Boston Marathon Recap--two years late

The Boston Marathon was two days ago and a course record was set, 2:03:02, that's stinkin fast. I've been looking forward to this day for the past two years since I ran it in 2009. Why? Because technically, I still qualified for today's race since I requalified to run it during the Boston itself in 2009. I knew there was no chance in afton-world that I would do it, but it was still a nice thought knowing I could still sign up for it. That really doesn't make sense I know. So I went for a little run today and really pushed myself, I went farther than I've gone in almost a year--a full 3 miles and at only just over 10 min miles. And yes, that was pushing myself and I'm already sore.

I have never written my Boston update and I've been wanting to ever since it happened, but I knew it would take too much time and energy to do it how I wanted after it happened, so I just didn't. Time is the best editor for me, so this will be much shorter than it originally would have been. And since this is seriously old news, I don't see the point in any of you reading this, except if you want a taste for what goes into the race since my sister took lots of fun pics of the atmosphere.

I trained with my friend Shelah who is lightening bolt fast, and since we both got injured for three weeks in Feb (race in April), she decided to not try to train for her 3 hr marathon and insisted she wanted to run it together even though I was sure I was dashing her dreams. She is wonderful and the only way I finished that darn race in under 4 hours.

Thanks to my wonderful husband, we not only stayed in Houston an extra month instead of moving to CA so I could keep training with my friend, he also let me go do this race the weekend before we moved to CA while he helped get the house ready to move and took care of the girls. It was such a special weekend that I got to have all by myself and it was something I not necessarily needed, but was emotionally rejuvenated for (which after moving to CA and a disastrous house we discovered I would need that strength!). A million thanks to him.

I flew in from Houston Friday night, got to my "airport hotel" that was only 45 min from the airport, in the opposite direction of Boston. And that's what you get when you buy through priceline and are going cheap. I got to bed around 1am.

Saturday morning I went for a 1.5-2 mile jog. I felt like a race horse on race day, my body was just pumped full of adrenaline and I couldn't run normally. I was trying to keep it light and easy so I didn't burn myself out, but I was charged.

After my jog, I went to Boston, figured out my way around on my own--which was fairly empowering for someone with a completely messed up internal gps system. I went to my dear friend Alicia's apartment and dumped my stuff off. She was gone somewhere, so I just dropped and left. I went to the Expo and holy camoli, that thing was huge. Apparently it's one of the biggest in the world, and it was awesome. I was alone for about an hour and it was so exciting. I just soaked up the whole experience, but I felt a bit like an impostor. I knew a lot of these people had run tons of marathons and my first one was only 4 months earlier. I just felt like I had snuck in and was a fake amongst real runners, so my feelings were all jumbled.

I was also really nervous about my goal time of 3:21. Shelah and I had trained at that pace actually, but that was on flat Houston sidewalks, not the hills of Boston. I didn't want to do any more marathons and I knew that I was going to have a hard time finding a training buddy as fast as Shelah to push me if I did another one (we were both moving), so I just wanted to get it and be done with it, but even though you're supposed to be able to go faster than your training pace on race day, I was pretty sure I'd been giving it everything or close to it on my training runs so I didn't think I could trim it down much more, esp with those beastly hills. At one station in the expo, I got a cool wristband with my goal time on it and where I should be time-wise for every mile. They even took into account the hills and adjusted your time that way. I got one for both my goal time of 3:21 and my realistic time of 3:29.

Then I met Vicki, one of my dear friends I grew up with since I was 11, at the expo. It was so fun to see her! She's a runner too, so we had a lot of fun wandering around, sampling stuff. Then I went to dinner with her at an Italian place and caught up, it was so fun! Then I went back to my friend Alicia's and stayed the night. It was so wonderful to get caught up with her as well. She had a baby that was like 2-3 weeks old and they were in apartment student housing at Harvard, so it was a major sacrifice for her to be hosting me. I slept on their couch and when I thought the fact that a newborn in an apartment would keep me up, it was actually just my anxiety about knowing I really needed to sleep that kept me up. Ugh.

Here is yet another great friend I knew from NYC, Brittany. It seems that Boston attracts awesome people:). She took me to the airport at the end of it all, but I posted the pic at the end, so it ended up on top.

Here is the bib pick up.

