Boston Marathon - Part 2

Monday, April 21, Patriot's Day in New England, came quickly and it was finally race day.  We dressed in our race outfits, then covered up with warm throwaway clothes.  We weren't able to bring our drop bags to athletes village, so everyone wore things that were going to be thrown away.  The outfits were actually quite humorous.  Think old flannel jammy pants and ratty old bathrobes.  People were serious about not wanting to part with their good stuff.  We rode the bus up, chatting all the way with the other nervous runners.  When we got to Hopkinton, we took the obligatory photo right outside the "village".

 Here's Brynn ready to go.  Athlete's Village was so much more crowded than I remember it from 2012.  There were 36,000 runners this year - four waves of 9,000.  This is a full 9,000 more than they've had in past years.  They allowed everyone who did not cross the finish line last year to come back this year, then the expanded the field to allow for more people who wanted to run.

 We made our way over to get our photo near the "Welcome to Hopkinton" sign as well.  Still dressed in our awesome sweats.

 This gives you an idea of how many people are packed into this tiny space.  The weather was perfect - beautiful sunny day, blue skies.  Always makes you a little nervous to start a marathon when you're not a little chilly.

 Then we lined up in our corrals.  We were in the 2nd wave and the first corral, which means we started at the very front of our wave.  Before we crossed the start line, we passed these nice gentlemen passing out beer, donuts and cigarettes. :)

 The city was full of signs like the ones on this house.  So much love and encouragement everywhere we went.  The city truly loves this marathon.

 A few last shots before we started running.

I could write paragraphs about the actual experience of running the 2014 Boston Marathon.  The energy was amazing.  The hills were tough. The weather was a little warm.  The volunteers and runners were awesome. And the spectators were absolutely incredible.  Here's what I wrote for the MYNT blog:

Love wins. This was the reoccurring theme last Monday (Patriots’ Day) as I lined up at the start of the Boston Marathon. After a winter of training, I found myself back in Boston. Back after completing the race for the first time in 2012 in 90 degree heat. Back after a heinous act in 2013 left three people dead and over 260 wounded. Back this time to run side-by-side with my sister. To sum it up, I was back for redemption.

I had not planned on running Boston this year. Training for a marathon all winter definitely has its challenges. I traded some phenomenal Utah skiing for cold, icy long runs. All because I felt a magnetic pull to get back to Boston in 2014. The horrible acts last year were a direct attack on the sport and the people I love. Two years ago, my mom, husband and twin daughters had stood where the fatal bombs had exploded.

Running is more than just a hobby to me. It feeds my soul; it’s in my blood. I started running after watching my mom finish her first marathon when I was 12 years old. She can no longer run, so my sister Brynn and I run for her.

This year, we were two of the 36,000 privileged runners (second only to the 1996 race in number of entries) who set out to write a new story. Together we ran from Hopkinton to Boston as we soaked in the spirit of this incredible, historic event. When the running got tough (through the Newton Hills and finally up Heartbreak Hill), the crowds pulled me along. The final stretch down Boylston Street was so loud, I felt like I could have been winning the race.

From the hundreds of volunteers to the thousands of screaming spectators and other runners pouring their hearts onto the course, we were all in it together. We were determined to let love win, and we did.

Brynn and I separated sometime when we were running through the Newton Hills at around mile 16.  You think you are going to stay together, but you can't predict how you're each going to react when things get tough, when you're hurting.  Brynn told me to go on ahead, which I did, finally, and then finished a whole two minutes ahead of her.  3:29 and 3:27 to the finish.  Definitely a bit slower than we wanted, but we really didn't care when all was said and done.  The final turn onto Boylston was unbelievable...it's that moment alone that will bring you back to Boston again and again.  

We got a picture together in the tent in Copley Square before we changed out of our clothes.

 Changed into dry clothes and getting ready to head to our hotel.  We took off our shoes and immediately examined the state of our toes - swollen toes and blisters all over.  They were a hot mess.

