Boston Marathon
This was my first year running the Boston Marathon. I had heard so many amazing things about it that I knew as a runner I had to run it. I qualified for it at the Surf City Huntington Beach marathon last February with a time of 3:17. When the time came to sign-up, my friends and I jumped at the chance. We
booked our hotel and plane tickets, knowing nothing else about the race. I think the only thing we knew was you needed to qualify for it.
Preparing
Training for the race was not as strong as I wanted it to be. I took running off for a bit because of my Ultra I did at the end of January. My knee was hurting pretty bad at my Ultra so I cycled for a bit. When I did run though, I usually would run a long 15-20 miles only during the week in the hills behind my house.
The City
This was my first time ever being in Boston. We had to learn how to use the T, find our way around using maps, and take the shuttle around. We tried to get the transportation down as best as possible since our hotel was pretty far away from the start line. We did the walking tour, which was about 5 miles. Walking from historic site to historic site. Yes, probably wasn't the best idea since we should of been resting. On Sunday we also took one of those Duck tours around the city. It's a car that can go on land and on boat.
The Expo
The Expo was by far the best Expo I had ever been to. They had every running company you could think of there. From Brooks, to Fitletic, to Powerbar. You could spend all day in there. It was a runners play ground. Good thing I didn't have extra money to spend, or else I would of come home with another suitcase.
Night Before
The night before the race, we went out to dinner to an Italian restaurant, where I ordered my usual pizza and salad and hydrated. We went back to the hotel where we put all of our stuff out for the race that we needed. We had been talking to different runners throughout the weekend who would tell us about the course. We didn't know much about it. We were told it was a bunch of rolling hills. Rolling hills was exactly what I wanted because that was what I had been training on. In training you need to train for the downhill. As silly as it seems, downhill can make you very sore if you don't train for it. I wasn't nervous. I was excited. Excited to go for a long run.
Morning of the Race
We woke up at 4:20am to catch the 5am shuttle. We took the shuttle to the T (train) then the T to where the buses are that would take us to the start. We arrived to the buses at about 5:45am. We hung out for a while at the tents. People watching. Thinking how studly the other runners looked.
The Race
Standing at the start was crazy. There were so many people! I was in coral 3 wave 1. When the race started, it was so hard to go around people. I was able to make it to the outside, where there seemed to be less people. Weaving in and out of people. Yelling at myself in my head to go fast on the down hill and trying to stay on the side as much as possible. I was averaging a 7 min mile pace. The hills and weaving around people slowed me down. Which is why the whole race I was talking to myself trying to motivate myself every chance I could. I was hurting. I didn't train to run this fast. I had just come off an ultra... What was I doing? Something that is so fascinating about the human body is not matter how much it hurts, your brain can keep it moving. It helps tell you that you are GOING to PUSH through the pain. Every time I went through a time spot I knew my family would be receiving my time. This also helped me push through it because I knew they would be a little nervous about how fast I was going. They were probably thinking my legs were going to pop. The last 10 miles were super hard because I had to use the restroom very bad! I didn't want to stop because I had a good pace going. I was nervous if I stopped I wouldn't be able to make up the time. At mile 24 I honestly thought I was going to go in my shorts. I was praying the whole way that I don't embarrass myself on front of thousands of people. I finally made it to the finish line! With a time of 3 hours and 9 minutes. My Personal Record.
The spectators were incredible! They made each of us runners feel like we were in first place! The whole race felt like the end of the finish line! There were so many people the whole way! With signs of support, cheering for us on the whole way. All I kept thinking about was what happened last year. About how no matter what happens runners and everyone from all around was not going to let anyone stop them from doing what they loved. It was such an amazing experience.
Recovery
My recovery was pretty good. I was a little sore the next couple of days. I hurt my hamstring a little, which was find because I was still able to ride.
