After 24 years, I finally got back to Boston. I ran the "Duel in the Sun"
Boston in 1982 and qualified again in 1983, but was injured and never made
it back.
Connie described the Hopkinton experience better than I could so I won't
repeat it. In 1982, the busses left you off and you were pretty much able
to roam all around the town until race time, of course there were only about
7500 runners. Now they keep you in your red or blue area until just before the
start.
Being in the number 2 (red) wave, we saw the jet flyover from the red
holding area. It's more exciting when they go directly over you but I think the two
wave start makes the first few miles easier.
The corrals were more orderly this year than in 1982. I too was in #17,
sorry I didn't get a chance to say hello Connie. It took only a few minutes to get
to the start line and we were running immediately.
I saw a Dead Runner just before mile 5, and we introduced ourselves. Hi
Cilla. She said Sid was way up ahead.
I had a ball high fiveing the people along the way, especially the kids. My
goal was to finish as I had not put in the miles that I should have. I did
three long runs of 18, 20, and 20 miles and probably averaged no more that
30 miles a week ramping up the last 10 weeks prior to toeing the line. My name
was on the front of my shirt and consequently could feed off the screaming
of my name the whole way. There were definitely more people out on the curbs
in the smaller towns than I had remembered. There were also many more water
stops and I don't think they had Gatorade in 1982
I had some problems during the run. My lower back started hurting almost
immediately. Then at about mile 5, the muscles at the top of my legs
below my waist started tightening up and remained tight and hurting for the rest
of the run. At several water stops, I tried to stretch, but could never get
completely loose. Never had this problem before.
I liked the Wellesley area more in 1982; the girls were in the middle of the
road and there was only a narrow path to run through. The noise was
deafening. Now barriers and police (must be the best duty around) prevent
this.
I welcomed the hills. Pulling them used different muscle groups which
relieved some of the soreness. I run on hills most of the time, so although
these were tough, they were runnable even this late in the race. In 1982,
after cresting the hills, it felt like someone was beating on my quads with
an iron rod the rest of the way. This year I felt none of that pain.
With about 2 miles to go, I knew I could coast or walk in and still get a
qualifier, but I reminded myself that I didn't come to Boston to walk in
like I had to in the heat in 1982. I ran the whole way except for water stops;
I still haven't got this drinking while running thing down. Thanks to the
cool weather I finished in 4:03:48. 1982 (at 42 years old)-3:43
The Boston people were more friendly and more marathon crazy than I had
remembered. Everyone from the food servers to the hotel staffs to the
police officers to the sanitation workers asked us if we were running and wished us
luck. We had a very nice three days, but next year we're going to stay at
least one more day to see a little more of the super city.
Rod Hostetler Boston #17962