We got dressed and headed out for an evening in Boston before flying out the next morning.  We headed over to the Boston Marathon after party at Fenway Park.  This is open only to runners and was pretty cool to see.  You'll notice we are wearing our medals...any other marathon in the world and I would think it is highly dorky to wear your medal, but Boston is different.  You walk the streets with that medal on and perfect strangers come up and congratulate you, give you high five, and thank you for running their marathon.  It's one of the most incredible things about this experience.

 The experience was capped off by the fact that, for the first time since 1983, an American won the Boston Marathon.  38-year-old Meb Keflezighi, in a stacked field, managed to pull off a victory that everyone wanted so badly after last year.  Runner's World said it best:

"Meb Keflezighi gave Boston and America the victory the whole country longed for, but scarcely dared hope for, in the most emotional and significant of all 118Boston Marathons. He did it with a courage and determination that the whole nation can be proud of. If Boston and America were to find healing from last year's horrific finish-line attack, there could be no better resolution than by an American winning this Boston Marathon (in 2:08:37), and in such a way. Boston today was a field of dreams. "

 I'll be back Boston, I'll be back.

2014 Boston Marathon - Part 1

There is a lot to say about the 2014 Boston Marathon and what an honor it was to be a part of this amazing event, so this will have to be a two-part post.   Brynn and I qualified for Boston last fall at the Big Cottonwood Marathon and came home and immediately registered that day.  The race is popular on any regular year, but after last year's bombings, everyone wanted to be there ... for a little redemption, to "take back" the course.

It was a very quick trip for us.  We flew in on Saturday night, and flew home on Tuesday morning.  The race is on Monday, Patriot's Day.

As soon as we woke up Sunday morning, we headed over to our other hotel (we had one night in an airport hotel), threw on some running clothes and went for a shakeout run along the Charles River.  There were lots of other runners out and some great energy.  It was also Easter Sunday and I felt bad about missing the holiday, but we were so excited, we didn't dwell on it.

It was a beautiful, sunny day in Boston and we saw one of the American elite runners, Desiree Davila out running her own shakeout run.

We headed over to the expo next.  We were told it was a short walk across the bridge, but it ended up being a very long walk, then a trip on the "T".  Not exactly what our legs needed the day before the race.  Definitely more excitement at the expo and its impossible not to spend a lot of time on your feet in that environment.

 This wall was full of signatures from runners.

We had lunch at the Forum Restaurant, which was basically blown up during the bombing last year.  We did not realize it until we googled it - the name had sounded familiar - and then I remembered they reported from right in front of it quite a bit last year.  They had just reopened a few months before.

There were tributes like this all over the city.  I wish we could have made it to the amazing public display they had at the Boston library, but it was Sunday and close.

 One shot of the finish line - we didn't cross it though...bad luck.

 After a long day of walking all around, we headed back to our hotel for dinner and an early bedtime.  This is a fuzzy picture, but this is our pre-race prep.  Lots of things to set up - clothes to wear on the bus and ditch at athletes village, gels, sunscreen, body glide, timing chips, ponchos, etc.  Because of security restrictions, we were not allowed to check a bag at Athlete's Village, so we needed to prepare a little differently.

Part 2 to come...

Big Cottonwood Marathon

This summer has been another summer of marathon training.  Lots of early Sunday mornings sweating it out for a few hours.  But this year I had company!  It was so much fun training with Brynn and we put our training to the test on September 14th at Big Cottonwood Marathon.  Our main goal for this race was to get a solid BQ time so we could go right home and register for Boston 2014 before it filled up.  We accomplished those goals and ran a solid 3:14 on a downhill course.  It was a lot of fun.

Here we are waiting at the top of Guardsman pass for the race to start.  The race did not get started without a hitch.  There were about 45 minutes where we were wondering if it would happen at all.  Here's why:

That's a bus, carrying a bunch of runners, trying to make the turn up Guardsman pass.  Mr. bus driver got himself high centered right over that hill.  This is a problem when the canyon is lined with other buses waiting to bring the rest of us up to the top of the canyon.  It's also a problem when there's no other way up.  We were still 3 miles from the race start, so there wasn't going to be any running up.  After a very amusing 45 minutes of watching a bunch of skinny runners try to push the bus off, while everyone else wandered around in the dark canyon trying to find somewhere to pee, they finally had us walk up 1/2 mile where another bus picked us up and shuttled us all up to the top.  Then eventually the bus was towed off.  We started 45 minutes late.  Oh well.

