My Love Letter to Boston

Dear Boston,

Thank you for reminding me that there are heroes walking (and running) unnoticed among us. To the first responders, race volunteers, and bystanders who rushed in to help the injured without any concern for your own safety – your courage and selflessness inspire me. You restored my faith that the good in this world will always overcome the evil. And to the Boston residents who stopped two random women on the street to make sure that we were okay and to see if we needed anything – your generosity and kindness amaze me. You, too, are proof that good, caring, compassionate people outnumber those with hatred in their hearts.

I am grateful to you for reminding me that the connections we forge with other people are the most important things in this life. The outpouring of love and concern for Maria and me was overwhelming – once news of the tragedy broke, our phones were constantly notifying us of texts, emails, calls, and Facebook messages from people who were worried about us. I came home from Boston knowing that I am loved, and there is no more comforting feeling in the world in the midst of such a terrifying situation.

And although it seems much less important than so many other things right now, thank you for putting on a race that lived up to every last bit of hype surrounding it. The city rolled out the red carpet for us runners, and the race volunteers and spectators were nothing short of amazing. The entire course was lined with people cheering, holding funny signs, and handing out orange slices, water, wet sponges, Kleenxes, etc. The people of Boston were right there with us, every step of the 26.2 miles. It was a perfect, dream come true day right up until the moment everything changed.

My heart aches for all the people whose lives were forever altered in an instant on Monday. I have thought of little else since I got home. This morning, I proudly put on my race shirt and ran for the first time since the marathon. For four miles, instead of focusing on how powerless events like this make me feel, I thought of how I could honor the victims and survivors of the bombing in my day-to-day life. I’m going to try harder to help others in need. I’m going to let the people I love know just how much they mean to me every chance I get. While I know I will never forget what happened on Monday, I’m going to stand strong with the rest of the running community and keep running and racing every chance I get. And Boston, if you’ll have me with my just barely qualifying time, I will be honored and thrilled to run your streets again in 2014.

Rock’n’Roll Las Vegas Marathon

Marathon #3 is on the books, and it happened in Vegas, yo!



Packet Pick Up: Our flight got us to Vegas mid-afternoon on Saturday. After checking into the hotel and freshening up, we headed over to the expo at the Sands Convention Center. Packet pick up would have been a smooth process if I knew how to read numbers. My bib number was 51253. On the first attempt, I led Maria to the line that started with 1500. Fail. On my second try, I went for the line that started with 5100. Fail #2. In addition to being nowhere near the correct number, I was also choosing lines that were for half marathon participants. Luckily the girl at the second line I chose pointed us to the correct table. Who knows if I ever would have made it on my own? After that, it was smooth sailing to get our bibs and shirts, and we spent some time wandering around the very large and very awesome expo.

Course: The course started by taking us down the Strip for the first few miles before taking us out into what felt like the middle of nowhere for about 15 miles and then back along Fremont Street and onto the Strip again for the finish. Crowd support on the Strip and on Fremont Street was awesome – people lined both sides of the street and were loud and encouraging. However, the middle portion of the course was unpopulated and BORING. Painfully so, in fact.

Aid Stations: There were seventeen aid stations along the course. Gatorade was available at every other stop, and Gu gels were available at two of them. The aid stations had plenty of volunteers, and all of the stations were well-stocked and prepared for runners.

Post-Race Goodies: I am not sure I can even recall all of the food options available at the end because there were so many! I helped myself to a chocolate milk, a small Jamba Juice all fruit smoothie (my favorite!!), four Snickers Marathon bars, and an apple. While I was thrilled about the Jamba Juice, I was a little disappointed that there weren’t any bananas at the finish. Bananas are the one thing I always enjoy post-race, and I thought it was a little odd that they provided apples instead. Overall, however, the post-race food selection was top notch. There were a lot of options to choose from, and at least when I went through the line, there was no shortage of supplies. It looked like they had enough food to feed many armies.

Swag: If you have run a Rock’n’Roll race before, then you know exactly what the shirts were like – Brooks short sleeve techinical tees. I liked that these were black, as having a neutral color makes it easier to wear them again. The medals were fun; they are glow in the dark, which is perfectly fitting of a race held in Vegas!



Results: I’m not really sure how I feel about my results in this race.  I knew even before the race started that I didn’t have a repeat of my Fargo performance in me because my training hasn’t been as dedicated as it was for that race, but my plan was basically this:

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Secretly, I was hoping for 3:35 or so, but that was not in the cards. I finished in 3:48:10; 18/241 in my age group, 90/1158 for women, and 494/3233 overall. I can partially blame it on this:

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There were times when I felt like a tumbleweed being blown around, and I had two miles that were over 10 minutes when I was running directly into the wind. That being said, I also made a lot of mistakes for which I can blame no one but myself. As I mentioned before, I took my training a little more lightly than I should have, I ran my last 20 miler 9 days prior to the race, I went out too fast at the start, and I drank more Gatorade than what I am used to. While I am slightly disappointed in the time that was on the clock when I crossed the finish line, I will say that I am proud of my performance overall. This was easily the hardest race I have ever run, and I know that I left everything I had on that course.

