**Warning** This could get long.
Leading up to the race: I got into Boston Thursday and spent all day Friday, Saturday, & Sunday sight seeing with my parents. I walked WAY too much and was in the sun all day Sunday at the Red Sox game. Probably not the smartest way to prepare for a marathon but it was a vacation and I was soaking it all in. After receiving all the e-mails from the BAA about the heat all I could really do was laugh and just decided to make the best of the experience and getting to spend time with my parents. I had absolutely no pre-race nerves and honestly didn't even think about the race until Sunday night. It was weird! Honestly being around non-runners (my parents) was a fabulous distraction.
Pre-race: I have ran 3 marathons. 2/3 I have finished in the medical tent due to dehydration. I am a VERY salty sweater so to say I was concerned about the heat would be an understatement. My parents have seen me at my very worst (Ogden where it was 20+ degrees cooler and I was hooked up to an IV for hours and my Dad had to pack me to the car) and were worried about me running. I explained to them that I was running with JuleC an RN and that I was smarter now. My new goal simply became proving to everyone that I was capable of finishing a race upright. I met Melonie B at the busses and we headed up to the start. I honestly had no plan. I knew what I thought I was capable of but I also knew that the heat would be an issue. I had no pace band or real plan but rather just decided to run by feel. In the back of my mind I still felt that despite the heat I was capable of running 3:25 but ultimately just knew I needed to be smart!
Start: The start was complete chaos!! I was with Melonie and JulieC and we were all planning to run together. The gun went off while we were still at the porta poties and we started jogging (maybe half a mile?) towards the start. I thought we were all together but before I knew it Julie was no where to be seen? I was kind of freaking out but didn't know what to do....there were people everywhere! I snuck into my corral (5) and before I even knew it I was all of a sudden running the freaking Boston Marathon? What the heck!
Miles 1-5: 7:34, 7:34, 7:32, 7:21, 7:31 These miles are honestly a complete blur. All I remember it when every mile clicked I kept yelling at myself to slow down. I was afraid I was going out too fast but I wanted to stay with Melonie so I just focused on staying right on her heels. I tried to mimic whatever Melonie did. We grabbed oranges, ice, water, Gatorade anything we could get from spectators. I started dumping cups of water on myself right from the beginning. Melonie kept saying "staying cool and hydrating these first few miles are going to be the key to the race." I was not thirsty or hot at all but I just kept on drinking and dumping water on me anyway.
Miles 6-10: 7:36, 7:18, 7:30, 7:31, 7:38 I felt really good but again almost too good to be true. I kept doubting myself...am I going too fast? What am I thinking...I am totally going to blow up? As soon as I would have a moment of self doubt the crowd would totally pick me up and I would just keep running by feel. I never once really obsessed about pace. Everything just felt right. I lost Melonie after mile 9 when I stopped to drink gatorade (I cannot seem to master the art of drinking while running) and was never able to catch her. After I realized I wasn't going to catch her I settled into a comfortable pace and just kept on rolling. I wanted my pace to feel easy because I knew I had a lot of race left. Everything felt smooth and I never felt overheated. I drank gatorade, water, and ate oranges like it was my job! As soon as I drank I started thinking about how much longer I could go before drinking more.
Miles 11-15: 7:49, 7:36, 7:50, 7:40, 7:42 These miles were a little tougher for me but physically I still felt pretty good. Whenever I felt like I was struggling the crowd would cheer and it would totally pick me up. I never listened to music the entire race and totally fed off of the crowd. Having an entire 26.2 miles lined with spectators was absolutely amazing. I continued to focus on drinking and staying cool. I knew that stopping at aid stations to suck down gatorade I didn't even want was wasting time but I didn't care and knew I needed it. I drank a full gatorade at every station and dumped at least 1-2 cups of water on myself. I felt like a sopping wet shaggy dog (I wonder what I looked like) but I didn't feel hot at all. I ran through every water tunnel, took sponges whenever I could get one, and if I wasn't running a marathon you would have thought I was at a family water fight.
Miles 16 -20: 7:33, 7:51, 7:42, 7:31, 7:50 Andrea saw me at about mile 15.5 and started cheering. Boy was I happy to see her face! I didn't skip a beat and knew she would catch up to me. She had gatorade ready for me and boy was that nice to be able to skip about 2-3 aide stations completely. Running with Andrea and getting updates on everyone gave me a great boost of adrenaline and we began passing people like crazy. We had to swerve in and out of people and I felt great! Honestly up until mile 18-19 I felt amazing. My breathing was controlled and everything was just "clicking". I never really paid to close of attention to where my pace was at but at this point I knew that as long as I didn't fade completely I was capable of PR'ing.
Miles 21- 23: 8:14, 7:30, 7:42 Heartbreak was a little tough but honestly not nearly as bad as I had anticipated. Trying to actually "run" amongst all of the people fading actually proved to be harder than the hill itself. Andrea was still with me and we were weaving our way through the obstacle course. I was incredibly relieved to reach the top and know that the hardest part was behind me. I got back on pace fairly quickly and was ready to just throw down the hurt and finish this dang marathon already!
Miles 24 - 26.2: 7:41, 7:42, 7:05 I wont even try to make these miles sound fun because they were HARD! At mile 24 I wanted to stop and walk but having Andrea beside me helped so much and I just kept pushing. I passed a guy with a prosthetic leg and realized that if he could run a marathon with only one good leg I sure as hell could do it with 2. Andrea left at mile 25 and it was just me. Mile 25 was hard but I dedicated it to my brother. I thought about him hard and focused on him instead of the race. I was screaming out loud "do it for trevor" "do it for trevor". I'm sure people thought I was nuts but I did not care! I saw Andy at the end of mile 25 and although I knew he was struggling it was a huge boost to me. I pushed as hard as I could to the finish with my incredibly weak kick knowing that I had without a doubt given everything that I possibly could.
After crossing the finish line and realized I had just PR'd by almost 10 minutes and I was still standing and felt great I was instantly overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude. It was such an incredibly experience. How I couldn't manage to run one second faster and hit 3:21:59 I will never know but I cannot be dissapointed in my performance at all. What an amazing training cycle, what an amazing vacation, and what an amazing ending to all of my hard work. I can't help but be a little dissapointed that I wasn't able to negative split as originally planned but as the course progressed the weather got warmer and after analyzing my splits it looks like I gained about 2 seconds every 10k. It could have been much worse I suppose.
Although finishing Boston was an end to that chapter it leaves me incredibly excited to see what the future holds.
I know I am getting kicked off of FRB for the worlds longest and most rediculous race report but just a few more notes for my record.
Garmin Time: 26.46 miles, 3:22:00, 7:38 pace. My garmin time means absolutely nothing but it is definitely worth noting that I hit exactly the pace I was going for.
Fueling/nutrition: I cannot emphasize enough how much I think this played a role in me having a good experience at Boston. I took 2 salt tabs before the race and 2 more every hour. I managed to suck down 4 warm gu's throughout the race (mi 7, 13, 18, 22), and drank enough gatorade that I may never drink gatorade again for the rest of my life!
Thanks to everyone for all of the support I truly could not have done it without everyones support, coaching, and encouragement! | 