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| Make Way for Ducklings - Boston Common |
When I ran my first marathon in 2009, I was in awe of
runners who ran the Boston Marathon and never in a million years believed that
I would someday run those hallowed roads.
But as my fitness improved over the course of training for triathlons
with Coach Muddy, the allure of Boston caught me, and I set my sights on making
it to Boylston Street. On Monday, April
16, 2018, I experienced the joy of crossing the finish line in some of the worst
weather in race history…and I wouldn’t change one bit of that experience.
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| The city has these #BostonStrong daffodils all over the city for Marathon Weekend. |
Boston.
In running
circles, that’s all you need to say and everyone knows you are talking about
the Boston Marathon.
Some people are
fast enough that they can achieve the super-fast
qualifying standard in their
sleep.
But for most others, running fast
enough to achieve the qualifying time (
let alone being enough under the standard to actually get in)
takes constant dedication, focus and planning.
But the great thing is, the qualification race takes the hard work,
worry, and stress.
Once you get to
Boston, it is a celebration!
That’s not
to say that you don’t train hard for Boston or set goals for the race, but the
Boston Marathon is so much more than just a race for a time or a place.
It is a celebration of the history, the joy,
and community of running.
And I noticed
that from the moment I stepped foot in the city – Boston is PROUD of this race
and so welcoming to its runners!
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| Not excited AT ALL!! |
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| Shakeout 5k with mom - race weekend tradition! |
The husband and I arrived on Friday to a great Air B&B
in Beacon Hill. The weather was chilly,
but nothing to write home about. The
rest of the Sherpa squad (Mom, Dad, step-dad) arrived on Friday as well. On Saturday we packed in lots of Boston: mom
and I ran the B.A.A 5k, hit up the expo to get my bib, toured the city on Caty
the Duck, and feasted at Legal Seafood with old family friends. The weather was perfect running weather.
Sunday, the temperature dropped and the wind
picked up. I did my shake-out run along
the Charles River and across the bridge to MIT – I was running sideways to
counteract the wind, and I knew that would be the headwind we would be running
into on Monday. We trekked to Fenway and
caught a Red Sox game in the SNOW!! (so fun and totally worth it), then
finished off the night with my traditional per race dinner of Thai food (If it
ain’t broke, don’t fix it!)
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| Bundled in so many layers and still so cold! |
I had been checking my weather app non-stop in the week
leading up to race day. Family and
friends kept trying to tell me how the New England forecast of rain, wind, and
cold would change by Monday. And, while
the weather prediction for EVERY OTHER day of our trip changed a million times,
Monday remained etched in stone. By
Sunday, I fully accepted that we would be running in the rain…but kept telling
myself it would be warmer, so it wouldn’t be a big deal… But no matter what, I
was toeing that starting line!
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| I bought this jacket for $20 at Marshalls intending to toss it at the start - turned out to be my lifesaver! |
Monday morning arrived with a civilized wake up call of
6am. My start time wasn’t until 10:50am,
but the busses to the start took off from Boston Common (5ish minute walk from
our rental) at 8am. I picked up my mom
from her Air B&B on my way to the Common, and it was already raining. By the time I dropped my gear bag off with
dry clothes and shoes for post-race, my shoes were soaked all the way
through. Lots of runners had tied
garbage bags around their feet to keep them dry – I thought they looked
ridiculous, but definitely wished I had realized just how much rain there was
going to be… The rain was unrelenting, even before the race started. Just after 8, my mom said goodbye and I
boarded the bus to the start. During the
hour drive, I kept looking out the windshield of the bus to see if the driver
had stopped using his wipers – nope, definitely not. And there was definitely snow on the ground
along the highway…yikes! But I shared a
seat with a lovely man from Pennsylvania which distracted me from the weather
(at least a little bit).
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| Bundled up, heading to the busses! |
Arriving at the athletes village was just nuts. The start is at the high school in Hopkinton,
and the gathering areas for the runners were under tents on the athletic
fields…on the grass-turned-mud pits! The
pre-race updates had suggested bringing a second pair of shoes to change into
before the start so that you would start in dry shoes… I totally regretted that
I didn’t have a second pair (or done the silly garbage bag look). My shoes were covered in mud from my second
step onto the field, and they squished like full sponges as we trudged our way
to the start line. But in the end it
didn’t really matter because they would have been soaked the minute I switched
shoes or took off the garbage bags.
