Wicked fun runnah

Objective: To have a blast running one of the, if not most, celebrated marathons in the world.

This past weekend in a word: surreal. I wish the entry I am about to write would do it justice but all I can say is every time I think about the experience I still get goosebumps. It lived up to everything I hoped for and then some.

Getting my bib number!

Saturday morning I awoke to my dad coming in and saying “everyone that’s running the Boston marathon on Monday wake up!” So what do you think happened? I popped up and off we drove to Boston. After an obnoxious traffic jam in Connecticut (does that state ever not have traffic?!), we arrived at the expo. I walked around wide-eyed. Seeing so many runners. So many amazingly fast runners. Wow. I stopped at the Brooks booth and ran into @jessetchen and @Athleticgirl11. After buying my Boston paraphernalia it was time to head to the north end to meet my TRD teammates for dinner. Yum:)

It was odd to wake up Sunday and realize – I’m not running my marathon today! It’s tomorrow! Thank goodness because after the long, hectic Saturday I was in no condition to run:) We got a guided tour from my mom’s friend since Kindergarten around town. Pretty awesome – it included stops at the finish line, Brookline (my mom’s old ‘hood), and various other famous spots around Boston. Finally, that night I met up with @celluoidcinema and her hubby for dinner in Quincy. She was as awesome as advertised and I can’t wait til she runs her first marathon in NYC. 🙂

Monday – RACE DAY!

Alarm wakes me at 5:15. No issues getting up as my excitement got me right out of bed! Dressed in my usual marathon gear (pink hat, PSU singlet, blue shorts and mizuno inspires), I was set for battle. Oh, don’t forget the peanut butter on a bagel – life is disastrous without that. Since it would be chilly, I dressed in some really hideous throwaway gear (proud member of team dork..hahaha!).

Coolidge Corner. My mom grew up in Brookline watching the race on this corner!

My hotel was over in Quincy but the hotel provided a shuttle to the Boston Commons. Cool. I get on the “shuttle” and it’s a party bus. A literal party bus complete with a stripper pole in the middle, lights, etc. Hysterical. All that was missing was the booze (there was water). Our shuttle ended up with a police escort which was extra cool! I arrived in the Commons area and just again stopped to admire the experience. Holy crap, I AM RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON. That kept circulating through my head til my friend Helen arrived (a 6 time veteran). She kept telling me how she was so excited for me…the Boston rookie.

Funny now that’s it over: Helen started saying she had to pee about 10 minutes into the bus ride. By the time we were about a mile from the Athlete’s Village she was about to burst. We watched some dude in the van ahead of our bus sprint to the far off woods to relieve himself. Helen was a trooper and busted off the bus as soon as we arrived. The woods scraped up her legs but she felt better:-D hehe!

Athlete’s village was HUGE. They had sponsored food tents, music, and runners lying around everywhere waiting for the start. Helen left for the start and I spent the remaining time listening to my Boston tunes to get the jitters out. Finally, it was time for me to take my place at the start line of the BOSTON Marathon. As we waited, I chatted with some other first timers. Everyone had the same emotions – just unbelievable excitement. Unlike anything I’ve experienced except maybe my first marathon.

Here's how far I ran...

With a very soft gun to start the wave, it was time to go. As I crossed the start line, tears of joys came over me. This was it. This was what I had spent so many days and nights sweating through workouts. This is what I ran through freaking downpours for. This was for me, my own personal playground for the day. I was going to make it that. I wasn’t intimidated. I was ready to conquer.

The start was very congested but I’m OK with that. There’s 26.2 miles and you’re not going to lose your time from that. Immediately I set into my pacemaster zone. That zone? 8:30s. I was OK with that – if it meant I would enjoy each and every second SO worth it. I slapped some hands over the first couple miles and soaked in every step.

I remember seeing signs made by Adidas at each town telling runners why they should “Run Boston Better.” For example, in Wellesley it was “Brace yourself for

This picture captures my mindset the whole race

the Screams.” I really enjoyed the signs. Thumbs up Adidas. You guys advertised the race really well – and way to go with your version of the Nike+. It will work with any shoe and any MP3 player. Smart.

