I have just arrived back from a whirlwind trip to Boston. Short version: official time: 3:34:xx Chip time: 3:28:41 Hit my goal of sub 3:30. Didn't come close to a 3:20, but I think I could have hit a 3:25 if I had not been back in the TWELFTH corral.

Longer version: Flew to Plattsburgh, NY on thursday with the two year old. Left her with my parents on Sunday & drove down to Boston with my sister, Lisa. Got in to town around 1:15, checked in to our hotel & took off for the expo. The website where I found our hotel lied to us. It said that it was less than one mile from a T stop. We ended up having to take several forms of transportation to get to the expo. Took us over one hour. That was frustrating, but at least we got there! Got my number, chip, shirt, etc etc & then enjoyed walking around the expo for a couple of hours. I had to buy myself some clothes, of course, Neither of us had eaten anything since breakfast, since we had run short on time, so we snacked on samples of cliff & PR bars. Ironically, not 5 minutes after we walked in the door at the expo, I ran into two men from the running group I belonged to when I lived in Biloxi, MS. Small world!

A little bit before 5 pm, we wandered down to Angelos Ristorante for the dead encounter. We met lots of really great people- sat at a table with Karl Wantanabe, Carl Jess & his wife, Dennis Halpin, and Jeff from maryland (who introduced himself as "a lurker" & now I can't remember his last name!). I also met Teresa Brobeck, Sue Bernal, Jim Adams, Sam (can't remember his last name, either, but he had a beautiful baby!), Melanie Strong, Barb Bauman, Matt Sissman, Jerome (last name escapes me again!) and many other very nice people. I must say, both my sister & I had a lot of fun with everyone! Deads do seem to be a really special group of people! :)

I slept horribly race night & was out of bed by 4:30 am. I was so paranoid about being late for the buses, I actually was at the bus by 6:15 am & out to Hopkinton by about 7:20am. It was horribly cold. I was freezing- teeth chattering, foot-numb freezing the entire time there. I met lots of nice people while waiting around, eating bagels, drinking coffee, etc. Again, I was really fortunate in that I ran into two guys from my new running club. I spent most of the morning looking for fellow deads and only saw Carl Jess.

A little after 11 am, I visited the porta potties for the last time & walked with the guys guys i knew from CO to the buses where we ditched our clothes & bags. I lined up in my corral & stood there for what seemed forever. My teeth were chattering & my feet HURT from the cold. I never knew exactly when the race started, because I was so far back. I just followed when people started to inch forward. It took me over 6 minutes to cross the start & then I walked for another 3 minutes before I could start to "jog".

I must say, those first two miles were VERY frustrating. I was getting pushed, elbowed (i have a bruise on one arm), and basically knocked around. I couldn't pass anyone. I thought to myself, "this is ridiculous. I am never doing a large marathon again!" My first mile was almost 10 minutes. I didn't hit the first 5K until around 30 minutes. ARGH! Slowly things began to improve. I enjoyed the scenery, and although, I gather that the crowds were smaller than normal, I found the energy from the spectators to be very invigorating! The miles really seemed to click along pretty quickly.

I wasn't sure what to expect going in to this race, as I have had this meniscus thing going on, plus calcaneal bursitis. I had to cut way back on my hill running & had done no speed work for at least 5 weeks prior to the race. By mile 8, my legs seemed tired. Not a good sign. I tried to take it easy on the downhills, and that wasn't too hard to do, as I was constantly surrounded by people! I started looking for my sister around mile 14 & finally saw her cheering at mile 17. That was nice, but then I knew the hills were coming. I tried to maintain an even effort through the hills. My left hamstring was cramping badly, but I figured...best not to stop or else I might not start again! Amazingly, I did not find the hills to be terribly awful. Don't misunderstand- my legs hurt like hell, my hamstrings and butt muscles were cramping like crazy, but my lungs felt fine. I reached the top of one fairly long hill & heard someone say, "You just finished heartbreak hill- you're!
there!" I turned to a guy next to me & said, "That was heartbreak hill? That was it?" and he was like, "Yeah"...and I thought, "Hell, that was nothing!" I guess living at the top of these hills in Colorado has been good for something!

I tried to feed off of the momentum of knowing that the hills were behind me. I was definitely hurting. Every step was painful. But, I kept going. Before I hit 20 miles, I though I was never going to break 3:30 (chip time). Once I got to mile 20, I realised I still could as long as I didn't let up on my pace. I was in major pain that last 1 mile, but I eeked in with a 3:28:41- a PR by over 10 minutes.

I was feeling very hypothermic as soon as i stopped running. I wandered around until I found my sister & we began our slow journey back to our hotel. I desperately needed to stand in a hot shower. Every muscle in my legs was cramped beyond belief and I was frozen to the core.

We were going to attend the post race party, but I was just way to tired, sore & hungry to deal with another hour long trip back into Boston. We just went out to eat & then headed back to the hotel at 10 to sleep. I'm really sorry I didn't get another chance to catch up with the Deads. Next time I will definitely get a hotel as close to the expo as possible.

Bottom line: my qualifying time was slower than it could have been, due to horribly nasty winds (the winds in Boston were nothing compared to the winds we had at the Green Mountain marathon). I was very frustrated for those first couple of miles because I was so far back. I really lost a lot of time trying to dodge people- not just in the very beginning, but all of the way through. The crowds and the volunteers, however, make up for the frustration of the crowded course. The people who were there in Boston, in support of the runners, were just amazing. Really, really amazing. What a difference that makes in making the miles just seem to whiz by.

Will I go again? Most likely! I don't know if I will go in 2001 yet. I don't know if my mom will volunteer to babysit for me again!! :)

It was great to meet all of the deads in Boston- can't wait to read the rest of the reports!!

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