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| Not joking - Athlete's Village was a mud pit! |
Finally it was time! The gun went off to a rousing cheer,
and Wave 3 was off. My feet felt like
ice blocks but by mile 3 they warmed up enough that everything just seemed to
settle in for the long haul. The
hardest part of the start was figuring out how fast to run! I had an original goal of 3:25 (and I am certain
I had the fitness for it), but with the reality of the cold, wind, and rain, I
had no idea how my body would cope. So I
just took it mile by mile. Right from
the start, the course was lined with spectators. I actually can’t picture any portion of the
course that had more than a 25 yard gap between spectators! I have already come to the conclusion that
runners and endurance athletes are a special (crazy) breed, but I was in awe of
the support out on the course. Even with
the torrential downpours, there were lots of sections where I couldn’t even
hear my music over the cheering!
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| In the zone - not a clue that I was running past my family! |
The miles ticked off one by one, and soon enough, I hit the
girls at Wellesley and was halfway done!
Then I was counting down miles until I thought I would see my mom around
mile 16. I didn’t see her where I
thought I would, and after looking for another mile, I just got in the zone and
tried to click off mile by mile. Apparently
I was so focused that I completely missed her and my step-dad at mile 17!!! And
I ran RIGHT next to them!!! So
bummed. But I just focused on getting to
the top of Heartbreak Hill, then it would be all downhill from there. Well, it was around that time that the winds
really started to get to me. I thought I
would be able to ride the downhill into mile 25, then pick up my pace for the
last mile to the finish. But miles 24-26
were my slowest of the day. I was so
cold that I couldn’t even open up my hand to stretch them out, and it felt like
I was barely making any progress!
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| So happy and relieved to see my family just before the turn onto Boylston! |
Luckily, I spotted my husband right after Fenway Park which
gave me a huge boost until the right on Hereford. Then I saw my mom, dad, step-dad, and long
time family friend, right where they said they would be. And all the emotions were captured in my
smile. I turned onto Boylston and
finally got choked up for everything that the day brought. I ran straight down the street and could not
be more proud to cross that finish line!
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| Crazy stats for the day!! Cannot believe we ran in that nonsense! |
But as soon as I stopped running, the cold sunk to my
bones. My teeth would not stop
chattering as I made my way through the finish area. It felt like I was walking forever before I
got to the water…then my medal…then a heat sheet…then my food…then, FINALLY to
the dry clothes that I had dropped off in my gear bag earlier that
morning. The line to get into the change
tent was way too long so I headed straight to the Starbucks to meet up with the
fam. What a relief to be out of the
rain!!!! I finally changed out of my soaking wet clothes and was able to absorb
the race I had just run! It felt like
the race took forever and at the same time was over in the blink of eye!
Celebration time!!! After fully defrosting, we feasted on
Italian food in the North End at La Famiglia Georgio, then followed it up with delicious
cannolis at Modern Pastry. Of course by
then the rain cleared, and the night was beautiful to stroll around the North
End, in my finisher’s jacket, and enjoy the city.
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| The horrible weather |
And the day after the race Mother Nature
blessed the city of Boston with perfect
running weather – seriously?!? We
finished the trip off with a visit to the Sam Adams Brewery tasting delicious
brews, then had a farewell dinner with longtime family friends.
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| Morning after - Seriously, Mother Nature?!? |
Over a week has passed and it still feels like a dream
trip. But, I know that I have some
unfinished business out on the road to Boston.
I had a goal of running sub 3:30, aiming for 3:25. I KNOW that I was trained for that time and
my body was ready, so it’s tough not to think about the what ifs. Could I have pushed a little bit harder, did
I let go of my goal too easily? Maybe I
could have at least guaranteed a BQ time (my official time to qualify is 3:40,
but this year you had to run 3 minutes and 23 seconds faster (so 3:36.37)
faster). But then I think about the
conditions, about how many people didn’t finish, how many elites dropped out,
how many people didn’t even start, and I am super proud of my day. I powered through awful conditions, where it
became a complete game of mind over matter, and I earned every bit of my
unicorn!
