Even weeks out it appeared the perfect storm was brewing for the Boston Marathon. High winds, cold, rain and snow. The early forecast gave me plenty of time to obsess about traveling (especially after my Myrtle Beach Marathon fiasco), what to wear, what to take on the bus to Hopkinton and race strategy. I wasted a lot of energy fretting about things beyond my control.
Thursday morning I woke at 5:00 am and checked my flight status online because a storm had blown into Chicago causing the airport to shut down for several hours. My flight from Seattle to Chicago was on time, but my flight from Chicago to Boston was cancelled. This was one of my worst fears, all the effort it took to qualify for this race and not be able to physically get to the starting line. We went to the airport anyway and thankfully, by the time we arrived our Boston flight was showing as delayed, not cancelled. Finally, at 11:00 pm, we checked into our Boston hotel, exhausted from a day of travel, but so happy to get to our destination.
Friday morning we bundled up, walked ½ mile to the train station and caught the Blueline for downtown Boston. We hit the expo just as it was opening, picked up my race number and did all my shopping before the crowds arrived. We ran into Divechief (Dave) and wa5yom (Tim) at the expo as well as a few Marathon Maniacs. Those bright yellow Maniac jackets do wonders when it comes to picking out members of the clan and luckily both Divechief and I were wearing our Maniac colors.
Sunday we were up early and ran the ½ mile to the train station then ran another ½ mile through downtown. At 7:45 we meet other Boston Boomers for the 2 ½ mile Freedom Run. The Freedom Run was one of the highlights of my weekend and anyone misses the Freedom Run is missing a major part of the Boston experience. I was wearing the Maniac jacket again and had several MM come up and introduce themselves during the run. The Korean Marathon Team took a liking to me and Mr. Dove. We must have been stopped a dozen times by the Koreans to pose for pictures. In front of this monument with this Korean team member… that statue with that Korean member…. running with arms wrapped around other team members…. running with the girl in a traditional Korean dress…. it was so much fun.
After the Freedom Run we hopped the Greenline to Henry and Marj’s for brunch with the wonderful Boomers. We also got a chance to chat with the NW contingent who now seem like old friends even though we only see each other at pre-race dinners. The Nor-easter had blown in during brunch and made for a miserable hike back to the Greenline, and a grim taste of what was in store for us race morning. Mr Dove and I ended the afternoon with a ½ mile run from train station to hotel.
Fashion Flash: Marathon morning I decided to wear a red Brooks Podium Marathon Maniac long sleeve tech shirt, Brooks tights, black running skirt, Red Brooks hat, Brooks socks and Brooks Adrenaline 6 GTS shoes in copper.*
I woke several times during the night as the raging storm shook our hotel. Streets were flooding, power lines were down… it didn’t look good. Race morning was cold, wet, and windy. I grabbed my bag and headed for the buses. My timing was just right and I got on one of the first buses to Hopkinton. When we arrived the athlete’s village was flooding. I looked for Divechief and wa5yom who promised to save me a spot under the tent. I couldn’t find them but found one of my new Maniac friends from the Freedom Run and settled in for the long wait until start time. By the time the second wave was staged, the volunteers had given up on trying to sort people into their proper corrals (rain gear was covering up all the bibs) and it became a free-for-all. I found my assigned corral and noticed it was full of charity runners and bandits. I eased my way forward towards the 12th corral and was still surrounded by bibs in the 20,000+ range. No one was honoring their assigned corrals.
The start was a mess, charity runners 5 abreast blocking the way, bandits wearing ipods oblivious to the world and people walking right down the center line. This was not the Boston I expected! I worked hard to qualify and end up in a race that felt like the mega-Rock-n-Roll-a-thons. I wasted way too much energy dodging people who shouldn’t have been on the course, throwing on the breaks to avoid collisions with people who were walking by mile 2 or moving 10 feet sideways to get around a herd of runners in matching t-shirts. I was finally able to settle into a pace but my hamstrings had stiffened up after sitting for hours on the cold, wet ground and they were complaining. I ran the first half conservatively, clocking 9:20 minute miles. I sped up slightly the second half, then slowed down to a 9:35 pace in anticipation of “The Hills”. They never came. Oh sure, there was a rise here and there, and then a bump that got my heart rate up a bit and by mile 23 I was starting to wonder out loud “just where is that Heart Break Hill”. Of course some one answered “you passed it already”. So with three miles to go, plenty of energy left in the engine and no hope of getting a BQ time, I slowed even more and coasted in, saving my legs for another day. I crossed the finish line in 4:14:12. I chilled quickly after the race, even layers of polar fleece couldn’t keep me warm. We got back to the hotel, had a nice, hot shower and prepared to go back to town for a celebration with the Maniacs. I was too cozy though, and the thought of heading back out into the weather wasn’t pleasant so we stayed decided to go downstairs to the hotel restaurant instead.
The next morning I woke up with fresh legs and ready for another day of sightseeing. We took in a few sights, had lunch then the rain and wind picked up so we called it a day. Boston was unlike anything I had ever experienced. The spectators were amazing even in the nastiest weather. All the marathoners were treated like world class athletes and everywhere you went people were asking about the race. I can’t wait until next year, hopefully it will be 45 and sunny with a tail wind!
*Details to follow in another post.
