Adrienne Bruemmer
Spent this past weekend (plus a few days) in one of my favorite
places on the planet - Boston. Got two marathons for the price of
one. Good thing, because the one is not cheap!
Watched the Oly trials on Sunday. The best the US of A has to offer
the world was on the streets in a specially designed course. When
someone (Dave McGillveray of BAA fame?) designed that course, they
made it VERY spectator friendly. In fact, it was truly great. I
didn't have to move and saw the runners 8 times. Caught them at the
start, about the 2 mile mark, my spot on the street, as they started
the last leg and at the finish. There wasn't one of those women with
an ounce of fat on her. I have never seen so many well muscled, in
shape, great looking bodies in one place in my life, I think.
Watching them warm up was interesting, but watching them run was
something else. I thought the trials here were cool. This one was
cooler, simply because it was easier to watch.
Saw the start - 150+ women barreling down Boylston like a collective
bat out of hell. As soon as everyone cleared the start, we headed
over to what we thought would be the primo viewing spot. It was. As
we headed for the Charles River to cross to the Cambridge side and
the designated spot, the runners crossed in front of us. One woman
had a more than decent lead on the second place pack of about 30
runners. This was about the 2 mile mark and everyone was still very
bunched up. The lead woman's lead kept increasing until I finally
put a stop watch on her....biggest lead was 1:51:99.....nearly two
minutes! That was past the half. When I saw the lead at the 2 mile
mark, I was sure she was going to blow up because she was taking it
out like a crazy woman. The weather was perfect for a marathon, but
still. When I clocked her at nearly two minutes ahead, I was
floored. The pack was a little thinner, but not all that much. Next
six mile loop through, her lead was down to 1:35:xx and kept
shrinking a little each loop. The pack kept shrinking too, but there
were still about half a dozen women bunched together. We were right
on the corner of the street where the runners turned to start another
loop - so close that, if we hung over the rope even a tiny but, we
were in danger of having an eye poked out by a flying elbow. Great
spot!!
When we headed to the finish line to watch the end, the leader was
down to about 45 seconds for the lead. By the time we got into
position to watch the finish, we heard that the lead had changed
hands. Magdalena Lewy-Boulet had lead for nearly the entire race.
Deena Kastor tracked her down in the last few miles and finished with
about a 30 second lead. I never did see the finishing times to know
what the spread was. I can tell you that those women were WFFAST!!!
The scary thing is that, to come close in the Olys themselves, these
three are going to have to shave about 10 minutes off their times -
in barely three months. Something wrong with that. Men qualified in
November - too long - and women in April - too short. Would seem
that someone could do a better job of helping the team catch a decent
timing break. Much comment on that in the crowds I was around.
Saw some of the runners around town later that day. They had a
really cool medal hanging around their necks. I couldn't run that
fast in my best dream, but it was a huge treat to be able to watch
the best we have go like crazy. Gave me itchy feet to get out there
and go myself.
I got my shot on Monday. Some people know that I have been dealing
with a sub-talar (ankle) weird synovitis since last June. Took them
months to figure out exactly what was wrong. Many times early, I was
not even weight bearing when the stupid thing flared. Run? Not a
chance. I think I managed to run a total of 10 miles since last
June, and certainly not consecutive ones. But - I was allowed to
start walking with purpose in October and if I can do one thing, it's
walk reasonably quickly. I was going to Boston regardless.
Had hopes of a 5:30:xx, knowing that I walked it last year in 5:45 or
so. I've been walking 20+ milers every weekend from early January
through the first weekend in April, missing only one weekend or two.
Figured I could move fast enough to nail a 5:30. I would have been
really pleased with that. The day was cloudy at the start, in the
mid-40s. Bus ride out was a fiasco, but cannot figure out why. Took
90 minutes to get to Hopkinton as opposed to the usual 45-50 or so.
I didn't have any issues, but many people had their bus driver stop
so they could hit the bushes alongside the highway. Never have seen
that before. We got into the Athlete's Village and only had about an
hour to kill before the start. Not bad. I had things to keep me
occupied just getting ready to go. Not the least of my issues was
deciding what to wear. The weather guys were calling for cloudy, low
mid-40s, high about 60 and cooling down in the later afternoon with
little wind. Sounds good except that I wanted the sun. Boston is so
much nicer in the sunshine. On the bus, I paid my voodoo homage to
the weather gods (that rarely works, but why mess with tradition?).
Lo - about 20 minutes before the second wave start, we saw the sun.
Oh yippee! I ended up with shorts (no issue there) and my DRS
singlet, a very light long sleeved shirt tied around my waist just in
case. Perfect clothing choice. Could have lost the long sleeved
shirt with no problem, but it was so light that it didn't bug me.
Had planned to run the downhill start, and so I did. 10:19 first
mile. Pretty quick for a non-runner, but it was a screaming
downhill. Didn't feel badly at all, so ran the second mile. Another
10:19. Huh. Decided that I needed to slow that down, but nothing
hurt, so I ran on. I think the 5K split was 33 something. Wasn't
paying all that much attention to split times. I know I was at the
10 mile mark about two hours in. I was running at least half of
every mile and some miles were run completely. Interesting. I blew
through ALL the downhills (but I *love* downhills!) and ran many of
the minor uphills. I was having trouble sustaining a run on the
flats. Veerrryyyy interesting.
Wellesley women were unbelievably loud, even more so than in previous
years I thought. I smiled big when I saw the first woman yelling
(although I heard them .5 mile before I saw them) and had trouble
wiping the grin off my face as I slapped every hand that wanted to
slap mine. I was actually on a 5 hour pace (!!!) through about
17.5. Then I hit the major hills. Those things absolutely chewed me
up and spit me out. I know them well, I know where they are, I've
run them countless times. This time, though, I got my butt kicked in
a big way. I am putting it down to the fact that I had run much more
than I had planned and, in many cases, probably faster than made any
kind of sense. But - until I hit them, I was having fun.
Once I got off Heartbreak, through that downhill following it and
onto the flats, I had real trouble restarting myself. I was just
plain pooped out. My 5 hour was long gone. I was bummed out big
time. The only mile where I walked the entire mile was 24-25. Ran
parts of every other one as well as the entire last mile. Something
about that "One mile to go" sign when I was really ready to be done
kicked me into gear again. Rounded the turn onto Boylston from
Hereford....many people still there cheering. As usual, focus on the
arches (red and blue this year instead of the traditional blue and
yellow) and start chugging home. Saw Paul in the VIP stands
(courtesy of Phil), waving his hat at me. Ran over, quick kiss and
rocket to the finish line. 5:19:26 or a 12:12/mile average.
This time, I can honestly say I left it all on the course. Just
nothing left. I am sure, had I had further to go, I would have found
enough to finish, but I was done. Never mind the space blanket,
never mind the water......just give me my medal. Once I got
that prized piece of pewter, then I got my bag/water/food. Actually
found my brother-in-law very quickly in the mass of people. John ran
a 4:02:32. Not bad for only his second marathon ever. He was about
a foot off the ground with excitement. I guess so; I would have been
in the stratosphere, but he's a heck of a lot faster than I am on all
given days.
My quads were wickedly painful. I had forgotten that blasting hills
hurt that badly. Still a little sore yet today, but I can get back
out there tomorrow. I took a few days off to make sure my foot
didn't have a late reaction. It didn't. A little swelling that's
gone today and no pain at all.
I am ready to ruummbble again :-)))))))))))))