Congratulations to all who ran the race!
This was my first Boston Marathon.
Summary: 3:39:05 net time, 3:42:15 official time
Qualifying and History
Last Fall I had "qualified" with a 3:21:48 in the Ocean State Marathon, thanks to the assistance of fellow Dead Runner Andy Katz, who paced me there. I had run the Cape Cod Marathon two weeks before in 3:38, and fellow Dead Phil Graceffa encouraged me to write a letter to the BAA with my tale of two marathons in two weeks, and nearly making the BAA standard. BAA said yes, and I was in the 2000 marathon. In dark December I came home one day and my 4 year old daughter comes running up to me as I come in the house yelling "Congratulations!", and handing me the BAA postcard that said I was in the race.
The first time I had ever watched the Boston Marathon happened to be the Salazar/Beardsley duel. We were guests at a home in Newton for lunch where we watched the start on tv, went out to see the Heartbreak Hill running live, and then went back to the house to see the finish. Ever since seeing this, I had the thought of attempting to qualify and run this race.
My age/gender time standard is 3:20. My ideal goal for the Boston Marathon was to get truly under 3:20. I had a good half marathon in March in yukky conditions, and a fair run at Eastern States 20 miler(Maine to Mass. via New Hampshire) as part of my training. Also, I ran in the DRS Crude Run, which was a wonderful experience and highly recommended. I have been fighting a case of achilles tendonitis all during the training for Boston, and I really welcomed the taper.
Race Weekend
My running club did packet stuffing on Friday night, so as part of that I got one of the volunteer jackets and pins. I was debating whether or not to get the official 2000 tm jacket, but I like the volunteer one just fine. After working at the Hynes, I took a stroll outside to look over the finish area. Although I have lived in the Boston area since 1981 and I had actually worked for awhile in the Hancock Tower, I had never seen the marathon finish arrangement in person.
I decided to go to the Expo and number pickup on Saturday. Someone offered us a nice swing set for our house, so Saturday morning I worked on dismantling this stingiest and getting to our house. I was leery of banging myself moving swing sets in pickup trucks, but we got the job done and it was off to the Expo.
I asked my mother to accompany me to the Expo. I got my number packet and we wandered through the Expo, gathering the goodies that would interest my 3 and 5 year old daughters. We ran into fellow Dead Connie Chan and Dead/MVSer Bob Lennon, and I tried to point out the running celebrities we saw(Hal Higdon, Frank Shorter, Joseph Chebet, Bill Rodgers).
I honestly don't remember doing anything of merit on Sunday. I was probably just gathering my running stuff over and over again and checking on the weather.
My family was planning to go to my sister's house right near Heartbreak Hill on race day to see me go by. Unfortunately, my sister had scheduled to visit her in-laws on school vacation week, so she and her family would not be around on race day. I lent my BAA Volunteer jacket to my parents, and asked one of them to wear it while watching the race, but warned them not to let anyone ask them to do any work since I already had done my little task Friday night.
Race Day
I had signed up to go to the race on my club bus, so I got up to the meeting area in Methuen. It was nice to get to Hopkinton with a warm seat and a bathroom that was for club members. I took a stroll from the bus parking up to the high school and just looked around to see what the scene was like. It seemed like most of the houses in Hopkinton near the start were empty as it appeared that lots of these residents cleared out for race day.
I relaxed in our bus til it was time to go, seeing the sun almost peek through the cloud cover, and trying to decide what would be the right thing to wear. I decided on just a singlet, and in hindsight it may have been better to wear another layer and use my gloves. I did get into a garbage bag and then it was time to head up to the corrals. Somehow wandering up towards the start and seeing lots of spectators was when it really sank in that I was actually about to participate in the Boston Marathon.
It gave me a nice feeling to show my number to the corral monitor to let me in. The corrals were already more than half full. My fellow runners all seemed to be upbeat about what was about to begin. I could hear the PA system, which described the sequence of events for the start. For some reason I was a little uneasy about the jet flyby, because from my vantage point it looked like the jets went right under some of the helicopters.
The gun went off, and it was about three minutes for me to get to the starting line. My first mile was in 9:26, but I had expected something like this. It was quite a dense pack, but I did not worry about falling or jostling.
My hope was to just settle into a comfortable pace. When I did the Crude Run, I did not notice the traffic islands in Ashland, so I was kind of on the lookout for them. Somewhere along here I introduced myself to fellow Dead Runner Marc Frommer, who looked like he was enjoying the race. I don't know why, but for some reason the Framingham section really bothered me. There was some blaring rock music, and I started to worry about stepping on manhole covers and potholes. Along this stretch I got a nice cheer from the person who happened to work across from me at packet stuffing, which settled me down.
I knew of several people who would be along the course at certain points. My first contact were some friends in Natick, and since I ran on the left side of the street, I had no problem seeing them and exchanging greetings.
The description I had heard of the Wellesley College section said that the runners would hear the women long before they get near the college. I was listening intently, but I did not hear the cheering until I could actually see one of the gothic dorms. Once next to the dorm, however, it was really loud. I have scar tissue on my right eardrum which rattles when noise is loud enough, and it definitely was rattling along here. I asked the runner beside me if this was louder than last year, and she said it definitely was.
Through Wellesley Center I was supposed to see another friend, but I was unable to locate her. I took it easy on the long descent to the Charles River, and then looked forward to the PowerGel near mile 17. I liked how you could run up to the corresponding color and get the particular flavor.