It was such an adrenaline rush to go to my number and actually get a bib for me! It was pretty awesome. They sent all sorts of mailers out beforehand with all sorts of info, I love that kind of thing so I nearly memorized all the material. I was alone at this point still, so I had a lady take a picture of a very excited me.

My parents and sister, Autumn, flew in the next day. I thought it would be fun to have them there, but I wasn't planning on it because timing just wasn't working out. I figured I'd just meet up with my friends and get around by myself. When they told me they were actually going to make it, I had a huge sense of relief that I was surprised by. Things were just so much easier with people to help out, esp with something big like this. The support and companionship was so huge, it was one of the most memorable times of my life because they were there.

It didn't hurt that they put us up in the Hilton hotel either, sure beat the boondocks place I stayed in. It was right across the street from the expo, which is actually where I met up with them. My mom didn't realize it, but my friend Vicki worked at the Hilton, and Vicki took it upon herself to check if we were staying there just because she knew I'd be in town, found out we were, and upgraded us for free--awesome huh?

My wonderful fan club :).

Giving my dad a hard time about something or other.

You could buy these funny bibs for the other side of your shirt for $10. I opted to just use stickers with my name (provided at the expo--cool huh?) written nice and big for people to cheer for me.

They had a bazillion samples of stuff out. No need to carbo load any more!

Buying a jacket that was way too much as a present from the parents. I'm so glad she made me get it though, I love it.




This was a cool wall made up of pics of the runners and the elevation of the race. It's so weird looking back at this, my nerves were so wired with anticipation and fear that I wouldn't hit my goal. I paid for a video to be taken of me during the race and did a little into for it at the expo.
Getting last minute directions the night before for the next morning.

A long day for everyone. It wasn't the brightest idea to try to do a walking version of sightseeing Harvard campus and Boston before the race, my legs were already tired.

A new shirt also from the parents. See the one on the bed? My sister was getting it for me but couldn't decide if I'd like it or not because it said, "Boston FINISHER" and she wasn't sure I'd be into announcing that. She told the sales lady she wasn't sure if I'd like it and the lady said something like, "Oh yeah, a lot of people are nervous about buying it because they don't know if they'll finish or not." I love that my sister laughed because she had confidence in me that that wasn't the case and bought it for me.

After the expo we walked to the finish line so I could visualize actually finishing this sucker.

All the restaurants around had deals for the runners or just signs of encouragement.

Shelah and I actually passed these guys during the race around mile 16 where the nasty hills began. They talk about "Heartbreak Hill" and how it's so hard because of where it is in the race. They don't talk about the 3 major hills that come before it. Cruel, cruel torture. I was so done before I even started them, so by the time Heartbreak came I was like, gee, what's another one. I'm already in heckland. Now this may sound silly, but truth be told, when I felt like dropping out and stopping--which was about every other step--I thought of two things: my parents at the end of the race would wonder where I was, so I had better finish and 2: I paid for a video and I'd better make an appearance at the finish line or that would be a really bad chunk of memorabilia. And I alternated those two thoughts to keep me going. Yeah, I'm impressed with how inspiring I am too.

As I felt like I couldn't go any further on them, I kept thinking of this duo fighting the same hills and thought how much harder that would be. And how embarrassing if they'd pass me. We went to dinner at the hotel that night, they offered a big pasta buffet and it was yummy.
Race morning! Greasing up my toes. Oh, so the night before, I went through my bag to lay out all my stuff and my race shirt wasn't there. I sorta freaked out, called Josh, had him search my stuff and discovered that it was indeed in Houston still. I thankfully had this backup, but it's just stiffer and not so comfy, so I was nervous about it chafing. We also set 6-7 alarms through the four of us and hotel wake up calls (we were in two different rooms) and even then, I couldn't sleep because I was so paranoid about missing the race. My night was full of dreams of me missing the race and then me looking a the clock to constantly show the a.m. hours. That would now make, 3 nights in a row of bad sleep.

It was a pretty nippy morning, so I layered well. I bought those polyester pants on a Walmart clearance rack for a few bucks thinking I'd have to toss them at the starting line.
My morning gear, Autumn took pics of all my junk, which I'm happy to have :). Glad she gets the details!
Unfortunately, my watch and my ipod semi-broke the week before the race. I discovered that if I didn't touch my watch after turning it on it was fine and my ipod magically just worked that day, but the screen has been black since.

