This whole Boston 2002 saga actually began in late 2001 when I foundout that I would be able to run 2002. After my first "yeehaaaaa"(anyone that knows me knows that I absolutely *love* the BostonMarathon), reality set in: I was having a great deal of troublewith my asthma meds.
A med that I had been on some 22 years with wonderful control hadbeen discontinued and the substitute wasn't even coming close. Wetinkered with the dosage to the point where it was quadrupled - andit still wasn't holding. In early January, I started an entirelynew regimen....inhalers and no PO meds. Told my doc she had aboutsix weeks to get it right before I had to kick in the long stuff ina big way. Took a little bit of time to get it right, but it isdefinitely working now. Just in time too. I was finallycomfortable with the control.
Training was training. Long runs were long runs and in the log bookappropriately. Had some sort of a weird foot injury two weeksbefore - no clue how it happened, but swelling, visible bruise,pain. I could run without making it worse, so I opted for the lastlong runs and rested it during the week. Didn't make a bit ofdifference as far as I am concerned, but I digress.
On Thursday, April 11, I caught a plane to Logan to match wits withthe marathon course. In short, I think the course won this round,but - the course needed help to win.
Had a wonderful Friday to shop all the sales tax free NH joints Iused to haunt (and scored some great buys!) when I lived in NewEngland. Weather was cool and kinda windy - but warm for NH at thattime of year (50s). Didn't need a jacket. The weather reports formarathon day struck me as ominous (I hate the heat!), so I did mybest to totally ignore them until I had to face it.
Spent an equally productive five hours Saturday at the expo cleaningup on all sorts of stuff. Some vendors I was expecting to see (andneeded to see) weren't there. Race Ready was one of them. I neededsome shirts. I didn't expect my new sock vendor to be there, sowasn't disappointed. The Clif Bar folk weren't selling either theirbars or the clif shots. How stupid! I needed both and was preparedto shell out real American cash for them. Oh, oops. That left meonly Sunday to figure out where I was going to get some Clif shotsfor the marathon because I was completely out at home....counting onthe vendor to replenish my supply. I didn't find the vendor withthe really lightweight gloves that I like either. No matter.....Istill spent a bundle and had a great time.
The dinner encounter was wonderful - with one exception. Theparking was absolutely absymal. No parking lot for the restaurant,street parking that was completely full, restricted resident parkingon the side streets. I was more than a little bit irritated. Thelast thing I needed was to have a rental car towed because I wasparked in the wrong place at the wrong time.
That grumble aside, the place was full of folk I knew, folk I didn'tknow but wanted to know, the food was outstanding (that penne pastawith chicken stuff was great!), the auction a great deal of fun fora very deserving family. Anne Duffy brought a current picture ofErin for me to see and I got to "see" the coming little Duffy-child.I even met the oft mentioned but never seen Astrid Dodds. What anice woman! David Hayes had a beautiful shiner....lots of purplesin that eye socket. Matt Sissman, get your rear out the door andmoving; no excuses. Even Connie Chan was there - and she is usuallydoing something else the evening of the dinner. Had the best time.Many thanks to Robin and everyone else who helped orchestrate thatget-together. Thoroughly enjoyed myself. Managed to get home andinto bed about 10:30 that night - after a midnight bedtime on Fridayevening. I am entirely too freakin' old to stay up that late.
Sunday was low-key and planned that way. Ran a little to loosen mylegs; felt absolutely horrid, but that pleased me. Went down to seeRoz and the kids; Dan wasn't about to even say hello until he wanteda strawberry washed and Mom wasn't able to get him to the sink.Gotta love those terrible twos ;-)))! In bed early because I knewwhat was coming.
By Sunday evening, it was apparent that those weather reports I'dbeen ignoring were for real. Oh joy. I am about the worst hotweather runner I know; positively hate it. I'd rather run in anor'easter (and I've been in them so know exactly what I amsaying:-)!). Made the selection of clothing to run in very easythough.
It was foggy and very humid before the start, temps about 55ish. Iwas completely comfortable in a singlet, so figured that I had bestput that in my bag or I was going to be too hot when the sun cameout. I understand that the fog messed up the media coverage fromthe choppers. I did miss the flyover though - loved that last year.Tied on my bandana, stowed my bag on the bus, got into my assignedcorral with Rick Schaefer and Karen Wells, waited to go.
The cannon went off and movement started. People around me startedrunning the minute there was a spare foot of room - like up the hillbefore even getting to the start mats. Are they nuts?! Notme.....I figured that I needed every ounce of strength for Newton.I crossed the mats at 9:57:xx into the gun time and, for whateverreason, started my watch.
As usual, the downhill start was hard to rein in. I *love* to rundownhills and a screamer like that with the huge crowds yelling andclapping is a huge adrenalin rush for me. 10:25 first mile. Notexactly what I wanted. I needed to be very conservative because ofthe heat (take a look at my name...), but also because I had donesomething really stupid that I'd never done before.....I forgot acardiac med that I take. Left the dratted stuff at home, so endedup going off it cold turkey 3.5 days before a marathon. Had no ideahow that was going to affect me over a long haul like a marathon.