I actually was looking forward to going uphill, as uphill running bothers my tendinitis the least. Turning onto Comm. Ave., I felt that my real challenge of the day was to run all of the hills. Partway up the first hill, a friend who I didn't know would be there jumped in and ran with me. We chatted a bit about who else he had seen go by, but this helped me think about something besides how my legs felt.
After 19, I was on the lookout for my family. I knew which intersection they'd be close to, but I didn't know if they'd be before or after the actual intersection. I stayed way over to the left, and saw my mother in the BAA jacket. I stopped for a second to give a kiss to my mother, my 3 year old Isabel, my wife Elizabeth, and my 5 year old Hannah. Elizabeth said later that my mom was really excited to see me. Isabel had her hood up and her face buried in Elizabeth, and she was not enjoying the race spectacle, maybe partly because this was in the middle of typical nap time. Isabel described our encounter as "You kissed me, Daddy, and then you kept running." Unfortunately, my father was supposed to be there as a spectator, but he is undergoing chemotherapy, and had been so dehydrated he was actually admitted to the hospital on race morning. He got home yesterday(4/23), but he is sad that he was unable to see me go by.
As a first time Boston runner, I was really excited to get to the mile 21 banner, indicating the end of the hills. Once past the banner, I knew my attempt at getting a new qualifier time was now completely gone, but I felt confident about running the rest of the way. I knew that my running buddy Eliot was working somewhere on the chip mats, and he happened to be at the one just before Chestnut Hill Ave., so I was able to say hello as I passed.
To you experienced chip race runners, do the mats always emit those high frequency sounds? I felt like I was having a surreal experience with every mat crossing.
As in the Wellesley long downhill, I had been instructed to descend from Comm. Ave. to Beacon Street gently, and I did so. There were spectators on either side of the street here, and somehow the ones between the race course and the center streetcar tracks seemed to be a little too close for comfort.
My next known spectator was my friend Deb at the Gulf station early on Beacon Street, and she had a PowerGel ready for me if I wanted it. I saw her, but passed on the gel. Soon after this, there was a race fan who was holding a Budweiser can and yelling "In two miles you can have one of these!", and he waved the beer can in my face just a little too close for comfort. Maybe at my masters runner's age I am less tolerant, but I would have rather had this fan on the sidewalk rather than so close to me on the course.
Just after where Washington Street crosses Beacon Street there are some trees in the median strip alongside the streetcar tracks. Along here a fellow MVS club member Dave, who I had not met before, jumped into the race and offered to run with me the rest of the way. I took him up on his offer, and I now had my own escort into Boston. Looking at my splits, I was slowing down considerably but I did feel like continuing along, even though my legs were feeling heavy. I did feel like I was passing people for the most part.
Dave and I turned up Hereford Street. In marathons past, I somehow always get a whiff of something interesting during the race, such as an electrical fire I smelled during Ocean State last fall. On Hereford, it was the smell of sewage, apparently drifting up from the manholes. This gave me a push to get up onto Boylston. I was totally oblivious to the 26 mile marker along Boylston, but Dave pointed it out in case I was keeping splits. We went across the line and just past there was another fellow MVSer Scott, who took my picture and then disappeared just as fast. I thanked Dave for the escort, and then started the wander up Boylston. In Providence last fall, I was quite emotional since I had PRed by about 12 minutes, and just missed a true qualifying time for Boston. Completing Boston, however, I felt happy to be done but not highly emotional.
The volunteers were awesome, especially in the finish area. The people with the megaphones were directing the runners with a nice tone rather than a "I've got to keep saying the same thing over and over for a few hours more..." sound. I had to go past all the schoolbuses, then around to St. James Ave. As it happened, our club bus was probably the furthest one to go to from the finish line. I asked how to get there, and the volunteer said to follow someone heading the same way, but I could not keep up with that other person. I got really cold along here, and when trying to throw away my banana peel, one of my legs locked up, so I started to hobble as best I could towards the bus.
Once in the bus, I changed to some warm clothes, and had lots of trouble chewing the energy bar in the food bag. Some of my club teammates had outstanding races, especially given the conditions. The club has a big party after the race, but I was just too tired to go, so I made my way home.
The next few days my upper legs were essentially screaming at me, but my tendinitis bothered me much less than it had after the Melrose Half Marathon and the Eastern States 20 miler.
I went to work the first few days following the race, and fellow runners passed around results and the online photos of the finish. We then took a small vacation to York Harbor, Maine, as some friends lent us their summer home there. It was very relaxing to just hang around the house, occasionally walk the dog, and make small outings in the car. We met my mother-in-law for lunch, and I actually ran a little bit to catch up to her and tell her that we were heading to the candy store at York Beach.
I am now not running in an attempt to let my Achilles tendinitis go away. I am thinking of what fall marathon to run in.
Before the race I had sent a spam style message to the people I am in touch with via e-mail. Two of my friends had scheduled vacations in Central America so they would be out of the country on race day. What surprised me was that they actually apologized for not being at the marathon to see me go by! I also enjoyed the fact that friends were monitoring my progress on the web from places as far away as the Netherlands and Venezuela.
My race weekend was a little too busy to get to any DRS activities, but if I get into this race again, I'll try my best to get to these events.
Back