Boston 2014 Recap

When Boston registration opened last year I had decided I wasn’t going- then a couple days after registration opened, I gave in to the pressure of everyone else registering.  I felt like I’d be missing out on something incredibly special in the running community if I didn’t go. I decided if I would run, I’d just go by myself and find some roommates. (Only one plane ticket & splitting a room 4 ways would make a lot more sense than both Glenn & I going cost wise and then we also wouldn’t have to find someone to watch Marshall for 3 days)

So, I simply tweeted that I was looking for some girls running or spectating who would be interested in rooming with me, secretly hoping no one crazy or annoying responded. The names changes multiple times, but I ended up in a room with Katie, Ruthie & Sarah. All amazing women and I’m so glad I had to opportunity to get to know them and spend the weekend together. It’s crazy how you meet some people for the first time and you can “pick up” like you’ve known each other for a long time. This group definitely worked.

With the roomies:

Katie & I at the Oiselle Team Dinner. I’ve got a lazy eye going on or something. Thank you so much to Rebecca for opening up your beautiful home to us! 

Was also so much fun meeting a lot of Oiselle teammates 

About the actual Race:

I had  Blast on the bus and hanging with some awesome ladies before the run. This was such a different experience than the first time I came. I don’t recommend running Boston as your second marathon, I really don’t. It was intimidating and I was all alone, didn’t know anyone. For some reason in a sea of thousands of people where you don’t know anyone, you feel more lonely than if you were with only 5 people knowing no one. This year, I felt like I knew everyone and it was one big runner party- so much fun.

With the girls heading out to Hopkinton on the buses. Yes we sat in the back of the bus and were super chatty the whole time. Yes we were probably annoying to those around us. No we didn’t care.

I knew going into this race, my range for my finish time would be between 3:25-3:40. Thought if I felt amazing & super rested I could pull 3:20 out, but not likely- around 3:30 was what was most realistic. I started the race with Ashley and we planned to hang together through most of it. (She got bored with my crawling at mile 18 though and decided to move along a bit) It ended up being a pretty hot day- I think the temps were nearing 70 when I finished and it was super sunny. I felt the effects of the heat early on. I only skipped one water stop and started dumping water on my head at every stop pretty early on.

We ran the first 10K too hard- both full knowing that we were but the down hills were a lot of fun and running a bit faster was enjoyable. I knew for sure we wouldn’t hold that pace, (7:20-7:30) but we were cruising, super chatty and having fun. I bet I high fived 100 people in the beginning. Eventually I put a stop to the high fives because they were starting to wind me. They push you back.  I tried to make sure to give one for kids who looked under 5ish either way, how can you say no to that. The first 6-7 miles ticked off quick. At mile 8 we decided to pull back a bit.

My left foot where I have some painful plantar fasciitis was giving me trouble early on and I was kind of worried I would end up hobbling to the finish, thankfully it let up a bit once we hit 14 or 15. My legs were feeling the hills around mile 11 and they just burned up through the rest of the race. I had anticipated this and it was completely expected.

At mile 13, we passed the girls at Wellsely and I gave two kisses and the second I literally knocked the girl off the metal railing they were all hanging over. Oops. Guess I got a little aggressive. If I wasn’t racing, I was gonna get some kisses. I don’t remember Wellsely being nearly as loud or fun when I ran in 2009, but it was by far one of the highlights of the course this year.

Ashley and I even took a selfie during Wellsely– YES Ashley posted on Facebook during the marathon. Multitasking at it’s finest. (No, I don’t normally carry a phone when I race, but I brought it along for fun, plus in case I couldn’t get to my checked bag at the finish, I wanted to have it one me.

I had some serious moments of doubt once we were through that section. For some reason, I’m finding out that mile 14 is usually a tough one mentally for me. I told Ashley I felt like crying and she told me then I should cry. I chose not to but was having a hard time wrapping my mind around 12 more miles. The legs clearly weren’t ready for running 7:30s for the first half of the race. You know what you do when that happens? You collect yourself, slow down a bit and just keep running. Remind yourself that you are grateful to be there and you get to do what you’re doing right now.

The rest of the race was pretty much just run, it will hurt and you’ll be fine- once again I found myself smiling big on the uphills even though I was running at a very slow pace and my legs felt like 100 lbs. At one point I realized I had smiled so much my cheeks hurt. Smiling through pain makes it so much better. Every mile, I just focused on getting to the next because the thought of 3, 4, 7, 8 more miles seemed awfully far and the single miles were ticking by pretty quick. A mile really isn’t that long. Really, it’s not so if you think of it like that, it helps… most of the time.

While the downhills wear on you know matter what- I could tell I’m a much stronger runner than I was in 2009 (I better be!) based on the fact that it wasn’t incredibly painful to run down the hills. While it was more effort than what a downhill usually fills like and my legs were heavy, my quads weren’t screaming like they were the first time I ran this race. It’s pretty amazing what experience will do for you.

 I saw Michele and Leticia at mile 25 – this is how excited I was (Below pic) I thought I might see then sooner than that and wasn’t sure if I’d missed them. Was so glad they spotted me. Didn’t care one bit about losing time, made sure to run over and give them big hugs!

I have to say, it got to a point, I think around mile 23 when I was feeling pretty tanked that the screams were making my ears ring. There was insane energy and screaming through the whole race. Taking the turn down Boylston street was amazing. As I ran down the street on the last straight away, I was eyeing where to bombings happened last year, thinking it wouldn’t have happened yet at this time and all the chaos and sadness that took over the city just a little bit later in the day. I am grateful that I got to be a part of this day and honored to run the streets with people who have big dreams and care so deeply about what this race really meant this year.

Below is a picture of Ashley, Mary, Me & Laura. Ashley, Laura and I were all running for fun & Mary was racing. She killed her current PR running a 3:08! I’m excited to be back in the game and aiming for times like that sometime soon! I really am SO happy for her. She honestly killed it- she started a few corral back from us, but didn’t pass us until mile 14 and clearly KILLED the second half of the race. Well deserved and well ran my friend. So happy to meet you in real life. Interested to see what your splits were!

I ended up running a 3:32:48. I’m completely content with that. My mom reminded me that it’s literally only been three months since my surgery. While it seems like I could have plenty of time between surgeries to build and then pick back up after- especially since the reconstruction wasn’t a huge procedure, it’s still a hard thing to do. You have to factor in so much to prevent injury and keep your body healthy (especially the older you get… not that 30 is very old… but it’s not 20!)

Oh and I literally jumped into the starting corrals with Todd Oliver, Carmel Marathon Race Director and then crossed the finish line at the same time as Michelle- one of our Carmel Marathon Pacers and Dan Ball, one of my Indy friends from Back on My Feet.  (Dan ran a stellar race- he also wasn’t going for a PR, but ran amazing negative splits!)

A great weekend. I’m so glad I decided to go. I think it’s so important to go do stuff like this, I want Marshall to grow up seeing me do things I love and being adventurous- sometimes together as a family and sometimes on my own. And to me finding three random girls on twitter who I’d never actually met and heading out to Boston by myself was kind of adventurous haha. Maybe I’ll get a little more dangerous next time.

Thanks for tracking and all the love on Monday- was so much fun knowing friends where cheering for me and all the other runners out there! 

Did you run Boston? How did it go? What was your favorite part?

Did you live stream the race? 

GO MEB!