Ran it with Lance Armstrong, and pulled away a bit at the end. Details...
I could not believe the number of people at this race. The last count I heard was over 27,000, which is the second largest Boston marathon ever. The 100th running of the marathon peaked at over 36,000.
I was staying downtown at the Hilton. Mark (http://reddragon.fastrunningblog.com) got us a room with his miles. He told me that he tried to pay for a second room and they wanted over $900 a night for it over the marathon weekend. Wow. His wife, Elizabeth, sent some fruit and tea/juice to us the day before, which was nice to have in the room. She also sent us a post-race chips/beer/rootbeer package. I called Teresa and told her about it, and she said (in typical Teresa fashion): "I wouldn't have thought of that." Funny. But make no mistake, Teresa supports me in crazy ways that most spouses wouldn't put up with. I can train and/or race anytime/anywhere and know that she will never have an issue with it.
The night before the race, I went to the hot tub on the 7th floor and hung out with other runners in the hotel. There were all types in there- the older novice that was out of his league, the young hero who was going to run it hurt, and the veteran who had all the answers. I let them know that I was going to run it with Lance Armstrong, since our goal times were the same. They wanted a report the next day after the race, so I guess I was committed.
We boarded the buses at early in order to make the 10:00 start. The suggested 6:45 time seemed excessive, but then I saw the massive number of runners lined up for the buses. We waited in line through about 3 waves of buses before we got on ours at 7:05. When we departed on our bus, I looked out and saw that the lines were even longer than when we first got in them.
We hit some nasty traffic on the highway out to Hopkington right before the turnoff. The roughly 30 mile ride took us 90 minutes. When we were stopped in traffic with the other buses, some runners got anxious and had to relieve themselves off the side of the road. At first it was only guys, but then some girls did it too. There was no good tree cover. I saw one girl get done with her business and then wag her butt back and forth to air out. Mark and I had a huge laugh over that one.
I don't know if it was nerves or what, but we got to the start and waited in lines to use the portable toilets twice. I was so hydrated that I would have to stop on the course about mile 9 to go again, which is somthing that I always try to avoid. I called Traci and Natalie (a couple girls I train with) to see where they were. They told me, but the number of people made it too hard to find them. Anyway, the toilet lines ate up about 45 minutes, so by that time we had to get moving over to the start. We through our drop bags in the proper buses and headed across town to the corrals. I was in the first corral, while Mark was in the third. We did a couple laps on a side street, stretched for a second, and then said "good luck" and made our separate ways. I spend a few minutes trying to find Walter in my corral, but I couldn't spot him.
The start of the race was kind of silly. They were introducing some of the elite runners, but there's no way anyone in the race could see them. I guess that was more for the spectators benefit. Then they did the Star Spangled Banner bit and we were ready. The next thing was weird- they anounced "Now for the start of the race, Walter Brown...". I guess he was the guy that fired the gun. Did I hear that name wrong?
I didn't have a watch on for this race, so I started off running by feel. My ankles were very tight and sore, but I felt great apart from that. It would take 7 mles before that pain subsided. I don't know what the deal is with that, but I need to work on strengthening the ankles. About mile 2, I noticed the guy in front of me looking over to his left. I looked to see what he was starting at, and it was Lance Armstrong. I could have easily missed him early on in the race because there were so many runners. He seemed to be going too slow, but I learned later that he was just running conservative in the first half. I hung wth him for about 5 miles, but then I got anxious and pulled ahead. By this time, I was really feeling good, and I would continue to feel good until about mile 22.
The girls at Wellesley were crazy. I had heard about them, but I wasn't prepared for the sheer amount of noise. I had heard that they compete for kisses, but let's get one thing straight- that wasn't going to be my thing. I saw a couple runners from Japan stop with their cameras. I noticed a few other runners stop for a hug or a kiss on the cheek. About half way through the line of girls, I came up on this sign that said "Kiss Me! I'm Mormon!". Well, at that point it's just mandatory, you know.
I came across the half mark at 1:25:16. That was conservative, so I needed a good negative split to break 2:50. Fortunately, I was feeling good and I knew I could stay strong for at least another 8 miles.
About mile 16, I started hearing chants for "Lance!", so I knew he was right behind me. He came up beside me, which gave me a little motivation to pick it up. The cheering increased 2-3 times as we approached the crowds and they saw him. That crowd support boosted me up the hills. I noticed the hills, but I hit them strong and felt good at the top of each one.
At mile 22, it started to get tough. I was kept pulling ahead of Lance by about 100 yards, only to see him catch up again. I was passing guys left and right. It was about a runner every 5 seconds. At the dip at mile 25, Lance pulled ahead again and gave me the motivation just to keep pace with him. I ran right behind him through the last couple turns and into the final stretch, where I got some time on film. I reached deep at this point and found some energy to pull ahead, trying to come in under 2:50. I crossed the line at a gun time of 2:50:53, and I knew it didn't take me more than 30 seconds to cross the start. Sure enough, my official time was 2:50:30. A good effort for Boston, especially considering I can't shake this cough left over from a cold I've battled for the last 2 weeks. | 