Aaron and I flew out to Boston the Saturday before the race. From the moment we landed until the time we left, we ate at fabulous restaurants and indulged in dessert every night. I had the best seafood of my life in Boston at the Atlantic Fish Co. I ate mussels, sea bass and scallops, just thinking about it makes me want to go back there. Truly, Boston is a great city. We didn’t need to rent a car. Since it was spring time, one of the things I noticed right away were all the trees in blossom, it was beautiful.

Onto the good stuff

Race day Monday was 44 degrees and windy in the city and 34 degrees and not very windy in Hopkinton. I got up at 5a.m., met Erica McClurg, Robin Watson, and Jeff Martin at their hotel and we moseyed over to the school buses that would take us from Boston to Hopkinton, the start of the race. It was a long bus ride. We took photos, chatted, drank, and listened to our IPODS. There were a lot of foreigners on our bus singing songs in French. I love how multi-cultural the Boston marathon is, it attracts people from so many different countries. We got dropped off in Hopkinton about 2 hrs before the race. As soon as they let me off the bus I lined up to use the porta-john, then followed the gang into the center of the tent. God bless Erica, who brought 2 air mattresses and large garbage bags. We sat on the mattresses and put the bags over our bodies because it was cold. 

Time passed quickly and before we knew it we were lining up again to use the porta-john one final time prior to our 10a.m. race start. The announcer was cracking himself up trying to locate people and herd all the runners to their corrals. I met a 19 year old MIT student while taking off my winter clothes, stuffing them into my gear bag and putting it on the school bus. She was cute, wearing pink and had shiny white ribbons in her pony tail – it was her first Boston.  Once my warm clothes were gone, I wore a kitchen garbage bag over my t-shirt and run shorts. My best race photo is prior to the event, when I lifted my garbage bag to show my number to a photographer.  So, I made the seemingly long walk from Athletes Village in Hopkinton to Coral #5, I swear this was at least a 20 minute walk. I ran into Dan Cadriel on my walk to the corrals. It was nice to see someone from the triathlon community doing Boston. I swear that guy does every race. I lined up at the back of Coral 5 and talked with a girl who has done Boston 4 years in a row, this was her 5^th Boston and she said she wanted to try something new, a new marathon.  I encouraged her to run marathons in other places.

The race started and we were about 3 minutes behind the Elite men start at 10a.m.  The first mile was downhill and really congested. I ran a 7:20 being very careful not to step on the shoes of those around me. Miles 2 and 3 were also downhill and some guy tripped, fell and rolled which evoked a loud bellow from all the male runners around me. There were a lot of men in this Coral, not a lot of girls. I noticed those who wanted to pass were doing so on the right and left sides of the road, I just stayed in the middle of the road running elbow to elbow with strangers who were comfortably my pace. When we reached the first town I had a moment of déjà vu. I remembered it from the 2002 Boston marathon. I remembered the Town sign, the crowds, and that smell of cool spring air.  There was nothing really notable about the next few miles other than they were mostly downhill so ran a solid 7 minute pace. At mile 8 or so I heard some guy talking about the Zane Grey 50 miler. I looked over and it was Lee Maxson.  I knew Lee from EVR so I said “Hi” and we chatted for the next 12 miles or so, on and off.  Lee actually gave me some good advice. He said I should run on both sides of the road since the surface of the road is cambered and to draft behind someone when it is windy. Of course, I could hardly ever draft behind someone, I’m just not good at that, but Lee said he drafted me – HA!

Wellesley College, Mile 12.5, roared - that’s when Lee sped up. Free kisses were being given to runners and I actually saw a couple guys stop for kisses or get photos. I love the crowd support in this race. About 3 miles later I was offered a cup of “water” (aka: beer), from a group of college kids, too funny!  So, if memory serves me correctly, mile 16 was a fantastic downhill but the beginning of the strong winds. I don’t know why I wore my cap, because the wind threatened to whip it off my head for the rest of the race. Every time I grabbed my cap the wind blew my shirt up. So it became a game of grab my cap push my shirt down, this lasted for a couple miles then I just stopped caring. I thought I needed a cap to soak up my sweat but quite honestly I’m not that sure I sweated that much, it was just too cold. This reminds me, I stopped at all the aid stations to get water. I started drinking Gatorade around the half way point as my quads were killing me and I thought I needed some electrolytes so I wouldn’t cramp. I also ate 3 GU’s that I brought with me, those nasty little blueberry pomegranate GUs, just can’t do a marathon without them.  I know I ran Boston in 2002 but I don’t recall the hills, I definitely didn’t remember Heartbreak Hill!  It was windy and I was running up the fourth of the Newton Hills (I think it was #4, but who really counted). I was so slow running up this hill that I looked to the side to see make sure I wasn’t jogging on the spot. Cresting that final hill was beautiful, we sailed downhill and I felt better immediately. At Mile 24 I saw the CITGO sign. I was getting tired, thought of eating another GU but didn’t because I thought it would take entirely too much energy to reach into my pocket, get the GU, open it, and put it into my mouth all the while timing it so I did it right before an aid station. Needless to say my pace slowed but I still passed a couple guys who were now walking. The overpass bridge at Mile 25 felt like a hill – this is because I was under trained for this event. I know it, I accept it, and I have the learning experiences from this Boston to use in preparing for another marathon. I had my second déjà vu as I turned onto Boylston Street to run the final 385 yards to the finish line. It was exactly as I remembered it and yes it seemed far. I’m not sure why but the crowds seemed much less this year, could have been the cool weather. I finished fatigued and happy. I ran my hardest that day.

Other things I noticed. I used my Garmin and it beeped at every mile marker but I only heard it a couple times since the noise from the crowds were so loud, they were really great. Also, my Garmin beeped well before we hit a mile marker and the kilometer signs were much more prominent then the mile marker signs, go figure.