Ramblings of the Boston Marathon (4/18/11)

It's been about 2 weeks since I ran the Boston Marathon and here I am just now getting around to writing my race report. I'm sure some memories and details have slipped by now but I will try my very best to recall the weekend and race.

Me and Justin and his parents flew into Boston on Saturday, 4/16. As we landed, Justin and I got a bit nostalgic - we miss Boston! We saw our old apartment building as we taxied to the gate and it was weird to think that we were going to stay at a hotel - so weird! We met Jen and Roger at the hotel (they were ring shopping!) and it was time to relax, hang out and take in our old stomping grounds. The wind was a killer and reminded us how much we don't miss that! We ate at Jacob's Wirth (a favorite of ours) and called it a night.

Sunday morning I headed out early to treat myself to a facial and manicure! Jen met me for a manicure and when we were done, we made our way to the expo. The Hynes Convention Center was a mob scene. I don't do well in crowds so the second I stepped in the door I started getting irritated. I bee-lined it to bib and shirt pick up which is where Justin met Jen, Roger and myself. We took a quick stroll through the expo, taste tested just about everything, consumed so many calories from taste testing we were scared to do the math :) We were out of there pretty quickly and grabbed lunch at another favorite, Paradise Cafe (delicious salads AND even better cookies). After lunch we flew by the finish line to snap some pics which is probably the most difficult thing to do! Everyone wants a picture of the finish so there is always someone walking through your picture, posing behind you in your picture or just all together covering the finish line because they want to do some ridiculous pose of laying across it and what not. Luckily, Jen got a good one as we were walking to the expo with a newscaster in the background and all! Nice Jen!

We headed back to the hotel, hung out, walked around the area, did some wedding shopping, Justin got me my most favorite sugary, creamy, delicious thai iced tea from Flour, went to dinner where we ate a eggplant wrapped cheese dessert with chocolate, oranges and some other things on top - I don't think anyone was a fan ;) I was in bed around 8pm but didn't fall asleep until much later.

I woke up at 5:45am Monday AM, got ready, headed to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee and had so much time left over before having to catch my bus (7am) I hung out in the lobby and just relaxed. At 6:50 I headed out to the buses (which were right outside our hotel door) and hopped a bus in 10 minutes. As we left, there was a MASSIVE line of runners waiting to get on a bus... if only they knew they could head into the loading area on the other side of the park, things would go a lot faster for them. The bus ride was about 45 minutes long... I didn't mind. It was chilly and windy outside, which made it feel a lot colder than it really was so sitting on a bus was a lot nicer than sitting outside on the grass. Once we got to athletes village, they unloaded us and I had about 2 hours to do nothing - I picked a sunny spot on pavement and took a seat for some time.

As the announcer called Wave 2 runners, I made one last stop to the bathroom and then followed the crowd on a walk to the start. It was still windy but the sun was out and it was getting warm. I took all my sweats off and started the race in my tank and shorts which was nice. My gloves were gone within the first 5 minutes of running.

Boston is an easy course - proof because there is a net decline. Not to say it's not challenging, because it is. Here is what gets you... miles 16-21... some consistent gradual hills, including heartbreak hill (which I still don't know where it was - but found out it was over when I reached a huge sign that said "Heartbreak Hill is over!"). This is where I started hurting and slowing down considerably. If you don't pace and hydrate yourself accordingly before this stretch of the course, you're doomed. However, if you do, you'll make it through strong and finish well!

I totally got caught up with everything and went out fast! My 10km pace was 7:47min/mile. My half marathon was a 8:06min/mile. I told myself to slow down but it's really hard to do when you're in the moment. My 30km was 8:26min/mile and I finished with a total time of 3:50:30, an overall pace of 8:47min/mile. So clearly I crashed, haha. Here is where it happened: mile 17. I saw Justin and told him "I'm REALLY tired" I even stopped for a quick chat and pic. From this point on it was mind games. I slowed down and finally, at mile 20 I let myself walk the water station. Once you walk, you ALWAYS let yourself walk again... and I did... every water station after that point. You hit Brookline at mile 22 and it killed me because I know how easy the course was from there on out and how close I was to the finish but I still had  a rough time getting through the last miles. Once I hit the Citgo sign I got a rush of adrenaline and ran fast for the last of the course. I spotted Justin and his mom at a corner, stopped to say hi then sprinted on to the finish. Somewhere in the final stretch I heard Jenny screaming for me but couldn't spot her or Roger- the crowd was huge and noise level high - but I did wave and look to acknowledge that I heard her!! haha. To the finish I went!!!

Two notes on the overall race course: crowds were awesome the entire way - you never had a dull moment. Second, there were huge New Balance signs marking the start of every town along the course with phrases like "NB runs fast through Newton"... etc. You cross something like 8 towns throughout the course so it was a fun way to countdown to the finish.  

I was so happy to be done and was so proud of my accomplishment for making it to Boston. Now I'm addicted and will try to requalify in the future (not this fall but next year for sure). I want to come back and beat my time. I want to come back with experience and do the race right that time around!!

YAY for finishing Boston : )

Thank you Justin, his parents and Jen and Roger for making it out to cheer me on! Thanks for my family for tracking me and sending me encouraging messages the days before and after the race. Knowing I'm in your thoughts while running does great things for me mentally! Thank you mom for the Swarvoski figurines and note - I think I'll do a post on this gift alone on another day!