Boston Marathon 2012 (Read 2370 times)

TeaOlive


old woman w/hobby

    Good work in the heat every one!

    steph  

     

     

    xhristopher


      Just got into town for work. Folks are still walking around with medals on the day after.


      Queen of 3rd Place

        Worst day running I've ever had, really felt like quitting several times, and ran a good 45 min slower than what I thought was a reasonably easy pace. So many people were walking that I was continuously dodging. Actually cried in the shower afterwards. Where did that come from?

         

        However, I have never seen so much amazing support. Thousands of people screaming, hosing runners off, handing out ice etc. Stopped to snap some photos along the way of the crowd support, it was that good. 

         

        Coming through the hills, there were signs advising people to walk!! I did not walk the hills, dammit! OTOH, during the last five miles I found a new level of slow running. 

         

        Huge congratulations to Ben!

        Ex runner

        Julia1971


          Was SRL wearing pink??

           

          Congrats to you and the others who earned that champagne on a brutal day.  My hat is off to you all, and I look forward to the race reports!

           

          Thanks!  I have another bottle waiting at home.  I bought it at the start of the training cycle and can't wait to open it tonight.

           

          I think I out-pinked SRL.  Smile  My shoes have pink on them and I had pink laces, too. 

          Julia1971


            Great job on a tough day, Julia.  Enjoy your champagne.

             

            Thanks!  I went on a bit of a champagne bender last night.  It was like I was a hip hop star or something.

            xor


              I made a joke about blackberry body glide a few pages back.

               

              I really wish I had used more.

               

              OW.

               

              The sweat and the dumped water got me.  And I was wearing a white singlet, which I never do... luckily I was not "that guy" with the blood stains on the white shirt.  But still, OW.

               

              No hip hop star here, nor feelings thereof.  More 'old man runner'.

               

              LedLincoln


              not bad for mile 25

                I think I out-pinked SRL.  Smile  My shoes have pink on them and I had pink laces, too. 

                 

                Another accomplishment! Smile

                LedLincoln


                not bad for mile 25

                  I found a new level of slow running. 

                   

                  Heh.


                  Feeling the growl again

                     

                    However, I have never seen so much amazing support. Thousands of people screaming, hosing runners off, handing out ice etc. Stopped to snap some photos along the way of the crowd support, it was that good. 

                     

                     

                    IMHO the intimate nature of the race with the crowd is what makes Boston so special.  In most bigger marathons I've run that are more urban (Chicago, Detroit) I here the crowd but am more or less tuned out to the details and involved in my own race.  In Boston I have always felt much more connected with the crowd, even in normal temp years.  I'm not surprised they stepped up again to help the runners.  Last year when I cramped up and was walking I had a couple random people from the crowd offer to pay my train fare if I wanted to jump on and take the T back.

                    "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                     

                    I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills

                     

                      IMHO the intimate nature of the race with the crowd is what makes Boston so special.  In most bigger marathons I've run that are more urban (Chicago, Detroit) I here the crowd but am more or less tuned out to the details and involved in my own race.  In Boston I have always felt much more connected with the crowd, even in normal temp years.  I'm not surprised they stepped up again to help the runners.  Last year when I cramped up and was walking I had a couple random people from the crowd offer to pay my train fare if I wanted to jump on and take the T back.

                       

                      This is what makes Boston different than any other marathon. In comparison Chicago was surprising with the miles with little to no crowds.

                       

                      Big props to all who endured a epic marathon.

                      Get off my porch

                        Everyone has to run boston, it was incredible, not just ANOTHER marathon
                        xor


                          STUFF THAT WAS UNEXPECTED TO THIS NEWBIE

                           

                          1. If you are from the area or have run Boston or did a lot more homework than me, this is a "duh", but for some of the rest of us... Boston isn't a city race (with big looming buildings) until the last few miles.  Most of it is kind of rural, kind of suburby. I did not appreciate how much until I was there.

                           

                          2.  Similarly, I have often heard sections of the course referred to by town name.  I did not realize how ingrained this would actually be in the race experience.  The mile signs had the town on top.  Cool.  And now I know how to pronounce Natick.

                           

                          3. The bus ride seemed a lot longer than I was expecting, and I've ridden lots of pre-race shuttles.

                           

                          4. You have to walk a really long way to the start from the staging area.  When they call your wave, get your ass up and moving.

