Boston for the first time

Two weeks have passed but I can still remember my thoughts....

The week prior to the race I did my typical taper. I ran 10 miles the Saturday before, five miles mid week, then five miles on the Friday before. Basically I didn't do anything. I watched what I ate to avoid gaining a good five pounds just before the race. I only gained two. Most of my body felt great, except I had this weird side stitch. It seems to be there all day. My Friday run I became afraid of this weird side stitch, as I realized I couldn't take a full breath without it feeling like somebody was stabbing me in my ribs. This is the just the thing you want just before a race. I thought o'well at least I made it to Boston. I decided to try and help things out a bit I took 800 mg of ibuprofen for breakfast lunch and dinner. Yeah I can finally breath again, but it still hurt.

I was excited that the race didn't start until 10:30. Except, then I read through all the driving instructions. The roads to get to the race closed at 7:30 in the morning and I was staying an hour away. Okay fine, I will wake up at the regular race day 4:00 in the morning. Off to bed at 9:00pm. I slept great the night of the race. Went to bed early, and only woke up twice during the night.

No nerves, I thought this was really cool. I didn't have an exact pace goal, except it would be pathetic if I couldn't get at least 3:40. I just wanted to have fun and give a high five to all the kids cheering on the side. I couldn't wait to see what it was going to be like. Also, it will be kind of cool to bonk on heart break hill, maybe...

I get to the race and I figured I must have gone to the wrong location. Nobody was there, not even volunteers. Wait found one. I was in the right place. When they said athlete's village I was expecting a warm place to be waiting for a couple hours. Nope it was on the grass. Good thing I came early. I quickly took up on the opportunity of being early and grabbed the plastic that surrounded all the water bottles and used it as a water barrier between the grass and my buttocks. It was perfect. Until I saw that everybody else was bringing blow up beds. I'll remember that for next year. They should put it in the all the documentation they had out before the race. Or at least put "Note: you will be in the weather during your stay at the athletes village, a bed is recommended". I met a really cool girl, Kendra. She also came before all the buses. We chatted for a couple hours.


One more porta potty stop, then the race begins. Wait the race is starting in 8 minutes and I still have to go and run .7 miles to the start. Ran to start while dressing after my bathroom break. I got good practice running through a bunch of people that seems to think that a 20 minute walk was fast enough to the start. I don't want to start at the end so I decided a warm up is a good thing. Ditched to the side walk outside the gates and ran up to the corral for 15's (second coral for the second wave). Everyone was running as I got in. I just kept running and wondered when it started. Little did I know it already started and I just crossed the starting line. Whoops I better start my watch. O'well my watch usually says 26.5 by the end of the race anyways, maybe the distance will be accurate this time.

And the Race Begins!

I couldn't believe all the spectators at the starting. It was like we were at a finish line. I figured it was everybody that dropped somebody off, but it was families with kids. There we all out there to cheer everyone one. I instantly moved to the right and started giving the little kids a high five. About two minutes into the run my sweater became a new grass ornament it officially warmed up. The weather was perfect. I still kept my gloves thinking about mile 16 when the winds change it becomes cold. I also kept my ear covers on. I was happy to have Kenny's sunglasses it was bright outside. I was so excited to be there it almost brought tear to my eyes. Well not tears, but I was excited.

There was a guy running in front of me holding his gloves in his hands. He had pockets in his shirt, why would be by caring the gloves. I offered to put them in the back for him and he said yes. He said he didn't want to stop and can't seem to put them in back pocket. That was exciting.

I met two other girls as I was running along. They had GO UTAH on their shirt. I started talking to them because I am hoping to get into the lottery for the St George marathon. They got in because they lived in Wasatch County, lucky them. That was their qualifying race.

I hit the first, well maybe the second, small random hill. It was easy, I wasn't too worried about heartbreak hill. Then the first water break came. I grabbed my water and did my little walk while drinking at the water stop at mile 1. Then after I took the sip of water I took a deep breath. Dang that hurt, oh no, no more deep breathing. I remembered my side issue. Okay short shallow breaths, and you know what, I am not stopping for water. All running, this isn't some Jeff Galloway running event.

About mile seven I hit this, oh no I have only gone seven miles. I have about twenty to go. I don't think I am going to make it this time. I haven't even done the hills yet. I didn't care about my speed I might as well slow down....nah, I don't care about my speed who really cares if I hit the wall. It will be fun. Just keep running.

I continued with the method of running through the water stops. I would get the Gatorade cup and pour it on my face and get about a sip. The pouring wasn't intentional, but I haven't learned how to drink like a man. In other words I can't just continue drinking. I have to close my mouth to drink more. I didn't want the after taste of Gatorade so I followed each Gatorade splash with a gulp/face splash of water. It was fun to listen to everybody's feet sticking to the ground. I then just realized that for the first time I was not running by any foot pounders. This is cool. The foot pounders in races are really annoying I always get sympathy pain.

