Boston Marathon 2014

I am procrastinating studying, and so am finally attempting to write a quick recap of Boston. For most it is a little too late, but for me it is good to get it down while I still have memories about it.

My training was going well up until the end of March. One day I was running on the trails, doing a 20 mile run, and my Achilles tendon on the left side started to ache. I figured it would go away, but as I kept running, it kept getting worse. Of course, I was about 10 miles into my run and practically as far from my house (and/or a road) as I could have been. So I walked the last 10 miles home. For the next three weeks up until Boston, I ran about 20 miles total. Let me tell you, this is not a lead up to a big race. I could not decide whether it would be better to rest and hope that it was better by the time I had to race, or to "work through the pain". However, I actually listened to my own advice (or the advice that I would have given others) and stayed of it for the most part.

Race day came and luckily it was not too hot. It started off cool, but by race time it was probably about 50, which was perfect. I wore an old button up shirt with a cardigan and tights as my throw away outfit and was laughing at all of the other strange outfits in the athlete's village. For those of you not familiar with the marathon, you first get on the bus around 6 and get bussed to Hopkinton where you wait until it is time for your wave. My wave started at 10:20 so I had plenty of time to stand around in the portapotty line and people watch.

Portapotty people watching

The race started and, as always, the crowd participation was fantastic. I don't even wear headphones, as there really is no need. The sound of other runners' feet, the screams of the crowd, the music and laughter...all of this was my "music" for the day. Of course, with all of the positive vibes and sounds of running feet, I started out too fast. In addition to starting out too fast, I realized that I had not trained for speed very well. In addition to that, around mile 7 or so, my Achilles started to ache slightly.

Beer? Cigarettes? Donuts?

As you may or may not know, Boston is a mostly downhill course. For the first 10 miles, it is a slight downhill, so it's easy to prance along, feeling good. However, around 10 it starts to level out and then your legs (mostly hip flexors and quads) start to scream at you for starting out too fast. That is what happened to me. Miles 1 - 6 were all around 7:50 min/mile. Things were looking up! The Achilles was not bothering me; it was a beautiful day!

Miles 7 - 10 were around 8:00/mile. Things were starting to ache; the fact that I had not trained was starting to show; I was starting to get tired and I still had 16 miles left.

Miles 11 - 18 were around 8:30/mile. Things were falling apart. I wanted to stop. My quads were burning and my Achilles was aching and I wanted my Mommy.

Miles 19 - 26 were torture. I went from 9:10 to 9:15 to 9:30...and completed my last couple of miles at around a 9:40. It was not fun. I was so happy to round the corner on Boylston and see the finish line in the distance. The silver lining is that I carried my camera and I got some pretty good photos of myself crossing the finish line, even though I heard someone shout at me as I was finishing, "put the camera down and finish!"

I'm trying to finish Mr.!

I crossed the line at 3:47:40, or an 8:42 pace. This is 24 minutes slower than my time last year, almost a minute slower per mile. It was not a great feeling.

The silver lining? I ran into a friend of mine from Oakland in the finish shoot. Also, afterward I met up with my parents in the Boston Common and we went and had a celebratory Sam Adams 26.2 (or two), which was priceless.

The verdict? I think I am done with Boston. There are other fish to fry. However, I was glad to come back and show those bullies that we are not afraid of them. We will keep doing what we love and not let fear hold us back. Take that, bullies!

Have you ever run a race or done something just on principle? What would be your advice if someone who was injured wanted to keep running through the pain?

Boston Strong SF

When I saw this post over at Pavement Runner's site, I knew that I would have to join in.

Little did I know, I would not be the only one. According to the press release, there were over 80 cities worldwide and over 2,500 participants. I know that about 250 people RSVPed for the San Francisco one, and although I don't think they all made it, there were at least 100 people.

We ran from Crissy Field down to Fort Point (the foot of the Golden Gate bridge) and back and we took it nice and slow and people talked and ran and had a great time. It was such a show of solidarity and support of other runners, the victims and their loved ones, the running community and the community in general! It felt great to be a part of it. There are so many feelings swirling around regarding the race and the events surrounding it, that it is nice to feel like you are part of a group of people that have your back, and that you ARE strong.

I wore my Boston shirt and was one of 4 people at the event who had been at Boston this year. There were also people in Celtics, Patriots, Bruins and Red Sox gear, people wearing yellow in general and people wearing any other race or Boston tops and hats. It was awesome. In fact, the news was there and they interviewed me, so I have last night's 11 o'clock news on tivo (since I will not be up!) and will watch it tonight to see if it aired (ABC and NBC were there!) Here is a little clip they put on the internet.