Anyway, the race. The support was amazing. People lining the streets cheering. Some drunk as a skunk (including signs saying drunk with an arrow pointing down at said person), some just handing out water/oranges/etc just to be helpful and others blasting music. I remember hearing old school rap music and laughing. Why? Because it was actually a live band! 🙂 Things like this made me smile the entire way from Hopkinton to Boyleston Street.

Wellesley lived up to its reputation. As I approached the sign welcoming me to Wellesley, I started to hear screaming. As I got closer, it was deafening. Funniest part? Signs portraying “kiss me” “Kiss me I’m a first year” etc. Ha. Guess it was a lot more exciting for the guys:)

As I approached the half, I felt great. I didn’t feel like I was going too hard and knew I could make it through the second half. That was a sign of good things to come. As I approached the sign for Newton, I said to myself “alright, let’s do this. Newton Hills, you ready for me?” Pretty sure I said it out loud because a few runners laughed out loud:) Hope it helped them too!

At that point, a major decline started and I knew that I would be going back up said incline. Fun. It’s one thing when it’s the beginning of the race but mile 17? Mentally ready. At that point Josh started yelling in my head “Pick up your knees/legs and swing your arms.” Faster. As this replayed in my head over and over, I was at the top! Whew. I noticed a lot of people walking around me. Not me!

Big smiles at the bottom of Heartbreak Hill

Round 2 of the Newton hills? Same result. As I declined once again I hear someone screaming my name on the side of the road. It was my parents yelling to me! Since time wasn’t an issue, I pulled over and gave them a GIANT hug. I got a couple of pictures with my dad before taking on the beast known as Heartbreak Hill. I knew once I got to the top, it was smooth sailing home. Between the crowds and downhills, my legs still felt as fresh as can be expected.

Running through BC, I got a second wind and started slapping hands on the side of the road. You could smell the beer everywhere. I’m pretty certain my smile was HUGE at this point and laughed at the ridiculousness of it all. This was it. As I approached mile 24, I knew I was getting close to Coolidge Corner. This was where my mom used to stand when she was growing up to cheer on runners. I passed a couple of teammates and they cheered me on to keep running – they saw I felt great.

The crowds starting picking up and I remember seeing Fenway where the Red Sox were in the middle of losing another game:-p As we approached Mile 25, I thought about my coworker MM and her mom battling cancer. I promised her mile 26 would be for her and her mom. As everything started to go through and process, tears started flowing. Not just for them but everything. Everything I had endured to be running the streets of Boston today – from the minute I first met Susan in the park to train for the NYCM to training through the harsh 2010 winter. Rounding the turn onto Boyleston Street I saw the finish line. Not just any finish line. THE BOSTON MARATHON finish line. Holy crap. This is it. I really started to let the tears fly now and had an even wider smile!! I was beaming and pointing to the crowd. I have no idea what I was doing but it didn’t matter. I was living the moment and it was great. Crossing the finish line I realized not only did I have a fantastic time running it, I ran a pretty decent race. 3:46:02 (3rd best marathon time). Not a BQ but I achieved the numero uno goal: WICKED FUN.

Post-race with a sign - no stopping!

That smile I crossed the finish line with has not evaporated and I’m pretty sure this feeling won’t go away anytime soon. If anything, this helped burn the fire a little hotter to go after NYCM in the fall so I can be back in Boston again (are you ready Runnin’ Around Uptown?).

Thank you everyone for your support. During my run, every time I crossed a mat I thought of the people tracking me and knew there was a sigh of relief each time (I know that’s how I feel while tracking someone). I also had nyflygirl in my head saying “don’t go out too fast or I’ll be yelling at you”. I laughed when I started realizing every split was within seconds each time. It was pretty crazy – sure I slowed a bit on the hills but even those splits were all right within seconds of each other as well (the only over 9 min mile was when I stopped to say hello to my parents)! Take a look!  This is why I call myself “pacemaster.”  My legs find a pace, settle and I lock it in.  Just so happens 8:30s felt great today – for how I wanted to run this race.  Could I have run faster? Probably but I would not have experienced the same race.

With that, marathon #7 is in the books and goal obtained.  After a couple of weeks of recovery, it will be time to shift focus towards that race in August… For now, I’ll keep up my post-marathon glow:-D

Dad and I sporting Boston jackets - a decade apart.