                           

                          5.  There are a ton of portapotties in the staging area.  And a ton of portapotties at the drop bag buses.  And then, what they don't tell you about, there's a whole village of portapotties in a parking lot out by the corrals.  I waited in line at the bus potties thinking it was my last chance. Apparently all the other newbies had the same notion.  Didn't need to do that.

                           

                          6. I knew the Wellesley gals would be loud.  I didn't know I'd hear them a mile away.  And that was a day with a slight tailwind.  I'm guessing in a headwind year (which means the weather is probably nastier), you can hear them even farther out.

                           

                          6a. I didn't participate in the kissing, but I wasn't expecting the signs.  All the gals had signs.  "Kiss me, I'm (fill-in)".  I took the time to read the signs. Some were funnier than others.  And some worked.  Hey! Texas gal!  Hey!  I'm from Seattle too!  Aloha Hawai'i!  Happy graduation, senior!  etc etc etc.

                           

                          7. I didn't think the famous hills of Newton were all that.  I know, I know, shoot me.  Maybe I'll have to run them when I'm not all a-skeered of the people weaving and staggering. I was expecting Pikes Peak or something with fire at the top (that wasn't the sun itself).  They were just a series of, to this person from the land of hills, gentle hills.

                           

                          stadjak


                          Interval Junkie --Nobby

                            6. I knew the Wellesley gals would be loud.  I didn't know I'd hear them a mile away.  And that was a day with a slight tailwind.  I'm guessing in a headwind year (which means the weather is probably nastier), you can hear them even farther out.

                             

                            Reading stuff like this just warms my heart.  It's so wonderful when people put in an effort like this.  Just makes me love people.

                            2021 Goals: 50mpw 'cause there's nothing else to do

                            xor


                              I do have to say, however, that the bikini quotient was still low.

                               

                              Fooey.

                               

                              8.  Yes, it was crowded at the start.  Yes, people did the whole juke and jive thing for a few miles... but honestly?  I had enough space and didn't feel like I was in a sardine can pretty much immediately.  For a midpacker (and I started in the middle of wave 2... the middle of the middle), that seemed cool.  I contrast this with Houston, which is combat running for a few miles.

                               

                              9. Every year, people in message boards go ape banana wacky shit about bandits and "charity runners" (who aren't all charity runners).  Setting aside the bit about nonqualified runners getting spots and many BQed folks not getting to go, the wailing all seems to be about "they get in the way!" and "bandits take supplies!"  I can't speak to the wave 3 experience, but I can tell you that from the middle of the middle in 2012, it was all BS.  The "charity runners" I ran with were all running my pace (or, cough, pulling away from me).  The people getting in my way were the ones who were loopy from the heat, not the "evil" charity hand-in-hand walkers.  And bandits?  They mostly start in the back I reckon.  I saw a couple.  There might have been a few more... I wasn't checking bibs... but it wasn't a free-for-all and nobody was acting the fool. Except some people with actual bibs.

                               

                              Julia mentioned this somewhere... the heat really really got to people when it came to aid station etiquette though.  The stations were really well done.  Tons of them. With tons of tables.  Always organized the same - gatorade up front, water in the back.  Tables on the right side followed by tables on the left side about a quarter mile down the road.  Folks had a really hard time with this... although later in the day, I think a sense of panic had set in and folks were trying to make sure they got a bunch from the right side and then switched to the left side to get more.  I did that a couple times, but not out of panic.  But heat had fried lots of brains I think.

                               


                              Feeling the growl again

                                STUFF THAT WAS UNEXPECTED TO THIS NEWBIE

                                 

                                 

                                7. I didn't think the famous hills of Newton were all that.  I know, I know, shoot me.  Maybe I'll have to run them when I'm not all a-skeered of the people weaving and staggering. I was expecting Pikes Peak or something with fire at the top (that wasn't the sun itself).  They were just a series of, to this person from the land of hills, gentle hills.

                                 

                                Nice list.

                                 

                                Regarding Newton, I'd totally agree.  Even for this flatlander the hills are not all that large.  It's their placement...especially for the average person who a) got sucked out on the first HM of downhills, and b) wiped their quads doing so....that makes them notorious.

                                "If you want to be a bad a$s, then do what a bad a$s does.  There's your pep talk for today.  Go Run." -- Slo_Hand

                                 

                                I am spaniel - Crusher of Treadmills