Did you run Boston Strong in your city?  Do you like to surround yourself with people when times are tough, or do you like to be alone?

Boston Marathon

I woke up at 5 am and headed over to the Commons to catch the bus to Hopkinton. The bus ride was pretty quiet; you could feel the nervous tension. I was wearing two old sweaters and an old pair of breakaway pants. People were wearing robes, blankets, pajamas, and I even saw a hospital gown. There were some really creative pre-race outfits!

I had to have a Dunkin Donuts coffee, because, as you know, Kyria America runs on Dunkin.

I was not too nervous, except for two things: (1) I would freeze my butt off before the race. This problem was solved by wearing layers of throw away clothes. (2) I would have to pee during the race. The Dunkin did not help, but there were about 430,123 portapotties, so I got right in line, even though I didn't have to go yet.

I was in Wave 2, which started at 10:20. We started right on time and right away, there were so many spectators! This was different than I was used to. The only other highly spectated race I've run in the Nike Women's Marathon, and even it had some bare patches.

The course immediately went downhill. In the first 5 miles, we lost about 300 feet. I could feel myself starting off too fast, but the crowd was all around me and I was trying to pass people and the enthusiasm was hard to ignore. Mile 1 - 4: 7:29, 7:32, 7:33, 7:39

 I kept telling myself to slow down or I would regret it later. However, I felt fine, so I kept up the pace. At mile 7, which is Framingham, I saw Nancy's smiling face and it was just what I needed to give me a little pep in my step! Around mile 5, I swear I had a rock in my shoe but I didn't want to stop to take it out. I remember wondering how it got there, since I have been on pavement the whole time.  Mile 5 - 8: 7:38, 7:32, 7:36, 7:35

I take a few energy chews and think about my next "check point" which is my family, who will be in Wellesley at mile 13. Before I reach them I reach the Screech tunnel, which is a bunch of the Wellesley girls, yelling and yelling and all holding signs instructing the runners to "kiss me, I'm ____". I loved it! It gave me a lot of laughs! Mile 9 - 12: 7:40, 7:31, 7:40, 7:27

I pass by my family, who are good sports for coming all the way to Boston and then out to Wellesley to see me for 2.54 seconds. My mom is wearing a pink shirt to match me and on it are the words "Run Strong". As soon as I pass them, I start to feel some fatigue in my quads. I take a couple more energy chews, thinking this will make it go away. It doesn't. Mile 13 - 16: 7:32, 7:33, 7:50, 7:46

Around mile 16, the hills start. I have to be honest, the uphill felt great! The downhills were killing me. As I neared the top of one of the hills, I heard a guy say, "it's all downhill from here" and I was thinkin, "crap!" My quads were screaming. I was trying not to slow down but the downhills were really hurting. I keep thinking that as long as I try to keep it under an 8 minute mile, I can still acheive my goal of 3 hours and 30 minutes. It was difficult for a time though! Mile 17 - 20: 8:06, 8:04, 7:54, 8:12.

I don't know if I really hit a wall per se, but my quads were quivering and I really wanted to get to the finish line. I was limping along like Charlie Chaplin at this point. The only thing that kept me going is when I passed Dean Karnazes at mile 22. I was thinking in my mind, even though I am supposed to only be competing against my own time, "I must beat Dean, I must beat Dean!" I had to get him back for beating me by 49 seconds at the Skyline 50k! Mile 21 - 24: 8:12, 7:55, 7:54, 7:59

I saw my friend Pen at the 25 mile mark and man was I glad to see a familiar face. However, the other spectators were also awesome to have around me. There were all cheering for every runner, they were chanting my name (it was on my shirt) and there was such a great feeling of festivity in the air! It was so cool. And when I rounded the corner onto Boylston, I sprinted it out with all the gas fumes I had left in the tank. Jill was at mile 26, but I was so focused on finishing that I missed her, which is a bummer! Mile 25 - 26.2: 7:44, 8:22

When I crossed the finish line, the clock said 3:26:xx. I remember thinking, "I did it. I made my 3:30 goal, and I BQed at Boston!" I was so glad to be done. I hobbled across the finish and drank three bottles of water and inhaled a banana and then went to find my family.

Final Chip Time: 3:24:06 (7:47/mile)
Overall: 6,864 / 23,336

My immediate thought after I crossed the finish was that I had done it once I never needed to do it again. However, a week later, and in light of what happened, you may be seeing me again, Boston. I might be back before you know it.

Do you ever secretly compete with other runners or a runner in general? Do you check a bag or wear throw away clothes? Do you ever have spectators when you run or have you spectated for a friend's race?

No Words, Just Pain

I don't really have any words.

