Eat Drink Run Woman

The picture captures it all — the joy, the pain, the tears.  It’s the overwhelming elation I feel for accomplishing something I thought inconceivable.  No more am I the scrawny, awkward, non-athletic teenager, nor am I the overweight and miserable 40-year-old.  I AM A BOSTON MARATHONER.  Here’s my story.

Stats
Official time: 4:15:48
Overall: 18202/22849
Gender: 6902/9302
Age group (F45-49): 1066/1456

Training
While I got through my first two marathons with minimal mileage using the run/walk plan, I tried Pete Pfitzinger’s 18/55 for my first BQ attempt at the North Olympic Discovery Marathon.  I missed my goal by 15 minutes, regrouped and BQ’d 10 weeks later with a 3:54:34 at a small Marathon Maniac-sponsored race called the Light at the End of the Tunnel (I needed 4:00:59).  I squeaked in another BQ in October 2008 at Royal Victoria with a 4:00:26, so barring financial ruin I’ll be toeing the line again at Hopkinton in 2010.

While Pfitz was indeed strenuous, I liked the plan and intended to follow it for Boston.  However, I figured I wouldn’t try for a particular time.  Sure, I wanted to finish strong but I also wanted to take in the experience.  By the time I ran Royal Victoria I had become a Marathon Maniac, and the multiple-marathoning bug had hit.  I ran three more marathons for the year after RVM, then ran another on Jan. 1 and the Goofy Challenge at Walt Disney World Jan. 10-11.  I had no intention of running any others until Boston, but when I saw the Yakima River Canyon Marathon on April 4 was a Maniac reunion, I decided to run it as a training run for Boston.  But I swore that would be it; HA!

By early February I was jonesing for another race, so my husband and I signed up for one on Feb. 8, then I ran my first 50K on Feb. 22.  As a result I tossed out my plan to follow Pfitz’ 12/55 program for Boston.  His speed work beats me up, and considering all the races I was running my No. 1 priority was recovery.  That said, come March I wanted to see if I had ANY speed left in me, so I entered the annual St. Patty’s Day Dash fully intent on racing it.  While I was thrilled with my pace (about 8:20 — fast for me), I knew I could have gone faster if I had elbowed my way closer to the front.  Oh well.

A couple of days later I ran almost 7 miles at an 8:37 pace.  During that run my heel, which had been barking at me for several weeks, decided it had had enough.  While I wasn’t sure if it was plantar fasciitis, I was definitely dealing with a bruised heel.  I took the next four days off from running, focusing instead on cross-training.  And despite admonitions from the owner of my gym, I raced a half marathon that weekend.  While I missed my overall half PR by less than 40 seconds, again I was pleased with my effort.  (The course somewhat mimics Boston in that you get a couple of killer hills at the very end).

Again I had to take several days off to nurse my heel, but I got new shoes for work and replaced the shoe inserts with green Superfeet.  I also put the Superfeet into my running shoes, which helped tremendously.  I was able to get in a few more runs before Yakima, but I took it easy and ran by feel.  I then ran/walked Yakima, finishing in just over 4:36.  (That course also mimicked Boston with a 1.2-mile hill starting at Mile 22 that climbed almost 300 feet).

I came up with several goals for Boston, ranging from the “you’re freakin’ crazy” goal of another BQ or PR, to the more realistic 4:10-4:15 range, to the “You went out too fast, didn’t ya?” goal of 4:25-4:35.  I was hoping to make this my third fastest race, which would mean finishing in under 4:15:19.  Ever so optimistic, I printed out pace bands for a 4:05 and 4:10 marathon using a spreadsheet someone developed on the Runner’s World forum.

Boston — Pre-race
Although Boston would be my 15th marathon, my anxiety over the race was intense.  It had less to do with going the distance — I knew I’d make it — but the logistics of getting there seemed daunting.  I anguished over what to pack/bring with me to Athlete’s Village.  I had no idea how easy it would be to get around Boston (my husband and I stayed at a B&B in Brookline).  I was also bummed my husband would not be joining me at the Village since he missed his BQ by a mere 18 seconds.  (He kept threatening to bandit the race, but I somehow convinced him that wouldn’t be prudent.  After all, I didn’t want my newfound friends in the RWOL Boston Forum to shun us.  As it turned out, he ran his own version of Boston).

In front of our B&B:

We spent Saturday doing the exact opposite of what’s recommended — walking all over town and the expo, eating and drinking far too much.  I had to pick up a bib for a friend-of-a-friend, and at first it seemed a good idea to walk to his hotel to drop it off.  But after walking almost two miles, I realized it wasn’t such a good plan.  That evening we met up for pre-dinner drinks with Mary Jane and Richard from our Marathon du Medoc tour, then with folks from the Runner’s World forum at Beerworks, where — after consuming two, maybe three blueberry beers — I managed to lose my winter running coat.  D’oh!  (Thank goodness it’s spring and I won’t need it for several months).

The next day was much more reasonable.  My husband ran the BAA 5K as a consolation prize, and I was there at the finish line to cheer him in (the winner came through in 14:28; Joan Benoit Samuelson was the third woman overall with a time of 17:43).  I crashed after the race for a couple of hours, had lunch, got a massage, crashed again and then met up with some Taper Madness forum friends for a pasta dinner in town (we decided to forego the BAA pasta feed).  As we were getting off the T at Copley I heard someone call out “Hey Maniac!” (I was wearing my Maniac jacket) and realized it was Frayed Laces!  We hugged and I asked her how her back was doing; while it was still sore she was going to run the race, albeit extremely slowly.  Just as we were saying our goodbyes I heard my name called again; this time it was Roger from the Disney Running forum (I’m SUCH the social butterfly!).

My darling before the race:

Joan Benoit Samuelson crossing the finish line:

We got back to our B&B about 9 p.m.  I had already set out all my running gear, so I immediately hit the hay.  Despite the anxiety I had been feeling all week, I slept rather well.  But I knew the alarm would be going off super early, as I decided to tag along with the other couple staying at our B&B.  Paula Sue is a fellow Taper Madness forumite, and she and her husband were meeting up with their running club.  One of the club members was a volunteer for loading the buses to Hopkinton and was saving a spot for us.  Sweet!  I figured I wouldn’t be as nervous if I were to hang around veterans.