Expo goodies.

Going down...

I think the walk to the buses was like 1+ miles, sort of annoying on race day.

Lots of water at the finish line.


A trash can near the buses, hilarious huh?

My dad was nervous we were going to be late, esp when he saw this line, but I was thinking, there is no way they'll start with this many people still lining up for the buses.

It was actually incredibly efficient.
I met this nice lady in line and we sat together for the ride of about 40 min to the starting line. It was fun to talk to her. She said she wasn't going to wear a watch and was just going to enjoy the run. Enjoy the run? Is she insane? I was not planning on enjoying this run and was certainly not giving up my watch.



This is "Athletes Village." I felt pretty cool getting to go to a place called that, it was like the Olympics!


This may look like a lot of potties, and there were so many more, but seriously, LINES everywhere.

I waited in this one and I think I finally dropped out because they were calling for my wave to get to the starting line, which was also 1+ miles away. I still hadn't found my friend Shelah, which really isn't a surprise out of 25,000 runners and bad cell coverage. I had dressed a certain way and was nervous about the temp, so I stripped down by some trees to change with some ladies shielding me. I think I was adding clothes, it was so cold.
The last pic I took with my camera. I ditched the potties, ran to the starting line, but stopped in a parking lot to go potty first. There were tons of runners waiting in line to go and I was like, "I'm totally going to miss the start if I wait!" But I had to go, so I saw lots of people just squatting by cars, so I did it too. Very nice. I had managed to get a hold of Shelah seriously just right before I ditched my bag and found her as our corral was about to let out. We ran to the start which sort of freaked me out.
In the very beginning of the race, I started with Madonna's "Tick Tok" song and cranked it up nice and loud. I took off with the back to back heard of people only to have all my chews and goos fall out of my shorts pocket. I knew I had to have those for my run, it was my only sustenance during it, so I turned around and ran against the pack. I had a few people run straight into my head, which hurt for the next TWO miles, no joke. I finally found my stuff and found my friends again--we made another friend in pink at the starting line with the same goal time.

In happier times. Probably the 10K mark.
Towards the end. I can't explain the kind of pain here, but it was pretty darn bad. I was hating life in a big way. I knew at this point that my goal time was shot, so I felt pretty defeated and felt my "realistic" time slipping too. I was so so so spent. I was spent at the half marathon mark. I actually made a personal record during the race for a half marathon at 1:40, which would explain why I was tired, but I knew I couldn't maintain that pace and I had to if I wanted to finish in 3:21. I told Shelah I couldn't keep it up. Also at the half point though was the Wellesley girls college and it was seriously awesome--you could hear the screaming from like a mile away. And there were fans cheering every bit of the way, they were just like 10xs louder, it was awesome.
When I rounded a corner and saw the finish line I was totally, insanely shot. It was probably only 1/8 of a mile away, but I was like, "It is THAT far? I can't run that far! How will I finish?" Shelah grabbed my hand and that helped me focus. I saw her look to the side and she must have heard my parents and sister cheering because I was so out of it. So then I looked and saw them. My dad said he told my mom right then that he knew I had nothing left.

So you know how in a race you weave in and out so you always end up running more than the actual distance? Well, according to my watch, at 26.2 miles, I was still in the 3:30 finish, but my final race time was 3:32 and my distance was 26.45, which I wasn't thrilled about, but I'd really just wanted to finish in 3:30 or less, so I counted it.

If I could figure out a way to post my video of this part of the race, I totally would, it's comical. As soon as I crossed, I almost collapsed. I started wobbling, I grabbed my chest and reached my other arm in the air trying to find some kind of support and an aid (they thankfully had slews of them, it's great they anticipate ruined people at the end) ran to help me stand. I just wanted something to eat, an orange anyone? I was so hungry and nauseated, I needed something, but they didn't have ANYTHING except a banana which I'd had one too many of already. Shelah was like "Do you want me to run ahead and get you something?" Yeah, and she could have, she's amazing and had energy left over. I told her thank you, but that was a terrible idea since she had just run a marathon, thanks again.

