April 2017 Running Challenge

Elise4270 wrote: »

skippygirlsmom wrote: »

@elise4270 I said I'd never pay that much for ice cream but I do. I get the dixie cups so I don't eat the whole half gallon ha ha


Question - I think in the March thread someone posted a link to half marathons all over, can you repost that? I have some of my friends talked into a vacation destination race.

I did a Google search and found:

http://www.halfmarathons.net/

http://www.runningintheusa.com/Race/List.aspx?Special=halfmarathon

I don't think I saw the original post, but maybe this will "jog" run someone's memory.

That's it, duh why couldn't I find it. I see what you did there, jog run LOL

OMG the local Fleet Feet is hiring, Skip already sent me a text asking if she can apply. Good Lordie we will not have any money if she is in THAT store all the time.

Hi all

Aim: 130k

4/2: 13.1k -casual run-
4/3: 1.5k -cause I am lazy, that's why-
4/4: 4k -as c/d of leg day training-
4/6: 5k -after gym-
4/7: 8.5k -intervals-
4/8: 9.1k -various surfaces-
4/9: 12.5k -trail-
4/11: 4.5k -c/d from strength training-
4/13: 9.7k -intervals-
4/14: 14.8k -various surfaces-
4/19: 2.5 -c/d from strength training-

84.6/130k

After so much food, back to business!

Ok. You guys asked for the race recap, so here it is. You might manage to make it through the whole thing by tomorrow (this is why I rarely do race re-caps). If you don't have an extra hour to kill, the TLDR version is that I went to Boston, I ran the race, it was hard, I finished and am elated. The part that I did not include is that I am still having trouble walking and I'm not sure but I may have done significant damage to my hamstrings. Unlike @MobyCarp, I was unwise and did not hold back when I know I should have. At this point, I am not sure if I will ever run another marathon or not. I guess I need to take some time off to heal. I am thinking that might be at least 6 weeks.

I also have some comments to add on the recent discussion regarding qualifying for Boston. However, after typing the race recap, my wrists hurt in addition to my legs. I'm off to take some Tylenol and I will save it for tomorrow. Enjoy the recap...remember...you asked for it!

2017 Boston Marathon race recap:

We arrived in Boston on Friday morning after a direct flight out from Cincinnati at 7:45. We checked into our hotel and headed down to the fitness expo on foot. It was less than 1 mile walk from our hotel. There were many stops along the way for photos since all things “Boston Marathon” were starting to appear all over town. There was a crew setting up the stands along the finish line and tents in Copely Square. We were particularly impressed with all of the workers out planting blue and yellow pansies in just about every available square inch of dirt.

At the Expo, I picked up my bib (more photos), my race shirt, and lots of other swag available for purchase at the Adidas official merchandise tent, including my celebration jacket. It’s pretty easy to get carried away in there. My husband sampled the Sam Adams 26.2 brew, I bought a “Boston Runnah” t-shirt from the Saucony booth, and we finished our way through the expo. At the end of the expo, there was a huge video of the course preview, with comments from elite runners about different challenges on the course. I got a little choked up while watching it, I have to admit. But the one thing that I took away from that video was that this course is uniquely challenging and managing the race and respecting the course were going to be key if I was going to finish it.

After the expo, we had some lunch and did some more exploring of the city and all that was going on. At the end of the day, I was pretty tired and my hamstrings were feeling all of the walking we did. My husband was running the 5K in the morning, so we headed back to our hotel, had a quick bite to eat at the bar and called it an early night. I slept like crap. The nerves were already beginning to kick in.

On Saturday, I got up around 6:30 and fiddled around killing time until we were ready to head down to Boston Common for the 5K. It was only a short walk from our hotel, which turned out to be in an ideal location and I will for sure stay there again if I ever return. With 10,000 entrants in the 5K, it was quite a scene at the start. My husband made his way back to the 10 minute pace group. It took about 12 minutes after the gun for him to cross the start line. The race was exciting to watch because it was the first time I had spectated an elite level 5K.
Participants were still making their way across the starting line when the first finishers showed up. Ben True set an American record of 13:20 (mind blowing!) My husband thought it was so cool that he participated in a race in which a record was set. He wants to go back next year to do it again.

