Unbelievable, incredible, the experience of a lifetime ! These are the ways that I would describe my Boston Marathon experience. I had such a great weekend with family and friends on top of it all.
The weekend started with a visit to Fenway and the chance to introduce Marian to this historic place. My brother and his wife got some tickets for us so we got to share the whole experience with her. Even though it was 38 degree and the Sox lost to the Orioles we had a great time.
Saturday and Sunday were filled with family and friends. It was so great to see everyone, but it went by too fast. When you are seeing people who you love and miss, a few hours is not enough.
The Race:
The BAA is extremely organized and efficient with every phase of this race. I met Robert and Edge at Boston Common for the bus ride to Hopkinton. The bus ride took and hour the fifteen minutes and you are thinking, wow I have to run back from here?!?!?
The athletes village in Hopkinton was huge. There was food and drinks as well as about a thousand porta johns. They did their best to make us comfortable there which was good since we got there at 8:00 and I didn't start the race until 11:30.
The race itself started out through Hopkinton and Ashland and I felt good.
It was SO great to see family along the way, they have no idea how much you look forward to that. I knew my sisters Bonnie and Denise and their husbands would be around mile 13. It was so great to see them. It helped to pick me up for a while. I also knew that Marian, Bob and Marie were at mile 21, so I immediately started to look forward to seeing them.
I got the halfway point in 2:23 but soon after that I knew I was in trouble. The early down hills had taken their toll and by mile 18 every step hurt my quads. I stated to walk longer at the water stops but I was still thinking that a 5 hour finish was possible.
I reached the 21 mile mark at Boston College and saw Marian, Marie, Bob, Megan and Matt. I had been looking for them for some time, but I felt broken at that point, the running part of my race was over. My hamstrings, and calfs were cramping bad and I had to stop a few times to rub the cramps out so I could keep walking.
My mind was racing as my Runkeeper was in my ear every half mile, telling me that my average pace per mile, which was 10:43 at the half way point was increasing with each half mile report. I kept wondering what I had done wrong and why my legs were toast and I was struggling just to finish this marathon. I was embarrassed to be walking but every time I tried to run, my legs would cramp up again.
I had to make a decision. I had three goals going in to the race: 1. Finish the race. 2. Run the whole way, 3. Finish in less than 5 hours. I decided that in order to achieve goal number one, as much as it hurt my ego and my soul, I had to walk in to the finish.
The closer I got to Boston, the bigger and louder the crowds got. The people of Boston were so great. They kept saying "keep going" and "you got this" honestly, I wasn't sure. At about 24 miles, you see the Citco sign that is near Fenway Park and you know you are really getting close.
At the 25 mile mark, when I knew I was going to finish for sure. The embarrassment of walking started to go away. Just then a guy who was walking next to me said, come on let's finish this thing. So we started running, very slow short steps. The pain in my quads felt like a knife with every step, but I wasn't thinking about that because the people (who were now 10 deep on both sides of the road) were cheering at the top of their lungs. I'm not sure if they were cheering for me or just yelling, but the sound was deafening and it felt like they were there to get me to the finish line. So, somehow my legs kept going.
As I crossed that famous finish line, I thought of getting up at 4:30 am to run those lonely training miles and, I thought about Michelle and Jay, I thought of the GREAT charity that I was running to support, I thought about what happened right there last year and I thought all of the people that encouraged me along the way. I started to cry.
Within a few minutes, I got a text from Robert. We found each other at our meeting point and took the picture that I will cherish forever. The two of us with our Boston Marathon finisher medals. NOW THAT IS PRICELESS :-).
Will I ever do it again? I don't know, but I do know that I achieved one out of three goals that I had set for this race. That is great, but it means that I have two more goals that I didn't achieve. I'll just leave it at that.
The race itself started out through Hopkinton and Ashland and I felt good.
It was SO great to see family along the way, they have no idea how much you look forward to that. I knew my sisters Bonnie and Denise and their husbands would be around mile 13. It was so great to see them. It helped to pick me up for a while. I also knew that Marian, Bob and Marie were at mile 21, so I immediately started to look forward to seeing them.
I got the halfway point in 2:23 but soon after that I knew I was in trouble. The early down hills had taken their toll and by mile 18 every step hurt my quads. I stated to walk longer at the water stops but I was still thinking that a 5 hour finish was possible.
I reached the 21 mile mark at Boston College and saw Marian, Marie, Bob, Megan and Matt. I had been looking for them for some time, but I felt broken at that point, the running part of my race was over. My hamstrings, and calfs were cramping bad and I had to stop a few times to rub the cramps out so I could keep walking.
My mind was racing as my Runkeeper was in my ear every half mile, telling me that my average pace per mile, which was 10:43 at the half way point was increasing with each half mile report. I kept wondering what I had done wrong and why my legs were toast and I was struggling just to finish this marathon. I was embarrassed to be walking but every time I tried to run, my legs would cramp up again.
I had to make a decision. I had three goals going in to the race: 1. Finish the race. 2. Run the whole way, 3. Finish in less than 5 hours. I decided that in order to achieve goal number one, as much as it hurt my ego and my soul, I had to walk in to the finish.
The closer I got to Boston, the bigger and louder the crowds got. The people of Boston were so great. They kept saying "keep going" and "you got this" honestly, I wasn't sure. At about 24 miles, you see the Citco sign that is near Fenway Park and you know you are really getting close.
At the 25 mile mark, when I knew I was going to finish for sure. The embarrassment of walking started to go away. Just then a guy who was walking next to me said, come on let's finish this thing. So we started running, very slow short steps. The pain in my quads felt like a knife with every step, but I wasn't thinking about that because the people (who were now 10 deep on both sides of the road) were cheering at the top of their lungs. I'm not sure if they were cheering for me or just yelling, but the sound was deafening and it felt like they were there to get me to the finish line. So, somehow my legs kept going.
As I crossed that famous finish line, I thought of getting up at 4:30 am to run those lonely training miles and, I thought about Michelle and Jay, I thought of the GREAT charity that I was running to support, I thought about what happened right there last year and I thought all of the people that encouraged me along the way. I started to cry.
Within a few minutes, I got a text from Robert. We found each other at our meeting point and took the picture that I will cherish forever. The two of us with our Boston Marathon finisher medals. NOW THAT IS PRICELESS :-).
Will I ever do it again? I don't know, but I do know that I achieved one out of three goals that I had set for this race. That is great, but it means that I have two more goals that I didn't achieve. I'll just leave it at that.
