. I surprised Josh by signing him up 3 weeks before, wasn't that nice of me? I had an injury that made me take three weeks (but kept the long run on the weekends) so we weren't in peak shape. We ran it together, on the sand, with a major headwind. That was a test of enduring to the end with each other! He was great, kept me going, finished in 1:48. I got 1st in my age group--love a small race! Like the 10K, I don't care if there are only 3 people so you all have to place, it still feels good:).

*Ran the Boston Marathon, April 20, 2009 with Shelah. It kicked my tail, was by far the hardest run I've ever done. I felt like quiting from mile 2 on. I was tired, tired, and more tired. Yawning at the start and feeling pretty unmotivated. I was pretty sure I wouldn't make my super goal time (to beat Josh's marathon time:) thanks to the injury set-back when everything went south and I was emotionally worn out from it and all the running.

I'll give my BAA run-down in my next post, but it just mostly includes suffering. Shelah ran it with me, she says it would be fun, but I can tell you I wasn't any fun that day and she ended up having to pull me along and keep me going. She was wonderful! We finished in 3:32:22 but when my watch hit the 26.2 mark it was 3:30, so I felt better about that--I'd almost cracked into the 3:20s which was my "realistic" goal so I was bummed I didn't even hit that. Although I was disappointed, I can look back on this race unlike others and know that I gave it my all, my every last bit of energy (as you can tell my my final pace of 10 min miles, I was dying).

*Next race? I just heard that my cousin is doing a half marathon around here this weekend...and the St. George Marathon lottery deadline is May 4...While I swore off running every step of the way during the BAA, I'm tempted again for the greed of shaving off some more time!

Q: Do you like running?

Q: Any interest in putting your name in the St. George lottery? (The more you have in your group, the better your chance of getting in, but only up to 5 people). We're not convinced we should do it, just thinking.

Q: What's been your favorite race?