Overall, while I enjoyed the race, it isn’t one that I will be repeating. The middle section of the course was  so very boring, and while I know that every race isn’t going to have the awesome crowd support of the Fargo Marathon, I was really disappointed in the lack of spectators in Vegas.

I have some other fun Vegas stuff to share, but this post is already too long, so it’s going to have to wait for another day!

Marathon Humor

With less than 72 hours to go before the start of my third marathon, I’m finding it hard to concentrate on anything other than running. I’ve spent most of tonight obsessively browsing marathon-related websites instead of packing or finalizing my playlist (you know, the things I should be doing), and I came across a few funnies I thought were worthy of sharing.

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Take Two, BOSTON!!

This is my road to Boston 2012.  I did the West Palm Marathon on 12/5/10 as my first marathon ever.  I finished with a time of 3:50:01.  I was so stunned about completing my first marathon and was on such a high that I wanted to sign up for another one in the next couple of months before it started to get too hot in March.  Otherwise I would have to wait too long for another one.  I found the Melbourne Beaches & Music Marathon which took place on 2/5/11.  I finished with a time of 3:39:10.  A huge, unexpected improvement from my first one.  The biggest difference was the weather.  It was around 78 and sunny for the West Palm race and about 60 with overcast and a light mist for literally the entire morning of the Melbourne marathon.  At this point, I honestly didn't even know what Boston was.  I knew it was a marathon race, but I didn't understand the significance of it.  I just thought it was another huge race like New York or Chicago.  Someone mentioned that I may had qualified for Boston and so I went online and found out that I did indeed qualify.  But, but :50.  I didn't think this was good enough since they were going to take the fastest runners first starting that year.  What was I to do next?  Look for other marathons to get in before Boston registration opened of course.  I found the Santa Rosa Marathon in CA which I HIGHLY recommend.  It's a small race, but flat and in Santa Rosa where it's always between 50 and 70 degrees, even at the end of August when it's held.  I also found the Via of Leigh Valley Marathon in Allenton, PA.  This race is held in the beginning of September.  It was a good race, but a little hilly and warmer than I like.   

I trained hard to get a better time for Boston.  And, at the awesome Santa Rosa race I pulled off a time of 3:29:54.  Since this race is around a bunch of CA wineries, age group winners get a bottle of red wine for the prize.  I love races that give out unconventional awards.  That was my journey to Boston 2012. 

Unfortunately, Boston weather was very uncooperative this year and decided to be hotter on race day than the Florida weather that I had been training in.  It was an amazing weekend and I was very grateful to get to be involved in the experience at least once.  But, it's a little upsetting when you can't enjoy such an awesome race to its fullest because you're concentrating so much on hydrating and doing a body check and looking for the next water stop instead of enjoying the scenery and the complete strangers out there cheering you on.  Although, it was kind of fun running through the fire hydrant water.  How often are you ever going to get to do that?  I know I've never done it before. 

I wanted a redo.  Bad.  I qualified for Boston 2013 at the Disney Marathon 2012 with a time of 3:30:42.  This was fortunate because I did the Miami Marathon 3 weeks later and had the worst marathon I've ever had and was not anywhere near the realm of qualifying.  At exactly 10:00 AM on the Monday of the 2nd week of registration I logged onto www.baa.org and put in my applicaiton.  I have been checking the updates every day since.  B.A.A. was nice enough to post this update shortly after the 5:00 PM registration cut-off time for the second week of registration:

"BOSTON – The Boston Athletic Association (B.A.A.) announced today that registration for the 2013 Boston Marathon® will continue on Monday, September 24 at 10:00 a.m. ET for runners who have met the qualifying standards necessary for the submission of their application. Following an initial two-week, rolling admission registration period, which began on September 10 and concluded on Friday, September 21 at 5:00 p.m. ET, the B.A.A. will accept applications until the maximum field size is reached."
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http://www.baa.org/news-and-press/news-listing/2012/september/registration-for-the-2013-boston-marathon-will-continue.aspx


What the above statement from Boston means is that anyone who qualified, registered within the first two weeks, and their times can be verified, are accepted.  This means I'm in!  I get my redo.   

Sarah, being as awesome as she is, was able to register on the third day that registration was open.  I was so happy when she said she got her confirmation back.  And, if I hadn't gotten in, I would still would have been just as happy for her.  I know that she would have had an amazing experience and an enormous, giddy smile like the one she got after finishing her first marathon and when she sees dolphins on our runs down Bayshore.  But, I'm even more happy that I get to enjoy the race with her as well.  This is more of a selfish reason.  This year, my friends and family were happy for me.  Most of them are not runners.  So, they were happy for me because they knew it made me happy.  Now I get to enjoy the race with someone who is as excited about it as I am.  It's like going to an amusement park.  It can be fun by youself.  But, it's even better when someone is with you that enjoys it as much as you do.