This week has been one of many emotions and I am not really sure that I am done sorting them all out. As you know, I went to Boston to run the marathon last weekend. My whole family was there. My friends were there. Their families were there.

I crossed the finish line at 1:46 pm. My phone had died about halfway through the race, so I slowly made my way to the family meeting area, which is about a block away from the finish line. I waited there for about a half an hour until they came, when we then went a few blocks away to find some food. We were just sitting down when the waiter turned on the TV and told us that there had just been an explosion at the finish line of the marathon.

As we sat there, aghast at what we were seeing, several ambulances, fire trucks and police went by on the street outside our restaurant. As we watched them go by, one after the other, we could only imagine how bad it was, as we also hoped it wasn't as bad as it seemed.

The first thing I thought of were my friends, some of who were behind me in the race, several others who were spectating and finally, members of their families that we knew would be reaching the finish right around this time. I charged up my phone and when it finally came to life, I was trying so hard to find out if my friends had made it out of the area safely, that I almost didn't notice all the messages from everyone trying to find out about me.

It was bittersweet. The first messages shouted congratulations; the later ones voiced concern.

My running friends made it over the finish line and out of the area in time. My spectating friends are okay, although one of them was right at mile 26 and not only saw the blast but had a very stressful time trying to find her brother, who hadn't finished the race yet (he made it to mile 25). A few people I know did not get a chance to finish the race.

My heart goes out to those who were in the area, who were wounded, who were witness to or who had to experience such a horror. I get emotional when I see the bravery of the folks who rushed to their aid. I feel sorrow and pain for those who did not get to finish the race when they worked so hard for this day. My emotions are still near the surface and I am not really sure I can articulate clearly how I feel about the experience as a whole.

Thanks to everyone out there who sent texts, Facebook posts and emails and made phone calls to find out if I was okay. I am so touched by all the concern that was shown to me.

Where were you when you heard about the incident? Have you ever been really close to an highly emotional event?

Moving Right Along

Today I take my brother and the lady to the airport and this marks the beginning of everything. I haven't really talked a lot about the Boston weekend, but it really is going to be quite an adventure. My brother and the lady will be arriving in Boston early for some sightseeing and shenanigans before the parentals join up. I will head that way in a few days, along with my Bay Area running buddies, one of whom is from New Hampshire and the other who has never been to Boston before.

We have matching shirts. Yup. They are my favorite color (sarcasm heavy here): PINK. It just happened to work out that I had a free pink tank that didn't have writing on it and my friend TJ bought a pink one as well (totally unrelated), so now we are going to be the three Pink Musketeers.

Saturday my family will celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday with the whole family, who are coming from all over New England and other nearby areas.

Sunday will be the expo and a lot of food and more friends and then...I will probably start worrying about the weather and what time I should eat and whether or not I am going to have enough clothes or too many clothes or...

...and then before we know it, it will be 6 a.m. and I will be getting on the bus for Hopkinton, where I will then wait around for four hours, worrying about the weather and if I should eat and whether or not I should pee one last time and if I am not wearing enough clothes or if I am wearing too many...

...and then we will be off!

The stats:

- I am in Wave 2, Corral 4, which starts at 10:20 a.m.
- My bib number is 12333.
- If you want to track my progress, text runner to 345678 and then enter in my bib number when it prompts you to reply. 
- If you are watching it live or on TV, look for me. I will be wearing this:

If you see someone who is wearing the same shirt, but is not me, cheer for them; it is probably one of my running buds! 

**If you are going to be in Boston, let me know where to look for you! It's always nice to see a friendly face in the crowd! **

What are you doing the weekend? Do you like pink? Do you get nervous right before a big event?

Panic Station

Today I had one of those "oh s**t" moments, where I thought that the Boston Marathon was next weekend and I was worried that I hadn't even picked out my throwaway sweatshirt yet. I also haven't ordered another pouch for my running belt (my current one is falling apart). I thought, "darn it, now I am going to have to pay for two day shipping on Amazon".

Then I realized, not only is the marathon not next weekend, it's not even the weekend after that OR the one after that. It's three weeks and three days away. Cue the panic.

I like to plan ahead. I lay out all my clothes and things a week beforehand and check them off my list (literally). Then I check to make sure I did not miss anything on the list. Then I check my bag again. I have found that this saves me running around at the last minute wondering what I have forgotten. It also saves me forgetting things like my toothbrush or my contacts. I hate feeling unprepared. I hate it. I feel a lot better when I have a nice tidy list and everything is all checked off.

However, I have this feeling that I am forgetting something, that I will forget something, or that I haven't trained enough (cue the laughter from all my non running work friends who think I am crazy when I run 6 miles even!). I know, its the taper madness, but really? I am not even done with my high mileage week yet! However, this week does mark the end of the high mileage. This week is my highest yet, and then comes the dreaded taper.