 The race itself was tricky.  It's difficult to run a course like that and we started out with a bunch of people who were trying to run a 3:05.  We paid for running that fast in the canyon and slowed WAY down after we came out onto the flat/hilly parts.  The last six miles were a bit of a death march - moreso than most marathons.  But it was enough to get both of us a PR and BQ.  It sure was fun to see our families at the finish.

 Now, we will take on a long winter of running in order to line up ready to go on April 21st, the day before Brynn's birthday.  Can't wait!!

Soaking Wet at the Ogden Half

Brynn and I ran the Ogden Half Marathon a couple of weekends ago.  We had been planning it for quite awhile - a nice little night away in our hometown and a good race.  Well, we woke up to pouring rain that unfortunately never let up.  It rained from the time we got off the bus at the start, through the race, then for 30 minutes afterwards when we stood around waiting to get our bags.

It was fun doing this race together, but we definitely need a do-over.  I think I was close to being hypothermic at the end there!  Pretty miserable.  I'm very glad we weren't running the full.

Here is some proof.

Isn't that lovely?  I don't know when she got so much taller than me.  At dinner the night before, we met Jeff Galloway, noted running expert and motivational speaker, or something.  We were eating at the Union Grill and he was spotted by some other runners there.  Nice guy.

Next up is a marathon in September after we train together through the summer.  Can't wait!

Moab - Again!

We took a weekend off, then headed back down to Moab again.  We are apparently making up for lost time because we have another trip planned at the end of the month.  Josh has decided that it's his happy place and there are some stressful things going on right now, so we will go with whatever works!

We left the side-by-side home this time because I was running the Canyonlands Half Marathon and we knew we would be short on time.  I ran this race three times in 2000, 2001, and 2002.  I loved being back.  I will be back every year, whether I'm racing, jogging, or cheering for someone else.  It's just fun.  I really wanted to run a sub-1:30, but it didn't happen.  I ended up with a 1:31 and was pretty happy with it.  I had been sick all week leading up to the race and I just didn't have a lot of pep in my step.  I ended up 10th overall female and realized that I have dropped my time on this course 35 minutes over the course of 13 years.  

The best part was getting caught up with an old friend from high school, Hailey.  We haven't seen each other in years and we got to spend the morning together riding the bus up the canyon and catching up.  Here are a couple of pictures at the finish.

Josh took the girls to the park while I was running.  The race finishes right in a big play area, so they had a blast playing in the nice 65-degree weather.

We spent the rest of the day eating good food, swimming in the hotel pool, and driving through Arches National Park.  We got some great pictures of Balancing Rock with the girls.  We tried to explain to them how the arches and rock formations are created with wind and water and somehow it got jumbled up in their minds that they were "water mountains".

 The views in Moab just never get old.

The girls kept asking when we were going to Moab.  We told them over and over that we were IN Moab.  Finally, Piper said something about our other hotel and we realized they thought Moab was actually the hotel we stayed in earlier this month.  It's confusing being a three-year-old sometimes!

The next morning we were back in Arches and we decided to hike up to Delicate Arch.   Neither of us had done that before and the sign said it was three miles round trip.  No big deal!  I thought it was just a walking path, but it turns out it was a real hike up some slick rock.  We weren't really prepared and didn't have our backpacks to pack the girls in, so we ended up carrying them 80 percent of the 3 miles.  However, it was really worth it to see.  The view up at the top is breathtaking and its a shame it took us so long to do this.  Delicate Arch is on our license plates in Utah!

 The girls were troopers.  They stopped and picked up some rocks for souvenirs and we saw some lizards and little rock chucks.

We drove home with tired, sleeping girls and made it back to SLC just in time for Conor's birthday dinner with my family.  All in all, it was a perfect weekend.  Can't wait to go back.

