Executive version - I got the Boston bear off my back on Monday. Ran not only my best Boston, but a marathon PR, of 3:49:30.
Arrived Friday night at the hotel at about 9 PM to find my Chicago not-yet-dead roomie, Jennifer, already in the room. She was a great roomate, since we are both early-to-bedders. First thing Sat. AM on TV, while waiting for a weather report, I saw our own Connie Chan being interviewed for the charity gala that she was in charge of for that evening.
Next job was to find the nearest Starbucks and indulge. Then Jennifer went off to meet some local friends and I went to the expo. I got my number (that part was easy), grabbed lots of fig newtons and water bottles and other freebies, and spent some money. Ordered one of the framed posters, altho I was disappointed that it wasn't by dead Andy Yelenek as are the others I own. Looked for Donna Erikson at the Hartford booth, but was told she was on the next shift. Found Jonathan Beverly at the RT booth. Looked for Connie Chan, thinking I would join her for lunch, but it was not to be. But, I had eaten so many samples, I didn't have room for lunch anyway.
After a quiet afternon, it was off to the Northeast Brewing Company. In the T station, I was very surprised to hear my name called out, and discovered Marc (red-eye) Frommer and Jerome Focosi. So we joined up for the trip, and had a great dinner with about 50 deads. Good food, good brews, and thank you Robin Cain for organizing this - it was a terrific place.
Party poopers Jennifer and I left early and hit the sack about 10PM. Up on Sunday for the Cambridge run (what a great place to run, I loved it) - thanks Doug Dodds and Tim Smith for organizing and leading the pack so we wouldn't get lost. At one point we thought we had lost Doug, but then saw those day-glos shorts on the other side of the river! Thanks also to Doug and his very hospitable wife - Jim Adams and I hitched a ride to the bagel brunch via Doug's home - for opening up their place to a couple of sweaty runners.
Val! thanks for the bagel brunch. What a spread. I can't believe all those bagels got eaten! It was fun to see the Tucson video again (starring Teresa B) And I met the very speedy Tim Newell.
Sunday afternoon Jennifer and I went on a Duck Tour, on the advice of Mark and Jerome. Had a fun time, and the best part was that we were sitting down! Later that afternoon, my daughter and son-in law, and my youngest son drove up and had dinner with us at Legal Seafood. What a couple of nice kids I have. David is stationed in Newport RI and had to be back there Monday AM but Kristin and her husband John stayed to watch the race.
Off to bed early on Sunday night, having packed our race bags with all kinds of wardrobe possibilities for Monday.
Jennifer and I met the other Chicago runners (our running club is the Lincoln Park Pacers) in the lobby, along with Marc and Jerome, and Barb Bauman and the Spokane women. It was fun to have a big group on the bus to Hopkinton, made the ride seem so much shorter than in other years, for me.
The Athlete's Village (that name is a stretch) was crowded and cold. We got there at 8 AM and still had trouble finding a spot inside one of the tents. Finally settled for an area just inside one of the tent "doors," and hunkered down. There were two tents this year instead of one, but that was not enough. Soon, there were runners all over the place, and I was happy to have the little bit of shelter that we had. There was construction in the field next to the high school where they used to have a line of porta-potties, so this year, all the PPs were actually on the high school grounds. So that added to the crowding.
Finally it was time to move - decided on my long sleeved cool max with the drs singlet over it, shorts, gloves and sunglasses. It was the right combo for me. I usually run "hot" and was worried that the long sleeved top would be too much, but there was only one point, early in the race, when I wished I didn't have it on.
Walked with Marc and Jerome and the Pacers to the corrals, where I found Teresa B. in #13, and joined her. The rest went on up ahead toward the elites where they belonged. We were comfortable in the corrals due to all the body heat close around us. Didn't hear the anthem or the gun, but saw the two jets zoom overhead, which was thrilling. We finally started to move and I started my watch as we went over the mat. About 6:30 on the official clock. First mile was start, stop, start, stop. 10:07 at the first marker. Not bad. After that it opened up and we were able to move pretty well. Really tried to hold back, since I had made the mistake twice in the past of going out too fast. Second mile. 10:07. Wait a minute. OOPS. Stopped my watch at the first mile marker. Someone behind me said we did an 8:30 for mile 2, so that was good. A little fast. Okay, here I am, anal retentive, without a working watch in the third mile of the marathon. Eek. Calm down. Started the watch again, an! d again must have hit the wrong button. It must have been nerves, I've been using this watch for a year and never messed up that bad. Tried to do the math in my head and figured that my pace was holding well under 9 minute miles, so I was happy. I felt like I was still holding back a lot. I started out with Teresa, but that didn't last long - I knew she was fast and strong. In fact, when I could still see her hair in front of me I worried that I was going too fast.
At the 9 mile marker I started my watch again and have the splits from then on. They were holding pretty steady from 8:30-8:50, depending on the ups and downs, through Newton. At the first big hill, Jim Adams caught up with me. Neither of us was too clear on which hill we were on, or how many were left, but at one point he dashed off to the side and came back with a popsicle for each of us. That hit the spot! Thanks, Jim. (Reading Jim's posts, he seems to have been everywhere on the course, like a guardian angel, helping everyone along the way). Just before heartbreak, we saw Teresa, poor thing, in a porta-potty line. The next mile, Jim left to do the same thing. So I hit heartbreak alone, but feeling pretty good, and out from the crowd came my daughter, holding stuff she thought I might need - an orange, a water bottle, an extra shirt. What timing, it was great to see her and to hear her "I love you, Mom" as I ran away.
For me, the top of heartbreak is where I have lost it in the past. I LOVE running downhill, but the last 2 times, I had used up my quads in the beginning of the race, had nothing left, and began to feel nauseous around BC. Both those times, I ended up semi-run/walking to the end. This year was different.
I had a couple of miles just over 9 minutes in the hills, but hit the downhill like I was flying - no doubt, I was hurting, but I could move this year! My first mile was an 8:19! Couldn't keep that up, but managed the next miles in 8:41, 8:30, 9:01 (mile 25 was reallllly long), and 8:56.
Final time - 3:49:30 (chip) - because I had messed up my watch, I knew generally what my time was, and thought I might have a PR, but didn't know for sure until I saw it on the web the next day. A Marathon PR by 20 seconds. A Boston PR by 19 minutes!
The finish area was a mess. I heard many people say how much better Chicago was handled, and inwardly beamed with civic pride. And we had more people! You had to walk too far to get your blanket and medal and help with your chip. And,it was taking forever to get our gear bags out of the bus and people were staring to get ugly, until one of the runners climbed into the bus and started throwing bags out the window. And the food is terrible. A protein bar and a bag of chips. Oh, and this year they did have some green bananas, so I guess that's an improvement.
This race was tough, the course is hard, the headwind was strong. I had a PR but there were times that what got me through was thinking about Joep, Ruth and Dave. In fact, I had a mantra of their names running through my brain. Any time I thought about the pain in my legs, I thought of how any of them would have loved to be in my position on Monday, feeling that burn. So here's 26.2 miles for you three. And thanks for getting me through it.
It was a good race. I felt muscle tiredness in my legs, but never felt exhausted otherwise. My piriformis didn't act up, my stomach didn't act up. I'd better be careful, or I'll start thinking that I know how to run a marathon. It was just a good day for me.
Ended the day with a wonderful dinner, good food, good wine, good company - about 8 Chicago Pacers and Marc Frommer, Marc is was great to have you join us!
Thanks for reading this far, if you did. May you all have a race like this some day.