5K-26:19/10K-52:49(26.30)/15K-1:19(26.51)/20K-1:47 (28)/ Half-1:53/25K 2:14 (27)/30K-2:44(30)/35K-3:13(29)/40K 3:42(29)
Spent the night in Hopkington with my friend from high school. Slept better, and for more hours than I ever have before a race. I was totally at peace with whatever was going to happen. I got dropped me off at the shuttle at 8:30 not too far from her house. Got to the Athelete's Village, and never saw so many port a potties in my life. Ran into Kathie from the blog and her friend Marcie. We looked all over for Smooth. We heard the National Anthem, saw & heard the fighter jets go overhead, and heard the gun go off for the first wave. Had the regular experience of standing at the start line, nervously chatting with other runners, trying to decide how much of your clothes to throw away and when (I had old painted on sweats my friend had given me). Finally the race started on across the line, heading downhill. By mile 3 I knew I was going to fast, but couldn't help myself. It's downhill, and there are crowds on either side of the road cheering, it makes it hard to think or keep your adrenaline under control--ran that way for 7 miles looking at the little towns and hearing everyone's warning voices in my head "Don't start out too fast!" (8:43/8:19/8:24/8:13/8:30/8:31/8:20). I hadn't really trained the way I'd wanted, and complained about it the whole past 4 months, so I figured I'd be tired at the end anyway so what the hay--I gave it a good go for a while. They were supposed to time you every 5K and text the times. So I decided I'd take the race by 5K's and concentrate on getting to the next timing mats one at a time. Mile 7 is when I was really thinking about how those hills at 16-21 were going to be 'my race'. I just wanted to get there and get to work. I was anxious and just wanted to get there, but I started to slow down to save a little gas. The rolling hills at the beginning of the course were much more uphill than I'd expected, but those few downhills felt nice to relax and go with it. I loved the road side rapper "You here cause you got the juice, now let your Boston Marathon loose! If you not sure next what to do, don't forget to eat up some GU! Make Gatorade your drink --then run and run and try not to think!" or something like that. I loved the group of really tall transvestites dressed to the nines in their stilettos and feather boas, cowboy chaps, boots, hats and blond dolly Parton Wigs. That made me laugh. I also almost forgot the Elvis Impersonator singing Love Me Tender while I ran by. Those things kept my mind at ease and made me laugh. Getting in to Wellsley, there were tons of people, lots of cheering. Going past the college, of course were the Wellsley screaming tunnel. To my surprise, there was a group holding a sign that said "Go Luz Lewis!! I was so shocked, I ran over to them and asked where they got my name-- my friend, who I'd stayed the night with was a Wellsley Alum, and she'd arranged it. I took a picture of the sign and had someone take a picture of me with the group. It made me smile for the next 3 miles(8:44/8:35/8:31/8:53/8:38/8:41). All I could think about next was getting to the Newton Hills to take on the beast (8:55/8:53/8:52). That first hill between 16-17 was pretty long. It was a gentle uphill, but I could feel my calves and hamstrings. I just put down my head, ignored everyone on the sides of the road and shuffled up hill. Of course, there are 4 total hills, one every mile for 4 miles. It kept the course interesting, and it was nice to get to the top and breath a deep sigh of relief after each one. It was in fact easier to catch a breath here than in Utah once you were at the top. On that third hill, there was a girl next to me who began to whimper a little so I just looked over at her and I said 'come on sister, let's kick this thing's a..." She laughed and picked it up and we ran up it together. That last one was tough because it curves at the top, and has one extra little hump. But by the top there were so many people cheering that it took my mind off it for a second. That plus the downhill after was great. I just remembered reading how they said "don't try to make up for the lost time on that downhill or you'll trash your quads and wreck the rest of the race. I didn't take that advice and just took the downhill like I felt like it. (9:55/9:56/9:11/9:07/9:59/8:44). My whole goal in my mind was to get to mile 23. Once I got to 23 I relaxed and started slapping the hands of the little kids along the side of the road. I knew the race was in the bag, but I was really beat. I knew my body was doing exactly what I'd trained it to do, and I couldn't expect more-- and since I lacked another 20 miler and quality speed work--I couldn't expect more. That said, I still felt pretty strong--I was just going way slow even though I felt my pace was equal effort to the 8's I'd been running at the start. Running into the city was an absolute experience. The streets were lined with drunk Boston College students, people getting onto and off of the trains, and lined 4 deep along the sides of the road. I did my best not to look at that huge Citgo sign you can see for 2 miles. It does give one the sense of doom. You never reach it and you know it's only 1 mile from the finish. The chute got smaller, and as I approached the city on Commonwealth ave. I had a lot of trouble with people running slowly in front of me, particularly runners running side by side. I was too tired to speed up, say excuse me to get into the middle, or run around them. So I just did what I could without being heroic. Going down the ramp and having to make that one last up hill and two 90 degree turns, was not as nearly tough as turning the last corner onto Boylston and seeing .2 miles to the finish chute. It seemed really far away. I always say, .2 is the cruelest distance. I closed my eyes, ignoring everyone around me, and prayed for the end. When it was through, and I could walk--I turned to the person next to me and said "Is it true? Are we done?" He said "No kidding, that was tough." (9:27/9:04/9:09/9:55/9:55). The walking to get the mylar blankest, the drinks, the bags and then wait at the last name was a lot of walking in that cold wind--but it was exactly what I needed to do. It felt great. My family (kids) and my best friends in the world who live in Salem were all there. They had been about 1 mile from the finish and had seen me go by. My son was so proud of me, he hooked his arm through mine and wanted to walk with me to show he was with me. My daughter was beaming and kept hugging me. I was so happy I'd made them proud. We waited for about 15 minutes in the "L" section because I wanted to find Susanna, but I was tired and wanted desperately to get on the train and get home. Todd bought me a hot chocolate for the train ride home and I sat with my kids one on either side thrilled I'd just finished the Boston Marathon. I was satisfied with the Sub 4, even though had I done a few things differently (like not stopped to drink every single 2 miles); I could have finished more like 3:50. It would have been great to say I qualified for Boston at Boston--but I really am satisfied with the overall experience. Once at home, my friends made me homemade whole wheat pizza piled high with spinich, broccoli, bell peppers, fresh tomatoes & mushrooms. It was heavenly. I don't know how tomorrow will be, but I'm only marginally tired--although my biceps are sore (?) and I'm totally going to lose at least 3 toenails. I had a huge blood blister that popped in my shoe too--didn't even feel it. And that, my friends was my Boston Marathon! |