We capped Saturday off by doing more walking around town, watching the 1 mile invitational from the bleachers at the finish line and taking the subway out to the North End, where we had reservations at an Italian place with gluten-free pizza and pasta. I had the gnocci which was delicious.

On Sunday I got up and did a short shake out run along Commonwealth Avenue and the Charles River. There were so many people out running it was crazy. My legs were tired and my easy pace came in around a 9:15 minute mile. This was not good news, so I knew that I was going to have to take it easy the rest of the day. We decided to take a break from the excitement of the marathon, and took the subway out to Cambridge for brunch. We hung around Harvard Yard, sitting in the shade and people watching. We returned back to our hotel around 4PM, where I settled into the bed for the rest of the night. We watched the Pens game and my husband walked around the corner to get us food from a restaurant that served breakfast all day and had gluten free pancakes. I was super excited for this, as this is always my pre-race meal of choice at home, and I always save an extra for race morning.

I was up several times during the night, but all in all, I was able to get a decent amount of sleep. My stomach was giving me problems, which had me concerned, but in the morning it turned out not to be an issue. I had everything ready to go for the race and got out the door with plenty of time to make it down to the bus loading area. I had arrangements to meet up with my mother’s best friend’s granddaughter, who was also running the race, but we had gotten some signals crossed and that ended up just being a cluster of extra stress. When I didn’t find her by 8:15, I just headed on over to catch the bus on my own.

The ride out to Hopkinton was kind of surreal. It was amazing to me how efficiently they were able to load and transport nearly 30,000 runners to the starting line on school buses. I sat next to a lady on the bus who was running her third Boston marathon. She was nervous because she had injured her tailbone skiing a month ago and was unsure how she would be able to hold up. I told her we were in a similar boat. The bus ride went by quickly, but it also seemed like we were driving forever. It was hard to believe that we were going to run that whole distance back into town. We unloaded from the bus, paused at the entrance to the athlete’s village for photos from the race photographers and headed off to get in line for the toilets. The sun was already starting to beat down at this point, so I knew it was going to be hot. I grabbed an extra bottle of water and downed it. By the time I finished using the bathroom, they had already called for my wave to start making our way down to the start. This was about a 15 minute walk. The streets were already lined with tons of spectators cheering you on before you even got to the starting line. Once there, I used the bathroom one last time and headed to my corral. By the time I reached it, my wave had already started. I had about 3 minutes of walking toward the start and then I was off. There was very little time spent sitting and waiting around…My Boston Marathon had begun!

I paused for a moment after the start to really absorb where I was and what I was doing. People were racing by me, flying down the hill, but I knew that I had to stick to my plan to hold back as much as I could. After every warning I had heard about not starting off too fast at Boston, it would not be wise not to heed it. My plan was to start off at a 9 minute mile. My Garmin said my pace was 8:50, which was close enough and felt comfortable. I fell into pace with another lady close to my age. She was from Canada and was also trying to hold herself back. We chatted for a while and ran the first 5 miles together. They flew by. She told me that she had hoped to finish around 3:30-3:40, so I knew she had plans on speeding up. At mile five, she started to pick up the pace, so I wished her good luck and told her to go on with her race. She thanked me for keeping her company. From there I just continued to trudge along at my comfortable pace. My legs already hurt and I wondered how long they would hold out. I should have been stopping to stretch, but I did not want to lose my momentum. I was holding true to my promise to myself and really enjoying the race. I was reading signs and high-fiving children and fist pumping when my “Mojo Running Club” tank drew calls from the crowd.

It was really starting to get hot, so I made sure to stop at every water stop for Gatorade or water. By mile 10, a lot of people around me had already started to walk. Folks were pouring cups of water over their heads. There were several spots along the course set up as makeshift sprinklers and I ran through as many of them as I could. I was starting to feel tired around mile 14, and I was counting the miles until 17, where I knew my husband would be waiting to see me. Just as planned, he was standing by the mile 17 marker. He yelled” You’re killing it” to me and I ran over and gave him a quick kiss. It was the boost I needed to get me through the hills as I entered into Newton.

