April 21, 2008 Race morning, Patriots Day, Hopkintown, MA. The Boston Marathon.
I qualified for Boston in 2007 at the California International Marathon in Sacramento with a 3:48:27, just barely making the 3:50 cutoff time. I'd trained for months, mixing in speed workouts with endurance runs and weight-training to stave off injuries. It was my one goal to qualify for Boston and when I got it?...the urge to sign up and actually run another marathon 4 months later wasn't quite there.
But six weeks out I finally committed - feeling lost without a race on my calendar - pulling together a quick training plan and getting back into a more focused running groove. I called my bestest, most wonderful sister, Brooke, who said she'd come up from NYC to spend the weekend, bought my plane tickets and counted down the days. It turned out to be one of the greatest marathon experiences in my decade of marathon running. Boston Marathon truly is something special. It doesn't hurt that I had a good day and got to share it all with my sister.
A red-eye Friday night on a plane filled to capacity with a number of people in old Boston Marathon gear brought me to Boston Saturday morning where I made my way to the Expo at Hynes. The frenzy to get the 2008 Boston gear was at full court press. I grabbed at least 7 things that caught my eye before coming to my senses and settling on a few fashionable gems. I hadn't run a step and already I was pimping myself out.
Met up with Brooke on Newberry Street, made our way over to Charlestown (past the Gah-den!), slept great at her friend's apartment, took a quick 3 mile warmup run the next day along the Freedom Trail, read Boston Globe and had coffee/bagels at adorable cafe, went to Beacon Hill district, sat looking out over the Charles River - felt very Good Will Hunting-like when Robin and Matt were talking on the bench (although I think that was a lake, not the river). "It's not your fault. It's not your fault."
There were dozens of runners out and I was surprised at the number wearing their Boston Marathon 08 race shirts. That's generally considered a no-no. You have to EARN the right to wear the shirt, even if they do give it to you when you pick up your registration pack. (Sorry, Helen.)
Over to MIT and Cambridge we went, where I pondered who the wicked smart people were. A deli had a flat screen in the window where a bunch of Bosox fans gathered to watch a close game. Bah-ston! Off to Hopkinton to meet up with the Palihnichs, my generous hosts for the evening, parents of Nellie, one of Brooke's bestest friends, and our neighbors throughout my years in Summit, NJ. Mrs. Palihnich prepared a cornucopia of food as we watched the Rock of Love reality show recap, had a few beers, and went soundly to sleep.
And when I woke up it was Patriots Day, the 112th running of the Boston Marathon.
Some of the more memorable sites and moments along the way:
1. A Red Sox tailgate party (one of many) along the side of the road with a scoreboard set up on top of a truck with updates of the Boston/Texas game. (Boston won)
2. Scores of Wellesley girls holding signs that read "Kiss me I'm a Senior" or "Kiss me I'm legal" and cheering the runners on at the tops of their high-pitched lungs.
3. The groups of people wearing matching gear and running together - the team from Iceland, the South Koreans carrying their country's flag, the staties in fatigue tops and buzzcuts, the ladies from St. George in rhinestone-flecked Under Armour gear.
4. The girl with a "Thank you K. V. Switzer" message on her shirt. (Switzer was the first woman to run Boston in 1967. It was unofficial - the race was men-only and thus she registered as K. V. and not Kathrine. An official tried to remove her from the course but supporters fended him off.)
5. Little kids holding out orange slices and bananas or just their hands to get high-fived.
6. Otter Pops at Mile 10 - like frozen gatorade. Sugary goodness.
7. The girl who came up alongside me and told me my running skirt was really cute!
8. Dropping my camera at Mile 24 and having a really hard time bending over to pick it up.
9. Turning onto Boylston Street to see the finish line in the far distance and feeling like it was the longest distance I'd had to cover in the entire race.
10. Seeing Dick Hoyt and his son Rick at the finish line.
11. The amazing kindness and energy from all the volunteers. It was as if I had superhumanly qualified for the first marathon ever - so great was the enthusiasm and praise and good wishes.
12. Boston accents.
13. The uproars of support for anyone wearing a Celtics, Bruins or Sox jersey.
14. The brick houses in the Beacon Hill district.
15. The flower pots made from running shoes along a windowsill.
16. Legs, legs, legs everywhere! Runners legs!
I finished the race in just under 4 hours (3:56). I felt great most of the way, but I was more than happy to be done. Found Brooke and Nellie an hour or so later and we made our way to The Pour House on Boylston Street, cheering on the 6-hour runners still coming into the home stretch. Folks at the bar were tremendously supportive - lots of love from Boston peeps! When beer finally failed to provide the nourishment my body craved, we jumped in a cab and headed back to super swank boutique hotel Nine Zero that Brooke had booked on the sly as a surprise. Showered, changed and went next door for slighltly more upscale version of the Pour House - it was clam chowda and hamburger with fries time! Mmmmm.
After mandatory sampling of Dunkin Donuts coffee and Finagle a Bagel the next morning, I said goodbye to Brooke and Nellie and made my rounds with the rest of the Boston Marathon-jacket wearing throngs to Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market where I switched gears to spend time with my friend Holly and her new baby. Body was good, mind was good. En route, a Duck Boat tour guide gave me marathon love when he pointed me out to his tour boat (car?) and said "Let's give a big hand to this marathon finisher!" How can you not love Boston?
Then I was back on the plane that night, again, with hordes of Boston runners all in their jackets. I was proud, but weary, and tired of talking about it with other runners. I kept my Boston jacket packed and started to read my magazine when the man sitting next to me asked, "Did you run the marathon yesterday?"
What could I say? We gabbed on and on for the next 4 hours.
Kristin Armstrong (Runners World writer and ex-Mrs. Lance Armstrong) said she views running Boston as the celebration after you've worked so hard to qualify.
And so it is.
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