April 18, 2011 was shaping up to be an amazing day in Boston. I was going to be running in my second Boston Marathon and had quite a few friends that were in it for their first ever marathon. I was so very excited for my friends David Hauser, Greg Moran & Brad Giles and was so happy to be a part of their dreams coming true.
Sadly, i never got to see my friend Brad who travelled all the way from Perth to be in this race. I did however meet up with David and Greg in the early morning to catch the bus out to Hopkinton from the Boston Common. It was a bright and sunny and very chilly morning on the common, but with good conversation and the anticipation of what the next few hours would bring, time seem to fly by. Our Bus driver was in it to win it it seemed, we passed at least 20 busses on the way out to 495 and that had to put a good feeling in everyone.
Athletes Village was as packed as ever with some 25,000 runners relaxing on their blankets, staying warm with our many layers and getting our last food and drink down before it was time to head to the corrals. Music is blasting, vendors are sharing their goods, free food and drink is available in the tents and the lines to the can were not that bad. All in all it was a good experience.
Giddy up time as we stripped a few layers, packed our warm clothes bag for the busses to take them to boston and headed to the starting line for our 10:40 wave three start. Its just a .7 mile walk down the street from the athletes village and as you come to downtown Hopkinton as far as you can see left and right there are runners in the street getting ready to make it happen. My watch is set, shoes are tied, nutrition is balanced, system is ready and i am in the mood for a great run. Loved being at the start with David, Greg, Judy, Karen and others.
Gun goes off and i say good-bye to the gang, my plan was to run 8:40-9:00 minute miles and with Karen as my pacer we were off. This year in the early 2-3 miles to run that pace required zig-zagging , weaving and a bit shoulder bumping, but we were holding a good pace that felt easy. It was early in these first few miles that i could sense something wrong with my Right big toe. I changed my stride a bit to not push off with the inside of my foot so much and it felt a bit better. Downside was that after a few miles of that i could feel a sharp pain brewing in my hip flexors and i down a few advil to calm that feeling.
The self talk started early and it seemed to just take a lot out of my sails, I was running at a good pace but it just didn't feel right and i was not smiling as much as i usually do. Concentrating on just keeping pace, nutrition, water at stops and salt tabs seemed to occupy most of my time and thoughts and before i knew it we were approaching Wellesley and could hear the screams of the girls wanting a few extra kisses today than they normally get. Today i stayed to the left of the street and just focused on the run as i had a great 1/2 going and wanted to cross 13.1 in the 1:55 area. Right on plan and now the goal was to run a negative split and run the back 1/2 in 1:50 ish.
around mile 16 there is a Starbucks at the base of the hill that nobody ever gives any respect, its a long slow climb toward Newton and here is where the mechanics failed and it was all i could do to slow to a walk to get a better sense of what was going on. IT band was tight, Hips were blasted and toe was just throbbing with every step. Worst off I knew that if i didn't get it back 100% that the 3:45 time was not going to happen. I told myself that getting injured this early in the season was not an option and so it would be OK to walk a bit. withen 2 minutes i was back to running as just over the hill i knew i would see my family and get to kiss my wife, kids, mom and some friends. It was so awesome to see them there having a goodtime. I knew it was going to be a different back half and let them know that i would be a bit late getting it done and off we went.
Karen was sticking with me the whole time and i am so greatful to have had her do this with me again. at the 30k mark i was now running and walking and i was giving up on the possibility of breaking 4:00. Walking was lasting longer and getting the legs to run again after each walk was getting harder and harder for the both of us. I was determined to finish and was going to do it with a smile on my face. heartbreak hill was a long slow walk this year, but i expected to run the flats and downhills. The flats however started to feel like huge up hills in my Hips and the pain was unreal, really WTF was going on?
Between 35k and 40K it was a long slow walk that i saw 4:00 go away, my last years time go away and was now just trying to muster the strength to finish strong and was trting to figure out how far i could run this one last try and when it would be ok to start again. I wanted to run the last mile, but nope wasnt happening. I walked past the crowds in Kenmore and to the underpass of Mass ave and then gave it all i had to run up Hereford and make that finial left on Boylston. 800 yards to go seemed like a million miles away, i ran past my family without seeing them. I was focused on the big blue banner and getting to it with a smile on my face. Finishing this time was just as amazing as the last for sure, the time no longer mattered.
Now i wanted three things, get my potato chips, get my phone to check on friends splits and find my family. Salty chips taste some damn good after that run. My friends were not far behind me and i was going to be able to see them soon. I thought about waiting for them on the course and finishing with them, but with no clue where they were i opted out of that idea. Greg finished shortly after and not to long after that David crossed the line. Brad had a kickass time of 3:50 with a 10 minute medical stop and Tony busted out a 4:01 run running sick as a dog.
I was so happy to see my family, they had had a much better experience this year moving around the course and had even gotten out to Boylston to see me go by. I got to meet up with the proud family of Greg Moran and then David Hauser and his family.
What a great experience once again on so many levels, I am so looking forward to doing this again in 2013.
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