Notes
Well - just wasn't my day real early on... tight hammys (for the past week), fighting a cold and really bad GI issues caused me to shut this one down early and try to just enjoy the ride.
Learned something the hard way about myself today... I had to fight hard to just finish this race, but despite the adversity, I was really able to soak in the experience and celebrate the LONG ride to get here. How fortunate was I just to be here. Not exactly how I envisioned it, but that's what it was today - so I embraced it and went with it (and am happy about it).
Some observations:
GOOD:
- Came out of this experience really appreciating the WCRC - Vicki and Laurie were angels and how lucky was I to share this experience with the CN crew - had fun with Eric, Gwen, Mike, Andy, Dave, Michelle, Mark on the bus and throughout the day.
- Wow - never experienced a finish quite like this one - saw Brenda, Mark, Corinne and Emma as I turned onto Hereford and it just got better from there. Major emotions here. Was really able to celebrate the journey - WOW.
- Crowds were literally deafening at times. Places that struck me were: Natick, Newton Fire Station, BC, and Boylston.
- Holding my grand daughter in the hotel and watching her stare back at me while sucking on my finishers medal - priceless and worth all the adversity I fought through just to finish.
- Getting flashed by a Wellesley girl - guess there are benefits to running slow and taking it all in - might have missed that. Even thought about flashing her back (not).
BAD:
- Logistics really got to me at this race - from the late start, bus ride, eating twice in the AM, going down on saturday - this was not a fun race to coordinate and I think it took its toll.
- My body: I came to the start line done. Hammys were tight the whole taper week, a nice cold that hit saturday and the hard cycle got the best of me here.
UGLY:
- My damn stomach - had GI issues the whole way - stopped three times and just never got normal - major stomach cramps the last three miles - never felt that before - ouch.
- Water stops - man, these were a shit show the WHOLE WAY. I was so sick of it by mile 20 that I let some poor old man have it when he cut me off and I almost cramped to avoid running into him - he probably had not idea what hit him.
- Crowds on the road - this race never thinned out for me. The start (first 6 miles) was brutal.
All this being said - holy shit, I just finished Boston. For once in my life I set a goal and I fought hard to make it happen. From cold dark runs in snow to hot steamy summer slogs, I saw something to the end and never gave up. Holy shit.
This was, by far, the most challenging training cycle so why did I think the race itself would be any different! I'm not proud of my overall time, but I am super proud of how I fought through real difficult obstacles to finish this and enjoy it as well. Never stopped running and finished this thing! Boston Strong!
Official results:
overall:3:51:57 (13301 out of 26411)
5k: 24:23
10k: 48:51
13.1: 1:48:22
Gender: 8711 out of 14438
Div: 1699 out of 4416