The hills in Newton were not that bad, certainly not as bad as I had expected. I noticed that I was passing quite a lot of people now who were walking. I went up and down several hills and finally made it to mile 20 where I thought I should encounter Heartbreak Hill. I kept running, but I did not see this hill coming up. Had I remembered the course incorrectly? Did the hill start at mile 21? I kept running on and looking forward for Heartbreak Hill when I noticed a sign “Top of the Hill!” A woman running next to me asked” Was that Heartbreak Hill?” I shrugged. I didn’t think so. Then I saw another sign. “You made it over Heart Break Hill!” Wow! That was certainly not what I had expected.

I looked at my Garmin and did a quick calculation and realized that if I held my current pace, I could finish in under 3:55, which would be a BQ. I decided to try and turn it up a bit and see what I could do. I flew down the hill pretty fast, but when I hit the flat ground at the bottom, I realized I had very little left in the tank. I had only taken two and a half gels at this point and really should have taken another, but the thought of trying to suck down a gel right then was far less appealing than trying to run on fumes. I continued on, making sure to get as much Gatorade as I could at the water stops. I was running past the cemetery and I thought of the video I had just watched and how they called it the “haunted” mile because so many races were lost there. I thought about @MobyCarp’s warning that this part of the course was a struggle for him. I knew all that I could do was to just keep running. I kept telling this to myself, out loud. I was not the only person talking to myself at this point and I didn’t even care if I was. I just kept saying “Just keep running”. And I did. I had no idea how fast I was running, just that I was on autopilot and headed for the finish line. The crowd at this point was unbelievable. Thousands of people just cheering me on. I don’t think I could have made it without them. Then came the best surprise of all. As I made the turn onto Hereford Street, there was my husband, shouting my name. I wasn’t expecting to see him again because the finish line area is crowded, so we just agreed to meet at the designated area. But there he was to give me that extra little push I needed to make it onto Boylston.

The trek down Boylston Street might just be the longest segment of a race I can remember. It honestly felt like I was running on a treadmill, or that somebody was taking the finish line and moving it back with every step. I could see it, but it wasn’t getting any closer. Where were those bleachers? Shouldn’t I be there by now? I’m quite certain I could not have lasted another step, when all of a sudden there it was, the blue and yellow painted asphalt that was the finish line of the Boston Marathon. I had dreamed about this moment forever. I gave it that final push and hit the button on my Garmin. It said 3:53:13. I had finished the Boston Marathon…in Boston Qualifying time! I could not have been more elated!

The journey down the shoot after the race was a bit of a blur. I stopped and posed for a photo. The sun had gone in and it was windy and I suddenly needed a mylar blanket, so I waited in line for that. I picked up a water, stopped for another photo, got my food bag that had nothing even remotely appealing. I was beginning to wonder if I had the energy to make it to the family meeting area when somebody handed me a chocolate protein drink. I couldn’t even open it, and had to ask one of the volunteers for help. When I finally took a sip, it was just about the best thing I had ever tasted in my life. I drank it down as I hobbled my way through the chute to the family meeting area. I was headed for the “G” post, which just happened to be right outside the front door to our hotel.
I waited in my designated area for my husband for about 10 minutes. I chatted with a lady from Guatemala who had just finished the race. I wanted to sit down. I didn’t want to sit down. My foot was cramping. My hamstrings were on fire. I was about to head up to my room and text my husband when he showed up. He was energized by the excitement of the race and beaming over my finish. There was a huge celebration party going on in the hotel bar/patio and he wanted to join in. He insisted that I needed a glass of champagne before my shower. Although that sounded like the last thing in the world I wanted at that moment, his enthusiasm was contagious. So I downed a huge glass of water while he headed off to buy me a glass of champagne. I have to admit…it tasted amazing!