Worlds collide

The countdown is now on!  The real work is done, and there's nothing left to do but stay healthy and loose, and rested before the Boston marathon on April 20th.  This is about the time when all my thoughts (and anxieties) turn toward the race.  Before my last 20 miler, there was always a long run to be concerned about.  Once that is done, you have done all the running preparation you can do, and you've just got to get to the starting line and run the darn thing.

So it's nice that Runner's World devotes much of it's current issue to the oldest marathon in the country.  There are great articles about Bill Rodgers, and my friend Kurt Fiene, the sight-impaired runner from Elmhurst.  And there is a good story about the qualification process and how it works.  As you probably know, Boston is the only 'people's race' that you have to run a qualifying time in order to enter. 

According to the magazine, only about 10% of marathon finishers in the country run a qualifying time.  It took me a few tries to realize how tough a standard that is.  And a few more tries to actually run a qualifying time.  They make the point that Boston is the only race where you win just by showing up at the starting line.  But, of course, then you have to run it!

So it was really great that I had about the most enjoyable run of my Boston training season the other day.  It was two weeks out from the race, and I was finishing my last 20 miler.  That, in itself, was a huge relief.  But what made it so great was the group running along with me. 

None of my normal running partners is training for Boston, but I got Bill Sanders, a strong marathoner who runs about a dozen of them a year, to join me for the entire 20.  And for the first ten, we were joined by a group of really strong women runners from the Elmhurst running club.  And since my wife and I just had a baby a few days earlier, I enjoyed talking to them about the baby for much of the run.

The second ten brought out the largest group of my regular partners yet this year.  The picture above shows all the guys.  Bill Sanders is on the far right, and I'm in the back left corner.  Most of the rest of the guys all ran with me in High school with our coach, Rick Staback, who is in the front left.  There was very little talk about the new baby, but lot's of good conversation anyway!  We had a great run in nearly perfect weather.  I can only hope it's as nice on Patriot's day in Boston.

It was certainly a lot nicer than Sunday, March 29th.  A few weeks ago, I wrote about how I regretted not signing up for the the Shamrock Shuffle.  But after seeing the cold, and slush the runners faced, I was glad I skipped it.  A few easy miles later that afternoon, when much of the snow melted, was much nicer. 

Although, I have to say I was surprised that fewer than half of the 30,000 people signed up for the race showed up at the starting line.  This is Chicago after all.  We've just been through a winter much, much worse that that! 

But that's the risk you take when you sign up for a race.  Any race.  The weather is always a huge variable, and I believe, if you want to run well, you have to be put yourself in a strong mental frame of mind so you don't let it affect you.

That's the mindset I expect to have at Boston, and I'll have good memories of some great training runs to help get me there!

See you on the roads.....

Comments

[Liz]

John, hugest congrats on your new baby. So wonderful!!!

I did my last 20 two weeks out, too. I normally like to get it in earlier, but that weather on Saturday morning made it seem like I was destined to run it then.

I know you're going to have a great race with four little girls and Christine cheering for you from Chi-town! Enjoy it!