Finally, Boston!

Okay, okay, I’ve stalled long enough, time to Boston. The happenstance of life in the non-marathon training world seems to be crazier upon return than it was before I left, so I apologize to all those curious as to how my Boston experience unfolded. I’ve been stewing thoughts for several days, trying to formulate words into complete sentences that are coherent enough to not seem like a contradicting blubbering idiot. Not an easy task for someone whose emotions are still all over the map.

I’ll start by quoting my fellow Bostonian marathoner blogger, marathon maiden, “So many emotions going through me right now. And somewhat surprisingly disappointment isn’t the first.” Her surprising non-disappointment emotion is because she raced superbly with an awesome finish line time. My surprising non-disappointment emotion is because I did the complete opposite and finished with the worst marathon finish time ever of the 15 marathons I’ve ran. Crazy, I know!! But something I learned out there on that course last week is that sometimes, not every race is about that illustrious finish line time. For the girl who always felt she had to over-train for every race so that clock read some grand number each race, I never thought I’d hear myself say it but my pathetic 4:30 finish actually was a number as gratifying on a whole different level than say, a PR number.

I had so many wonderful moments that it seems nearly impossible to do them justice with my meager descriptions. I think I’ll try to sum the weekend with a picture/description format so the words will paint a clearer story.

My girlfriend from home, Sheri, came with me. Sheri’s a non-marathoner but an awesome cheerleader, so she’s definitely in. We grabbed sandwiches in the airport within seconds of touchdown in Boston, here’s Sheri devouring hers:

Finally, after months of email planning for the weekend and developing a special e-world friendship, meeting Meg face to face finally was so exciting – she is just as personable and sweet in real-life as her blog-life reads. We instantly removed the “e” from our friendship and bonded like we’ve known each other for years. This picture is actually on my last day there but it’s the only one I have of just her and I so I thought it fitting to insert it here:

Sunday morning was the blog-fest brunch; it was so much fun to meet so many bloggers, many of whom I didn’t even know. Morgan has some excellent pictures of all those who attended so click on her name if you want more pictures, I’ll just include the ones at my table for the sake of this blog not being a 16-hour read. Clockwise: Emily (sweat once a day), Ryan (our love on the run), your truly, and Bethany (our love on the run). Excellent start to the weekend!

One thing I learned is that girls from California pack a LOT of clothes, but they were definitely the best-dressed:

Meet up with Rick (marathonman101108), and his lovely wife for a bit at our hotel as they headed out of town for a little R&R weekend. It was like 3:00 in the afternoon and yes, I hadn’t had a shower yet due to a really fun last minute expo seminar and lunch with Marcia (gotta love myself sometime when I asked Marcia if she wanted to do lunch only to get to said lunch and realize I have $7 to my name on me. ADD moments never leave you, even on vacation race trips. Thanks, Marcia, you are sooo much fun and I loved hanging with ya!!!). And yes, I felt like slime, and looked it:
Sunday night dinner with my dear friend, Elaine:
Monday wake-up came early and we all scrambled to get our acts together and out the door. I had hoped to get a picture of Meg and her track-club friend (and my other roomie), Jillian, before we all went our separate ways, but Meg left to get coffee and I had to meet my other girlfriend, Elaine, in the lobby so alas, I could only snap a quick pic of Jillian (who Meg deems “super model” – which is obviously fitting) as she was gearing up to go:

Meet Elaine in the lobby (Ryan Hall walked right past me while I was waiting for Elaine - a pretty surreal moment), pick up Marcia (Running off at the mouth) at her hotel along the way to the bus line, and find Katie A (One run at a time). Katie’s already been in line and is hesitant (bitching) to remove herself from the insane-ness of these long lines and start over with us but my persuasive powers (and me constantly reminding her it was my birthday) pull her over to our line so we can all hang together. I think she was glad she did; I mean, she got to hang with us AND I had a birthday balloon bopping everyone around me in the head from the wind (Meg had given it to me me to wear so she’d find me later at the Athlete’s Village. Which, unfortunately, we never did). Elaine, Marcia, me, Katie A.:

The start area is insane, like Woodstock but with sober people. Each line for a porta potty looks like the start of a 5-K back home. Still have that damn balloon and I never did find Meg with it, so I popped it – I was fearful someone was going to bop me one, it was hitting one too many participants in the face. Marcia, me, Katie A.