Top of Utah Marathon

Last Saturday, I ran the Top of Utah marathon in Logan and finally got the marathon PR I've been training for all year.  When Boston didn't go how I wanted it to, I decided to train for another marathon this year.  It was another summer of getting up at 5 am and it paid off on Saturday with a 3:20 marathon on a great day.

I also ended up getting 3rd in my age group and was awarded a moose trophy for my efforts.  Woo hoo!  It's not much, but getting a trophy at a marathon was a first for me. 

I had fun having Josh and the girlies there for me.  We also took a little trip down memory lane in Logan.  We drove past the first place I lived up there as a freshman - a sad little dorm room building.  And also the sorority house where I lived when I was a sophomore and junior.  Sadly, its no longer a Chi Omega house. 

Here are the girlies "helping" josh with our luggage.  Staying in a hotel with them is now a little nutty.  They don't sleep in pack 'n plays anymore, so there's no way to contain them when its bedtime.  There was jumping off the bed, stealing blankets, and general craziness until well after 10 p.m.  So much for a nice early bedtime for all of us before the race!

I'm super happy with my 3:20, but I still think I can run faster.  BUT...that will have to wait for another day well into the future. :) 

Pain and Popsicles (2012 Boston Marathon)

It's been over a month since I ran the Boston Marathon and I have thought about sitting down to write this recap almost everyday.  Yes, I have been busy getting settled here in Utah, but I probably could have gotten to this sooner.  Here's the short version in case you don't have time for this novel: I ran the Boston Marathon, I ran it a lot slower than I wanted to, it was really hot, I had fun, I still love running, I still love marathons, I have the best and most supportive family, and I will be back for redemption.

I have wanted to run this race since I first heard about Boston and its status as running mecca.  It's truly an honor to line up at the start of the most historic and prestigious marathon in the world - and to know that everyone around you had to earn their spot there.  I knew that this might be my one and only Boston, so I trained really hard to line up ready to run a strong race.

Also, it's no exaggeration to say that we moved heaven and earth (okay, slight exaggeration) to get there.  When we realized our move was going to coincide so closely with the race, I considered backing out and finding another spring marathon closer to New Bern.  Josh reminded me that it might be my only chance, so we decided to just make it work.  We scheduled our move around the marathon, drove through ten states to get there, and my sweet mom (and my original running inspiration) took time out of her schedule to fly out and help us.  We got in the car to head up there only after spending three days supervising packers and movers at our house (probably not the best tapering strategy, but oh well).

And then the projected temperature started to climb up and up.  The heat warnings really started to freak me out.  They started offering the deferrals to run the race next year, which was unprecedented for Boston to do.  I honestly considered taking the deferral and finding another marathon to run.  Looking back, I'm SO glad I didn't do that.  We were already in Boston and it would have been really silly for me to not run it.  So I changed my strategy and decided to run slow.

Monday morning (race day) I walked out of my hotel and headed over to Boston Commons to catch the bus up to Hopkinton, the tiny town where the race starts.   Even though the race has a 10 a.m. start, you have to be on the bus by 6 a.m. in order to get everyone up there on time.  I had fun listening to all the accents and other languages.  We were all carrying our drop bags, which had our names and home city/state/country, so I looked around to see where everyone was from.  I saw people from Sweden, Australia, the UK, Germany, Brazil, and all over the U.S.  I started to get excited and boarded the bus.  On the way up, I sat next to a guy who was running his fourth Boston.  He gave me some tips and reminded me that having fun should be the priority of the day.  The buses pulled in to Athlete's Village.

This is the staging area and everyone hangs out here for a few hours before the race start.  They have music playing, free bagels and coffee, and 25,000 nervous runners.  It was already VERY WARM by about 9 a.m.  In fact, just sitting around, I started sweating.  I talked with Josh a couple of times, and texted back and forth with a guy I knew from the New Bern running club who was there (never did find him). 

Another iPhone picture of Athlete's Village.  Most of the time, the start is very cold and everyone huddles around in warm clothes before the start.  Not this year!