What will I do with myself when I am not running for several dozen  hours a week? Maybe I will take up the harp, or actually read a book this month. Probably I will spend more time at the gym, and by the time taper is over, my arms will look like this. You know, since I am supposed to be resting my legs.

source

**title inspired by this song

Is anyone you know running the Boston Marathon? Are you running the Boston Marathon? 

When you are leaving for a trip, do you pack beforehand? Have you ever felt like you are unprepared for something even when you were actually ready?

Step Back!

Today marks the start of the 15th week of Boston training. For those of you who have followed an 18 week training schedule, you know what that means. It means that this week is the highest mileage week in the training schedule. On the schedule this week is my last 20 miler, and a total of 58 miles for the week. I have to say, I will be glad when it is over. Not that I love the taper weeks, but it will be nice to be able to go for a bike ride, or a hike or a kickboxing class, and not have to worry about it cutting into precious running time.

Speaking of a bike ride, last week was a step back week, which means that my long run was only 12 miles and the total mileage for the week was a lot lower than this upcoming week. This did give me a little bit more freedom and I ran with it (ha! no pun intended).

On Sunday, I ran a 5k for Jill's Virtual St Patrick's Day run. It was a great day for it and I gave it my all, finishing in 21:46.

Then I bought a few more accessories for the bike (U-lock and cushy seat cover), I took it out for it's first REAL ride. I have been using it to run errands, like going to the grocery store or library, which are only about a mile from my house. There is one big hill between my house and the grocery store though and I can ride all the way up it one way but coming back it is steeper on that side and I have had to walk it up.

So I was pretty nervous about attempting a longer bike ride. There were a few things I worried about.

(1) That I would get hit by a car. Other people on the road don't always pay attention! I know this, because as a runner, I have come VERY close to being hit a few times. I always feel a bit smaller when a bus comes within a few inches of me. I feel very small in fact.

(2) That I would have to walk up all the hills. Ah, failure, how we fear thee.

(3) That my butt would be on fire by mile 4. Hence the new cushy seat cover.

The Beast, with a new hat for the seat and a fancy St. Patty's day U-lock.

As a runner, we have the same issues. Chafe, pains, fear of failure, and feelings of fragility. So I am used to them. So I said to myself that it is no different than what I am used to, and I got to it. My running friend broke her toe and she asked me if I wanted to ride to a pub that was about 16 miles from my house. Why not? You only live once. YOLO!

It went well. In fact, it went better than I thought it would. I did NOT get run over. We started in Oakland, going through the town for about 7 miles before we got to the SF Bay Trail, where we stayed until we reached Richmond. We stopped for a St. Patrick's day beer at a local pub and then we headed back. We tackled one big hill on the way back and I didn't get off the bike once. The cushioned butt pad was fabulous!

Point Richmond

When I got back to Oakland, I had a humongous burrito and then headed for my final two miles to get home. Unfortunately, the last mile has another fairly steep hill (0 ft - 200 ft in about a half a mile) and I just couldn't do it. These legs were toast and they had really started to realize it when I sat down to eat the burrito.  But I made it. So that's one ride over.

See that hill at the very end? It was brutal!

Total miles: 41.4
Average speed: 11.3 mph

I am pretty excited, because I have always thought I would like to try a triathlon, but it's the biking that was my biggest fear. Now I just need to get over this week's "hill" in my Boston Training (and the Marathon itself) and then I can work on getting better at my biking skills! 

What did you do for St. Patrick's Day? Have you ever done a long bike ride? How do you combat butt soreness?

Bean Town, Here I Come

 After running Santa Rosa on August 26th, I went straight to the BAA website and did this:

Then I waited impatiently for September 14th to come.... On the 14th I went to work early so I could make sure to be ready for the 7 am opening time (that's 10 am ET). I was afraid it would fill up before I could register. I was afraid I would miss the time and it would be too late. I rushed to work and got there at 6:59 and it wouldn't let me register. Then it was 7 straight up and still...no reregistration! Finally, it worked....but... it was not a confirmation of acceptance, only a confirmation of attempt.

But no. Several hours later, I got this:

So, unless I lied about my qualifying time, which I didn't, then I am in! Hurray! Who else is going!? Let's have lunch!

This is exciting for me, because, as you probably know, my family hails from Massachusetts, and so it will be a weekend of fun and family and running and fun! Also, I have been to Boston several times, but never in this capacity, so it will be a fun change for me in that aspect!

Have you ever had to wait for something you really wanted? Who else is running Boston 2013? Have you ever been to Boston?