There was a crossing for picture taking at mile 12. I though ah, I am finally at the half marathon mark. Nope, that was just mile 12. I couldn't tell if I was tired or worried about the start of the race. I hear the start of the race is mile 16 when you see the Newton hills. After about an hour later I finally got to the half marathon mark. By an hour, I mean eight minutes and seven seconds. I thought I would be excited that I was halfway done. This was my first peak at my pace. I am in big trouble my pace puts me at an average of 8:03 a mile. I ran a half marathon two months ago and got a PR just under that. What am I thinking that is going out way to fast. I check my heart rate, nope that is good it is averaging in the 170's I can't really run slower then that, this is just a training run according to my heart rate. Keep up the pace.

Around mile 14 there was an older guy running. He was going rather slow for being in front. He said, boy you guys are all running too fast, see you on the hills later. I thought for a minute to myself thinking he was right. O' well I'll find out later. Right now I will just keep on going.

Mile 15 comes along and I am confused. This is a steep downhill, not an uphill. Since the hills are coming soon and I have already passed the halfway mark I might as well go fast. I bring my speed up a bit. The first Newton hill comes. It is at the end of mile 15. Not sure why I thought it was 15, because it is really mile 16. So I climb this little hill. Then it starts to go downhill again, for a while. I thought, was that really the first hill. Not to bad, I'll take it. Granted I slowed my pace a bit to avoid any mental collapse. I heard if you go slow on the first you are good. The second hill comes along quite a bit later. I take this easy too, and well it was easy. It was a little steeper but a lot shorter. The break after this is even longer. Then you get the third hill. Also, no big deal. I am happy about this. Finally, another hill. However, it was close enough to the third that I was thinking that maybe it was still just the third hill. I see at the top a bunch of posters that you have just conquered heart break hill. Surely I thought they were kidding. I start talking to everyone around me and I say, really that was it. I think they wanted to shoot me and said I must be from around here. I informed them that my only hill training consisted of counting a windy day as a hill day, as I was from Florida. I probably should have just said yes. I check my watch my averages changed from 8:03 to 8:09. Not too bad for hills. I was excited that I was actually pacing under 8:10's and the hard part was over. At least I thought it was.

Five miles left to go and I don't have to save anything for anything. I am in the home stretch all down hill from here. I book it. I checked my watch for the last .8 mile I was averaging 7:15 a mile. This was sweet and I felt great. I have never felt this great for the last 5 miles. By never, this is just my third marathon, so that doesn't go very far back. Then I thought 5 miles that is my whole block run. I better wait to sprint until the 5K to go. I backed down a bit. Then this horrible thing happened. There was a big hill, and it sucked. More than all the other hills. Why didn't anybody talk about the hill after heart break hill. This is just cruel. After I got put back in my place I was too worried about any new hills on this the rest is flat part. I slowed down to about an 80% effort. That thought lasted about 10 second. I looked at the elevation changes after the race, and really the worst hill is barely noticeable. This was my head speaking.

Go Tube Socks was the next thing I heard. They were talking about me, this is cool. They are watching me. I better get these tube sock of mine running faster then they are now. I got running again. Well, I was running before just not as fast. They were not really tube socks. I testing out wearing compressions socks for the first time and don't regret it. I also got some new shoes, and only put a ten mile run in them. Brooks Launch. I love the socks and the shoes. I guess avoiding new things on race day isn't for me. It worked out perfectly fine.

Next thing I know I hear everybody yelling two miles to go to everyone. Cool, I like that. Then I swear I was running for the next 10 minutes and looked down and a two miles to go marked on the road. Apparently the crowd thinks that when you are 1/2 mile away from the 24 mile mark you have two miles to go. In reality that means you have 2.75 miles to go. That was devastating, but that thought didn't last long.

I was running up yet another hill, but I was high in spirit, I was feeling good. There was a girl walking on the uphill. I tried to cheer her up and get her running as she wasn't limping it was just her will that was having a hard time. She said she couldn't so I grabbed her by the shoulders and said yes we can. Her will quickly changed and she speed up ahead of me. I almost regretted it for a second because I felt a quick twinge in my calf. Whew, nothing really happened. I just get going.

One mile to go. The longest mile of the race. I had to keep thinking, just eight more minutes, just eight more minutes. It wasn't because I was tired. I do this just because I think I am almost done. I have tried convincing myself it isn't the last mile but that doesn't work very well. The crowds are great. I love it. This is the coolest race I have ever run.

Last section. I turn the corner and I can see the finish line. It is much further than I thought it would be turning the finishing corner. And wow, where did that head wind just come from. It was the biggest head wind of the race. I was really grateful that we didn't have to deal with it the entire race. I took off my ear cover and sunglasses. I wanted to look pretty for the finish photo. I don't think the photo is going to be good. I had one of those cheesers on my face, and I couldn't get rid of it. I just finished my marathon in 3:34:44. I just set a Personal Record(PR) at my first Boston Marathon. Nothing could make me happier. I couldn't believe it. Not only did I PR, but I felt great. Everybody else that was finishing had that typical I am going to die now. I was feeling great. I am doing it again, and again, and again.

Oh and the socks, rock. Never even felt sore after the race finished. After the race, I traded the pair I wore for recovery socks and slept in them. :)