Finally, it was time to head to our corrals.  And we were off!  Right away, you can tell Boston is not your typical marathon.  There are spectators lining the streets the entire way, through Hopkinton, Natick, Newton, Framingham, Brookline.  And they cheer for you like you're the only runner out there.

It became apparent quickly that it was going to be a long, hard day.  It is not a good sign when you are sweating before you even start running.  I can honestly say that this was the toughest race I've ever run - and it was my second slowest marathon ever. There were times - especially during the early miles - when I honestly wasn't sure I would be able to finish. 

But it was still Boston.  The crowds were amazing and I tried to soak it all in.  I high fived every kid who put his hand out for me.  At the halfway point, I could hear the Wellesley girls screaming from a half mile away.  Running through the infamous "scream tunnel" there gave me the mental boost I needed to convince myself I was going to finish.  I grabbed the hand of a Wellesley girl with a North Carolina sign and she looked right at me and said "you go girl!".

My strategy for dealing with the heat was just to take it mile-by-mile.  Each water stop I convinced myself to run another mile and grabbed two cups of water, one to drink and one to dump on my head.  I carried a handheld water bottle, I ran through every single hose and spray station, I took orange slices from little kids, I ate a salt packet when my legs started to cramp up, and at one point (I'm sort of embarrassed to admit this), I ate a popsicle.  There were very fit people pulling off the road all over the place, and hoards of people walking starting around mile ten.  I think there were a lot of really good runners that were humbled that day.

Around mile 22, I met a girl named Arden from San Diego.  She was running her seventh Boston Marathon.  We started chatting and decided to run the last few miles together.  I was so happy to have someone to distract me.  As we got closer to the city, she pointed out the big Citgo sign which meant we were getting close.  At this point, the crowds are 5, 6, 7 people deep and everyone is screaming.  I was in pain here, but not the typical end-of-the-marathon pain.  My legs weren't heavy and my breathing was fine, but my feet had sloshed around in wet shoes for so long (because of dumping all the water over my head), that my toes were full of blisters.  My legs were also cramping up again, which is a sign of dehydration.  I took another packet of salt and Arden and I picked it up a little bit to the end.

Then, we turned right on Hereford and left on Boylston.  The crowds were just crazy at this point and I had a big smile on my face.  It was not the race I hoped to run - I finally crossed the finish line in 4:23, an hour slower than my goal - but it was my experience and I was very grateful for it.

Some more pictures:

With my girlies, who had fun playing at the park with daddy and Bubba while I was running.  

With my mom, in her Boston visor!  I was so glad she was there.  My mom inspired me clear back when I was 12 years old and I watched her finish the St. George Marathon. 

 

With Josh, my biggest cheerleader in his Boston shirt.  He was there for me at another marathon finish, with another bottle of chocolate milk for me. :) 

 All showered and done and we headed out for dinner. 

And a few more pictures from our trip:

Hanging out in our hotel room.  I forgot to mention that the week before the race (in the middle of the move), the girls both got a cold, which I got, and which then resulted in a massive case of hives all over Josie's body and a horrible ear infection for Piper requiring a shot of antibiotics and had our pediatrician warning us that we might need to find a good children's hospital in Boston.  Seriously!  They were troopers though and everyone pulled through it.  

The girls had their first big city experience in Boston and we rode the T all over town the whole trip.  Josie called it a "school bus" and was not down with riding it with us holding her standing up.  "Daddy sit down!" resulted in a couple of strangers offering their seats to us. 

 We also made it to the Children's Museum (Piper was in a mood and would not look at the camera). 

 Wearing Bubba's glasses

 

When I finished the race, Josh asked me if I wanted to run Boston again.  My first response was that I didn't felt like I needed to.  I crossed it off my list and could move on to other things.  But I think I've changed my mind.  I think I'll be back again at some point.  Who knows what the conditions will be like, but as a whole, you can't beat the experience.   This quote sums it up:


"You can never be sure. That's what makes the marathon both fearsome and fascinating. The deeper you go into the unknown, the more uncertain you become. But then you finish. And you wonder later, 'How did I do that?' This question compels you to keep making the journey from the usual to the magical."
-Joe Henderson