What a day!

I may be a running geek, but I was one of thousands who took this picture at the finish line on Sunday, the day before the Boston marathon.  Why not?  It's the most famous finish line in marathon running.  And it arguably takes the most work to get there.  For me, it was a lot of work.

The next morning, I was walking through the athlete's village about 40 minutes before the start, when I ran into a friend from Chicago, Dan Daley.  The nerves and self-imposed pressure I was feeling must have been showing on my face, because the first thing he said to me was "relax, this is supposed to be fun!"  That's right, to those who've never contemplated running 26 miles, that seems more than a little crazy.  But if you have run marathons, then you probably have wanted to run the Boston marathon.  Why?  Because it's the ultimate.  And, of course, as Dan said, it's fun.  Sometimes, it's hard to keep that in perspective. 

This was a day where it was easy to have fun.  With possibly the best weather I've ever run a marathon in, on the most historic course, how could you help but enjoy it?

The day began early.  The alarm went off at about 5:30 am.  I tried to squeeze every minute of rest time out of the morning, as evidenced by the pillow over my head.  I was with a great group of runners from Elmhurst, all of whom ran p.r.'s!  I'll save their stories for another entry.  I'll try not to bore you with my experience here.

For me, going to Boston was a little bit of a quest for redemption.  I had run it one other time, and had no need to go back out there just for the experience, except that the first time left a little sour taste in my mouth.  So, aside from the finishing time, I had several goals that I really wanted to accomplish.

First, I hoped for good weather.  I ran in 2007, when they had storms and cold, and the crowds were relatively sparse.  They say it was the worst weather in the (at that time) 111 year history of the event.  In fact, I had tickets to the Red Sox game the night before, and it was rained out.  So I made sure to go this time, with my friends Dan, and Samantha. 

But I digress.  2007 was also the slowest marathon I have ever run.  So I wanted to have a better finishing time.  In an ideal world, I wanted to re-qualify which would have meant running 3:30, a time I believe is well within my capabilities and training.

More importantly, though, I wanted to make sure I gave a strong effort.  I read something a few days before the race about how difficult it is to try to manage your energy in a marathon so that you don't use too much of it up early in the race, but also don't save so much that you have some left at the end.  I have done both of those things in past marathons, so I wanted to try to end this one feeling completely used up at the finish, but not before.  My other objective played into that goal as well.  I wanted to make sure I got an authentic experience out of running the famed 'Newton Hills' which include 'Heartbreak Hill' between miles 20 and 21.  In other words, I wanted to run well enough leading into the hills that they were difficult.  The last time I ran, I remember being halfway up heartbreak and asking whether it was really heartbreak?

Oh, and I also wanted to enjoy the famed 'wall of sound' just before the halfway point in the race at Wellesley College.  It's a women's college along the course, and the students traditionally come out and cheer so loudly you can hear them nearly a mile before you get there.  They offer their hands to slap, and many carry signs offering free kisses.  Fan support along the Boston course is unrivaled, but the stretch through Wellesley might the the best stretch of racing anywhere.  The last time I ran, crowd support suffered because of the weather, but Wellesley was still amazing.  It was even more so this time.

In fact I would say most of my missions for this race were accomplished!  I actually asked the question this time on the second of the hills, hoping that we were almost done with the hills.  Unfortunately, we were not.  The hills were difficult, and I felt an appreciation for why they are legendary.

I should mention that aside from the 25,000 other runners, I ran from start to finish with a good friend of mine, who was doing his first Boston.  Greg Sanchez is a very talented runner, who was running his first time in Boston.  He qualified with a time about 5 minutes faster than mine, but actually has been running much better than me of late.  So he took it easy on me!  The picture shows us from behind at about the 25 mile mark.  It was really a great experience to run together the whole way.  We kept on the goal pace almost right on for every mile split until the hills.  That's when I started to feel a little bit of pain from some recent hamstring problems.  It slowed me down, but when I suggested to Greg that he go on ahead, he stayed with me.  And I appreciated it.  That probably kept me from taking a walking break I would regret later.

In several recent marathons, I have realized late in the race that I was going to miss my goal time, and so I slowed considerably, finishing, but not caring about the time any more.  That would not do on this day, however.  This was my Boston redemption, and I would have to look at that time for years to come.  So I was determined to make it as respectable as I could, even if I fell short of the 3:30 goal.

It was clear at about 21 miles or so that I would fall short of that time.  The hamstring was fried, and I was out of gas.  But with Greg's encouragement, we kept on running until we got to Boylston Street, which is the 600 meters or so of road to the finish.  We picked up the pace as the finish line neared.  And then we crossed it.  I looked at my watch and it read 3:37. And then I collapsed. 

I could barely move for about 45 minutes after the race.  I was unable to get up even to get a bottle of much-needed Gatorade.  I was in pain.  It seemed like every muscle in my body was screaming at once.  But despite all that I had a smile on my face.  It was over, and it was fun!

When I got home, I saw in an email that the Chicago marathon had reached capacity, and was no longer accepting entries.  45,000 have already signed up, and I'm not one of them.  And after my experience at Boston, I'm ok with that.  There will be more marathons in my future, I'm sure.  But it's not something I'm going to be thinking about for a few days!

See you on the roads.....