Katie A. coming out of the lovely facilities:

Marcia and Katie mere minutes before the big event (somewhere in the potty line, we lose Elaine. I was sad!):

Katie and I at the start:

This is kinda where the Boston weekend turns a little “touchy” for me. Katie, who is in corral 15, says she is running back with me in 18. I beg her to go with her group but she says she wants to start off with me for awhile, even though I say I’m not running fast, only running in survival mode of 9:00 – 9:10 min/miles (whereas she normally runs in the low 8’s and me in the mid 8's). She has Big Sur the following weekend so maybe she just wants to conserve, or maybe she just can’t get enough of my awesomeness, either way we start off together and run about the first 13 miles. We laugh, we high-five, we complain about how uneasy and forced the slow pace felt. I was having some major feet problems and her, being over the flu just a couple days earlier, was struggling. But I snapped some fun pictures in the middle of our big whine-fest:
Katie:

Me:

Gross leopard leotard woman (seriously, wth???):
My friends from RW I saw around mile 7 (me, Andrea, Elizabeth):

Katie again - her signature pose:

Cups galore:

At mile 13, my bladder, which was screaming to relieve itself from mile 1 (and me being too anal to stop for the massive potty lines en route), was about to explode and I HAD to stop here and take care of that business. I told Katie to take off and I’d see her at the finish in our designated “B’ sign spot. I have never been so relived to pee in my life; age and large bladders are not bff’s. After that almost 6 minute stop, my quads decided to hold a protest and revolt from further movement. My toes, apparently from all the downhills at the beginning, were swollen and hitting the ends of my shoes, causing me to actually curl them up while running now. Not an easy task, mind you. My right heel, which has been bothering me on and off for the past several months, was screaming. And the bottoms of both feet ached like nothing I’ve ever, EVER experienced (curse myself for not wearing those new insoles which I deemed “bothersome” before I left). Starting back up from this bathroom break again was proving to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. And when you’re hurting bad at mile 13 in a marathon, you know it’s going to be a very, long, drawn-out second half.

I kept moving but it was slower now and when I got to the infamous Boston hills at mile 17, I decided I was just going to walk them; it was not going to do me any good to deplete any remaining strength on these beasts, there was still 6 miles to go after all this hill madness so I figured walking was the best way to conserve. Was I deflated? Kinda. I figured I’d have to walk at some point in this race so it was fine it was now, but what was bothering me so much was the fact my feet hurt so bad and I still had a major chunk of this thing to crank out. The crowds are enormous here, too, and ya sort of feel like you’re a big loser walking and they’re looking at you like, “Get your fat ass moving, girl!!! Yeah, well, whatever. I was there, qualified to run it, they were not. That stuff just always bothers me for whatever pride-related reasons, especially going by Boston College, where masses of college kids (mostly drunk – ha) assemble and scream their lungs out (I’m certain many could not speak for days after!); I have never in my life seen so many people congregated in one spot…yelling. It sends a chill right down your spine.
Anyway…..fiiiinnnnaaaallllly, get to the top of Heartbreak Hill at mile 20 and I’m spent. HUH? The idea to conserve here really didn’t pan out and though I was able to start running again, my feet were telling me that it was going to be at a ridiculously slower than snail’s pace and there was nothing I could really do about it.

I’m just slugging along for a few miles and when I get to mile 23, some mighty force above made me look off to my right and there I see Katie. Hurting. I couldn’t believe it. I ran over to her and she was literally in tears; she was having horrible leg cramps and told me she wanted to quit. No way, no how! I had her stop walking and stretch her legs for a few minutes and told her I was sticking by her side to the end, no matter how slow we went. Really, at this point I was beyond pulling any miracles out of my agonizing feet, an extra 15 or so minutes tacked on to my finish time to walk her in was A-ok with me. It was better than A-ok, it was the ONLY thing to do. After a little stretching, Katie actually felt better and so we took off walking a lot, running a little – yet somehow laughing and smiling the entire way home. She told spectators and runners around it was my birthday and it totally made my day when those around me started singing Happy Birthday; I’m certain somewhere in that mix of laughter, I shed a tear.

Katie Mile 24:

Me at Mile 25:

Coming down the home-stretch on Boylston Street with Katie arm and arm is an experience I will never, ever forget. It occurred to me that this…..this is the perfect illustration of a true friendship.
There is always a nugget for me in every marathon, a lesson that cannot be learned any other way than in 26.2 miles. I am certain had I not found Katie at mile 23, I would have finished this race feeling miserable and deflated. Instead, Boston #2 will go down as one of the best marathons ever, on a totally different level. Do not underestimate the intimacy of running and the people with whom you share those miles. It matters! When you are lucky enough to share your Boston birthday with intense feet pain, in the most under-trained condition you’ve ever been, but with a friend by your side, you learn that laughing and suffering are not mutually exclusive. I had a blast! A birthday I will never, ever forget!

As my friend, Garbo, posted on my RW blog, “I have always thought the key to running is having fun and sharing a kinship with fellow runners. In that department it sounds like you definitely smashed your P.R. Excellent run, chica. Well done.” I may not have thought that as I stood at the start line of Boston, but I honestly do believe it now. This is the lesson I learned in Boston this year!

I wanted to wrap up the whole Boston thing in one blog, as I didn’t want this thing to drag on forever, but this one got pretty lengthy, despite my quest to condense it as much as possible….yet I haven’t touched on the post-race emotions and fun-filled blog festivities Meg threw me after, so I will sign off for now and cover that later this week. But I can’t close without big HUGS and heartfelt THANK-YOUS for the amazing send-off comments – I am truly blessed for all the kindred soul friendships out there. I can’t even express in words how much that meant to me and carried me through. Thank you!!!!

"Everyone who finishes the Boston Marathon has their own great moment in sport - each one of us on this day has achieved greatness." -George Sheehan, M.D.