She helped me walk on the opposite side of the aid. They kept telling me to sit in a wheelchair but I resisted over and over. Finally they had me sit down to take off my chip on my shoe and when they sneakily did that, they rushed over a wheelchair and started asking me questions to make sure I was coherent. As soon as I sat in it I was like, "and now all my pride is washed away..." it was so humiliating. But then I tried to think of it as being glad that I gave it everything and knowing I couldn't have given it a bit more so at least no regrets.

I remember mumbling to Shelah, "That was worse that natural childbirth..." and this lady nearby goes, "It is!" I don't think she realized I had something to compare it to, but it was nice to have her agree. It was.

Autumn said it was funny to see the pics on the camera because (and it was her camera, mine broke before I got to my hotel on the first night, nice) this was these were right next to each other:

I look pretty awesome, no?
We were so cold and I was shaking like a lunatic, get me to the hotel and massage my legs please!!!

My sister and mom were so awesome, they massaged my legs for who knows how long. I finally managed to get up and take a shower and a short nap. At that point I felt really good, emotionally I mean. And physically too I suppose considering where I was just hours before. It's such a nice feeling to be all clean and warm and rested after being so spent and dirty.

On the way up to the hotel room in the elevator I said, "I am NEVER doing that again. I am never running another marathon ever again." He goes, "Yeah, that's what we all say, and soon enough you'll sign up for another one." I laughed and said, "Not me." Then when I called Josh to tell him about it (he got text messages along the way that reported my times to him, cool huh?), he was like, "So do you want to do another one?" I told him no way and he goes, "Oh...because I was kind of hoping we could do the St. George together (in 4-5 months)." Oh great. Fine, fine, sign us up. Which he did, along with me roping my sister into it, and then Josh's knee got ruined, so I was stuck doing it with my poor sister I dragged into it. But that's another story.

If you're like me, something I think about well in advance is what I want to eat after the race. Before it's all so calculated, but after, just give me the worst food ever and enjoy every bit of it. We figured the Cheesecake Factory would fit the bill. My mom made me wear my medal and after resisting, I put it on. And then I thought that maybe it wasn't such a bad idea since I was creeping and waddling along so people knew what was up.

Oh, and after the race when my parents were helping me walk to the hotel, tons of people kept congratulating me on the way, I think they felt horrible for the poor crippled girl, and it was really embarrassing again, but nice that people were so sweet.

Hm, what to eat! Weird thing was that I wasn't that hungry, it was disappointing.

I slept well that night. The next morning we did a quicky tour of some Boston sites. I wasn't exactly quick though, so we took a taxi even though it was only 1.5 miles away. It was really funny, you could totally pick out the runners that were out and about, lots of people grabbing handrails going down steps with a nice grimace on their face, it was really fun.

My friend Vicki who hooked us up.

My parents and Autumn left after I did, so they took a taxi ride to the start of the race, or close to it, so they could see the course. I so wished I could have gone with them since it was all a blur.

Here is the winner of the whole thing. He was on the first leg of her flight with him, so cool huh? She said he just put his trophy in the overhead bin, just like that, plop. ??? I would have held on to that baby or at least wrapped it up carefully. She said he was really sweet and modest about the whole thing.

The race was on Monday and I flew home Tues, arrived that night to a fun cake made by Josh and the girls to celebrate, even though we had movers coming in the morning, so sweet! Josh still had to go to work Wed morning, so I got up to try to get things packed for what we'd need in the first 2 months of living in CA while the movers were there. That was a serious time crunch and it was only really bad because I could barely walk, I was so sore that I was just creeping along for the those two days. Then we flew out to CA on Friday. BUSY!!!

And there you have it. Or there I have it since I think I'm the only one reading this thing. I had planned on being done with marathons after that, but the St. George was a welcome relief and showed me that I could enjoy running. Sure it was an hour slower, but maybe that's the key! Since I didn't hit my goal time I've always wondered, hm, if it was the St. George course and I was as well trained, I could have gotten it, I should do it again! But the bigger part of me says, just enjoy those 10 min miles and relax. Which is definitely the plan for the foreseeable future.

I tell people I normally can't stand running, it's the races I look forward to, but more accurately, I should say it's the before and after the races I look forward to. That weekend was so awesome except for a 3 and a half hour chunk in the middle of it all, I'd do it all again!

And with that, I'm off. Happy trails!

Q: Any desire to run this? I know, after such a glowing review, who wouldn't right?