I got water into me at every stop. Made sure because I was verywarm very quickly. Started the diluted gatorade quickly too -didn't want to lose the electrolytes. Ran easily in the low to mid11s/mile. The crowds still remained just huge and very noisy. Iloved it. At about the five mile mark, I noted that my bandana wasalready soaked pretty well through. Long way to go. Even though Iwas running easily, I was having trouble finding a rhythm to getinto. I couldn't get it all strung together correctly. Didn't hurtanywhere except that foot thingy, but just wasn't getting the hangof it. It remained foggy and humid for a while more. I countedevery mile in the fog as a win - one less mile to run in the sun.Even had a few raindrops at one point, but not enough to count foranything.
About the ten mile point, I started noticing some slightarrythmias....nothing to get excited about at that point other thanto note them. My normal heartbeat is regularly irregular anyway.Decided that I had best stop diluting the gatorade and make sure Iwas getting the electrolytes. I was still fighting the pavementsearching for that elusive groove. The women at Wellesley outdidthemselves. They seemed louder this year than in previous years.My only comment was "Awesome." You truly could hear them a quartermile in each direction. The sun came out just before we got intoWellesley too. It was warm and climbing fast. Hit the half at2:24:xx by my watch, some 16 minutes earlier than last year.
Just before going into the Newton hills, I noticed a long string ofweird beats. Rick pulled off to a porta-potty about that same time,so I got a chance to slow down and walk while waiting for him toreappear. Talk about impeccable timing on his part! ;-) I was wellaware of the locations of the medical tents just in case, but youcan bet your life I would have been more than a little hostile if Iwould have had to bail (but I have sense enough to do so if needed).Things calmed down reasonably well for me, but Rick and Karen wereboth still suffering from some aftereffects of some viral bug theyhad had earlier. Continuous forward motion was the order of the day.
At one point, about the 23 mile mark or so, Karen commented that shenow knew what a death march was. Annie Wynn and I are the only twomembers of my personal death march club, but I think Karen hasearned her way into this elite group. Finally, at long last, I sawthe "One Mile to Go" sign. Didn't think that thing was ever goingto show up because I *know* the Citgo sign was moving backward as Iwas running forward. Okay. One mile left. I was going to run thatlast mile in regardless of how it felt. Off I went. I thought Karenand Rick were right behind me, but my eyes were down, my head wasfocused on getting to the end. I ran up Hereford and made the turnonto Boyleston to a huge - and I mean huge - roar. Those crowdsyelling and screaming the entire length of Boyleston were betterthan anything anyone could have done. If I hadn't wanted to befinished so badly, I would have stopped to thank them for beingthere.
The finish line finally showed up under my feet. Clock was 5:28:xx,my watch said 5:18:46, no clue what the chip time was. I haddecided that, based upon the weather and the lack of meds, thefinish line mattered but the time didn't. Ergo - I got to thefinish in one piece, albeit more the worse for the wear. I cannotremember being that tired at the finish line.
When I saw the newspaper articles the next day, they were extollingthe virtues of the cool, 55F weather. I am not sure where theofficial weatherguy thermometer is located, but it wasn't on anypart of the course I ran. Had to be in the North Atlantic orsomewhere equally remote from that stretch of road. I'd say low 70swith tons of humidity. Ugly, ugly, ugly. I am still just beatenup....no blisters, no aches or pains, just freakin' tired.
I matched wits with the course and lost - but the course needed helpfrom both the weather and my own stupidity. Even so, the BostonMarathon and all that it is remains my all time favorite marathonabsolutely bar none. I shall return another day.
One thing I failed to do was to mention both Allan and Susan Rube.
They have been ever so nice - year after year, no less - about letting me camp in their now spare bedroom (their son Jake was bootedat least two of those years, I think) when I come to town. I comeand go according to whatever drummer is beating in my head at themoment, get up at the crack of dawn to head down for marathon Mondayand usually get up early the next day to leave. This year, I had areally early flight, so was up and out at 5 AM, hopefully quietenough that I didn't wake either of them (I really tried to bequiet!). Staying with them is worlds nicer than a sterile hotel roomby myself...I thoroughly enjoy the company, the chatter and Martha's Restaurant :-)
Several years ago, Susan and I killed five hours at the expo. She didn't believe this was possible until I showed her how I manage to do it. This year, we left early for the expo, knowing we were going to kill that much time! :-) Between the two of us, we managed to help maintain the economy quite well. What I didn't buy she did and vice versa. Traipsing around the expo with Susan is one of the highlights of every year's trip back for me.
Allan was the first live dead runner I actually met. He made a point of meeting me at a race I was running in Nashua and, as it turned out, he met me at an intersection where I was totally unsure of whereto go next. Never mind the fact that I just about died trying to keep up with him up that hill....;-))
Boston wouldn't be the same Boston for me without Allan and Susan.