Boston

I made it to Boston!

It was an amazing production. Just being there, a part of something so big with so much history was exciting. Incredibly organized, the logistics of it all went off without a hiccup. There were so many people... runners, spectators, ... it was a solid mass of bodies everywhere I looked throughout the race. My goal was to get there, to enjoy it, and to finish... which I did.

When it comes to a marathon, so much if it comes down to the training that happens during those prior months. Training is so much better with a buddy! I started off my training with my friend Emily who was also marathon training, but she had to drop out due to a bum knee and then it was just Bruce and me... Bruce, me, and Sawyer.

Running with Emily after a windstorm. Was tricky but we
managed to get both our strollers over the fallen trees.

I trained pushing a stroller during the week. Because Devin's work schedule is such that I can't wake up before he leaves for work... I tried running at 2AM once and decided it wasn't worth it... I ran in the late mornings after Bridger and Myra took the bus. Sawyer was a champ, a few snacks and he'd be content. He'd often nap while I ran. So my training this time was completely different. I even switched up my training plan (different from the one I used the past two marathons). Because I knew I'd be pushing a stroller and I knew Sawyer would not last much more than an hour I used Runner's World's cross-training plan. I was running a lot less miles during the week, but Saturday's were big days. There was a lot of speed/interval training built into the week. And I cross-trained with weights and jumped rope, sometimes biked, did lots of yoga. I felt like it was a good training plan. I didn't get burnt out during my training because I had several days off from running, and my miles were minimal. I felt prepared, but I didn't know how it would compare to the way I trained before... I wasn't sure what my performance would be like.

In the weeks before the marathon someone from my ward who had just moved to Herndon from Boston urged me to call his friend Ken who had run 15 Bostons before. He assured me he had the best course knowledge and he could give me many helpful tips. So I connected with him and thereafter Devin playfully called him "my boyfriend". He frequently called and each time he had a lot to say, our conversations were about 20 minutes minimum. I told him where we were staying and he told me "bad idea"... I had reserved an Air B&B that was midway through the course, but he said on race morning that would prove to be a nightmare because of all the closed roads, instead he suggested "Come stay with me" and he offered to drop me off near the start and take Devin around to a few cheering spots. We took him up on it.

Meet Kenny... He is qualified for the Boston marathon for life. A thing I didn't know you could do. Apparently all you have to do is run under a 2:30:00 marathon and you're set (new goals, ha). He knows all things when it comes to running. He's a character. We were glad to have stayed with him as it added to the experience. He pulled out a shoe box containing all his medals from previous Boston marathons and all the other races he's won. Now he works with high school kids. He even told me that next time I train, if I let him train me he'll get me to run under a 3:00:00 marathon. haha.

Driving through New York:

At the expo:

This poster has names filling both sides.

The marathon took place on a Monday. We spent Saturday driving (which took over 7 hours to Kenny's house with stops). Sunday was church and then the race expo. Later that evening we had dinner with the Sister Missionaries at Kenny's house. I carbo loaded all weekend, drank lots of water, tried to get some good sleep. Monday morning I ate my banana and peanut butter on toast and hopped in the car. We met up with another girl who was running the race, which was great because then I had someone to walk with to the start. We got dropped off at an exit an walked in about a mile and a half to the race start (all the roads were closed off and we opted not to ride the bus). All nerves, I kept reminding myself to just have fun, enjoy the experience, and finish!

I had a race plan... which looking back was faulty, but I didn't know that at the time. I was intrigued with the concept of negative splits, meaning you start slow and gradually pick up the pace. My previous marathons had been opposite, on both of them I started out too quick and petered out toward the end and I vowed not to do the same here. I would start at 8:00's, and gradually increase to 7:45's, and then really race in my last 6 miles. That was my plan.

The course starts on a gradual downhill and all those I know who've run it in previous years told me "hold back, and then hold back some more!" because it is so easy to get taken with it. Then late in the course from mile 17-21 there are hills, mile 20 is named "Heartbreak Hill". Thinking about heartbreak hill made me weary and I wanted to save my legs, so I held back.

Running negative splits sounds really great in theory, but in practice it was difficult... I wasn't successful when I tried to do it in training runs. Thinking that the race would be different was my mistake. Starting out I felt so good and I just wanted to GO! But each time I looked down at my watch I saw that I was going too fast so I continually had to reign myself back in, slow it down. I felt like I could hold that pace all day long. By mile six I was holding 7:45's and felt good. It was a hot day, perfect for spectators, but high 70's with a hot noon sun was making me sweat. I was careful to keep sipping water and little bits of Gatorade... I felt like I needed it to prevent dehydration, but my stomach wasn't keeping up. Around mile 10 my stomach became uneasy so I didn't push it, but I held the pace.

My legs still felt good, I was tiring, but I kept reminding myself to enjoy the experience and look around me, take it all in. There were runners (boys and girls alike) running off to the sides and yanking down their shorts to relieve themselves. There seemed to be a wall of people all around, but sometimes I would look a little above everyone and remember that I was running through Boston, notice a few old, tall buildings. Sounds of feet hitting the pavement, cowbells, voices calling "Good job!" and hollering "Woot woot!", radios blasting, runners chattering in languages I don't understand. Sweaty, salty runners. Sticky shoes by each Gatorade station. My own huffing and puffing. "Remember, this is fun. Enjoy this!" My favorite part of the race may have been as we ran down a street, stereos blasting "Sweet Caroline" and hundreds of runners joining in the song, fist pumping "DUN Dun dun", singing "SO GOOD, SO GOOD!" It was awesome.

