I was excited to qualify and happy to run my second Boston Marathon this year. Even more happy that our great friends, Carolyn and Byron came along for the ride too. They have been on several marathon trips with us and this year was no exception. They are our traveling buddies and we always have a great time with them.
I started to carb load on Saturday and had pizza for lunch. They people in Boston are so nice that we had a strange couple sitting next to us buy all of our lunch. We didn't even get a chance to thank them for they did it as they left the restaurant. The owner came over and said not to worry about tip either because they included that too. Whoa! All four of us where very surprised! That was some really good pizza!
I ate my usual pasta dish dinner the night before my run and knew that always works for me and wasn't about to change it. I have been eating clean the last month and know I'm in much better shape this year. Another thing going for me was that I am going in this year injury free. However, I had mixed emotions about running as I went to bed the night before the marathon because of the weather I would run in. My start time was 10:50 a.m. and the temperature was going to be 45 with 50% chance of rain with strong wind in our face.
I wondered how that would effect my run because BAA was warning all runners know to dress properly and worried about hypothermia. I worried about my feet getting wet and getting blisters. There was nothing I could do about Mother Nature and have come this far and was just going to pray and give it my best.
As usual, I had a hard time sleeping, thinking what if my alarm doesn't go off in time. I woke up three times to check the time. We stayed at the Copley House which has several apartments. Our apartment was on the first floor next to the street and at night it was noisy due to the busy street next to us. But it was in walking distance to Boston Commons and close to the finish line. We were in walking distance to everything. We didn't use the subway and taxi only a couple times. I know for sure we would want to stay around the same area again next time we come back.
These are some of the products I used to help me get through this marathon.
These are some of the products I used to help me get through this marathon.
At the Expo, I bought a hat, a plastic poncho, a running belt with bigger pouch to carry my phone and an extra water bottle to add to my belt. I filled one with coconut water and the other with Amino Energy for electrolytes. I woke up and started to hydrate myself and made sure I took care of business before my run because there is nothing worse than running and having to go take a dump while you run..LOL! Starting so late is another thing I'm not use to when running a marathon and knew I had to eat before running. I made myself a peanut butter and banana sandwich. I ate half of it on the bus ride to Hopkins and ate the other half 30 minutes before my start time.
I bought a plastic poncho and took a blanket to wear as I waited at Hopkins before I lined up at my corral. The good thing was that as soon as I got there, I headed to the line for the porta potty and after I got out they called for my corral to line up. As people lined up they started to shed off their layers to donate them. I gave up my blanket, but couldn't let go of my poncho, at least not yet. It was cold and right before my time to start, big rain drops started falling on my head. I did wear a hat that would cover my head and not just visor cap I always wear to see if that would make a difference. I read that if you wear a hat to cover your head, it helps keep heat in and you stay warmer, so decided why not?
Gun goes off and we are off. It starts raining of course and tried to keep positive thoughts cause I have never ran in anything like this before. I turned on my music and off I went. I remembered what happened last year when I started off too fast on the first 4 miles of downhills so, I forced myself to go slower. I needed to save my energy for the hills starting at mile 17 and of course Heartbreak Hill at mile 20. It was a steady rain the whole way and focused on not stepping on puddles of water. I decided to keep my poncho on for I was able to run with it okay and it was keeping me dry. I knew that as soon as I would take it off, I would get wet and super cold and worried about getting hypothermia. Every time I would pass a medical tent it would be full of runners. They had more medical tents this year because of the weather conditions. I kept thinking positive and stayed focused. I felt good and was able to maintain good pace despite the cold rain and wind in my face. Underneath my poncho I was dry and honestly, I think that helped me because I wasn't freezing wet. Since it didn't stop raining I decided not to take it off until after Heartbreak Hill and pick up my pace to the finish line. The great thing about that is that by running in cold weather, I really didn't feel the crazy hills this time and felt good. The next thing I see is huge sign letting us know Heartbreak Hill is over. So, at mile 22 off comes my poncho and I give it to a cop on sidelines. By mile 23 my toes were numb and super wet and my gloves were soaked, but wanted to finish strong and not stop. I thought if I did, I felt I would cramp up. I couldn't believe my time and wondered if I could finish in 3:30 which is my ultimate goal for a marathon. I was close, but didn't quite make it. I finished in 3:31:46 which is a new PR for me which also means I qualified for Boston in Boston! I'm surprised I did that considering the crazy weather, but super happy with that!
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