I looked forward to each point where I was able to see Devin and Kenny cheer me on. I always ran faster then. And Kenny was funny, he tried jumping in the race a couple times and run with me several yards. At Wellesley College I stayed to the opposite side of the road to avoid the kissing girls and their posters.  Along the course I passed some notables... Team Hoyt, and then an ex-marine running on an amputated leg, he carried the flag the full 26.2 miles (wow!).

Look up Kathrine Switzer's story if you're not familiar with it! She has a great story, and a large thanks goes to her
for making it possible for women to compete in marathons. She was there running a commemorative race this year!

When it was time to kick myself into gear and go, I wanted it, but maybe not bad enough. I had been on the course a long time, it was hot, so many excuses, and my hip was hurting. Instead of racing in the last six miles like I wanted to, I slowed down. Nearing the finish I saw people going down around me. I was afraid if I pushed it I would be one of them, and my number one goal was to finish the race. It was agonizingly slow, I never, ever run as slow as I ran my last four miles. I had been on the course a long time, and in some ways running slow I think is even harder on the body than running fast because it makes the duration that much longer, that much longer of enduring the heat and the pounding.

Final time was 3:44:46. Quite a bit slower than my previous marathons. I was disappointed. Still, I did it. I ran through to the end and had the finishers medal draped around my neck.

I was super dehydrated at the end of my race. I chugged two Gatorade's and two water bottles and then sat down for a long time. There were so many unknowns going into this race... The course with it's hills, the congestion of runners, my new training program... I didn't have a concrete goal in mind. I had said that I didn't care about my time, it was just about being there and finishing, but that was a bogus line. Of course I wanted to do well! Every race I do, I hope for, if not a PR, a race run really well.  Maybe where I went wrong was my mindset.

I wonder if I could have finished strong with more determination and willpower. My hip was a big concern. I didn't know if it was my iliotibial (IT) band, definitely I was feeling inner hip pain/cramping and now I think it was the iliopsoas probably in conjunction with my IT band. I need to get it massaged out. I keep saying I'm going to go. I notice something funky in my hip after my runs still.

In those last miles I kept thinking how good it would feel to be done running! When it was over I thought, "I am going to take a nice, long recovery!" The very next morning I got up and started looking for another marathon to run! I thought "I'm in good shape! I can run better than I did at Boston". I felt like I should prove it to myself. And now... I still have this crazy-person desire to run another marathon, but now isn't the time. With summer coming and all my kids home it would be practically impossible for me to marathon train anyway. And I want to save more of my energy to be a good mom! I love marathon training and following a set schedule, but it is exhausting. So, I'll keep running, but now a three mile run is sufficient! I'll go longer if I feel like it, skip a day if I need that. And I'll train for shorter races 10K's, halves, Spartan's. Ragnars... they are all really great things to work toward but not quite so demanding. Sometime down the road I'll do Boston again, and next time I'll do it better!

I learned some things about myself and marathon racing so I'll do things differently when my next marathon comes along. 1)- I'm not running with a watch. It's scary not to, but I don't think I did myself any favors having it during the race. I was either making myself go too slow, or beating myself up that I wasn't keeping pace. Next time I'll trust my body and run by the feel of it. 2)- Even though I like the idea of negative splits, it didn't work for me. Next time I'll start running the pace I want to keep... Not too fast, but I'm not going to be holding myself back so much either. 3)- I'm going to go into it knowing that it is a race, determined to run people down. 4)- More time. My normal three/four months of training isn't enough. Next time I'll start long runs at least six months before my marathon. 5)- More miles. In order to be fast, I need to run more. In one week I only got up to 37 miles on the schedule I laid out for myself. Really good runners do 80 +. Elite runners do over 100 in the latter end of their training. I did what I could with little kids at home, but someday I want to train like a pro.

My biggest regret for Boston was that I never felt like I actually got to race it. I was holding myself back for so long when I felt my best, and I let a lot of people pass me knowing that I would catch them again. Then when it came time to really race it in, I couldn't. It felt like a great training run, but not much of a race, and that was all on me. I wished I had another marathon lined up for the next month. When I did cross-country in high school I'd have a bad race, but it was never a huge deal because I always had another race the next weekend to make it up. That's what I wished to have this time too. I had a good run, now I'm ready to race!

Souvenirs. I came away with some awesome tan lines. I had a line on my forehead from my headband. I burned from the top of my calf sleeves to my shorts. And a painful burn on my shoulders. I walked crooked all night... It didn't help that we had another eight hour car ride. Devin kept telling me to walk straight, but I was so stiff! But I recovered quickly. I went for a run that weekend and felt great.

When we got home (at something like 2AM) we found some super cute notes waiting for us with a plate of specially decorated sugar cookies. :)

A huge thank you to my mom for stepping in to watch my kids while Devin and I spent the weekend away! Thanks to Devin for taking time off and making this happen. Even though I didn't run perfect I feel accomplished, and I'm so grateful to have made it to Boston.