Marathon #9 done!

Another BQ! 3:33:16,8:08 pace

More to follow once we get home from Pittsburgh.

The Boston Marathon 2013

The Boston Marathon. 

The marathon I had my sight set on since I ran my first marathon in 2009. 

After attempting to BQ in the fall of 2010 and failing (missed by 4 minutes), I tried again in the spring of 2011.  BQ-ed by over 11 minutes (3:28:29)!  Registered to run in 2012 but found out I was pregnant.  Due to the heat, the BAA offered deferment options as long as your bib was picked up.  Lucky for me, my dad was there to run and claimed my bib.  I had my daughter in June 2012, ran a marathon that following October and BQ-ed again for 2014 by less than a minute (3:39:02).  fats forward to April 2013.  Finally, my day has come.  I will be running the Boston Marathon.  The super bowl of marathons. 

Friday April 12th-Saturday April 13th

We, and when I say we I mean myself, my husband, my son, my daughter, my dad and my step mom, all piled into my dad's van and made the 12 hour drive to Massachusetts on Friday, April 12th.  We ended up staying in Framingham, just outside of Boston.  We found a decent hotel for half the price of the rooms downtown.  We left late Friday night in hopes my 10 month old would sleep through the night.  She did amazing!  Slept almost the entire way and when she was awake, was not fussy at all.  We arrived to Framingham around 11:30 Saturday morning but were unable to get an early check in.  We went to grab a bite to eat and drove to Hopkinton State Park to do a "dry run" for Monday morning.  my husband would be dropping my dad and myself off at the park to catch the buses the morning of the marathon.  Once we were able to check in, dad and I headed out for an easy paced 4 miler.  Our last run before Monday's main event.  We were so beat from the long drive, that we all opted to stay in and just order pizza.  We wanted to be up and to the expo as early as possible Sunday morning.

Anna & I at a rest area just after entering Massachusetts

Sunday April 14th

We didn't get as early of a start as we had hoped for, and when we arrived at the expo around 11am it was packed!!  We quickly made our way to claim our bibs and get our shirts, then headed into the expo.  I had purchased my jacket, hat, t-shirt and hoodie prior to marathon weekend so I bypassed the chaos in the Adidas Boston marathon gear area.  I did pick myself up a black sparkly sweaty band.  I really wanted to purchase a BIC band since they donate to charity, but was unable to locate the booth they were being sold in.  Anyway, we ate a ton of samples; Clif bars, Gatorade chews, Hawaiian rolls, fresh fruit made into a creamy frozen treat (wish I had purchased one of those machines), etc... After the expo, we made our way to the famous spot on Boylston...  The finish line.

 

After taking a few photos, we headed down into the Copley Center subway station and caught the train to Quincy Market.  I was starving by then and starting to feel a dull headache coming on.  I ended up having a lobster roll that was so, so tasty!   Since we had spent so much time in the expo and didn't want to be out late, we didn't get to do much of anything else.  We left Quincy Market after about an hour, give or take, and hopped on the subway back to the Copley Center station.  We made our way to the parking structure at the Hynes Convention Center and headed back to the hotel.  Our plan was go out to dinner to the local Olive Garden.  Yes, we drove 12 hours to eat at OG.  Hey, I know it would be safe on my stomach the night before the marathon.  Unfortunately, I never made it out to dinner.  My headache had progressively gotten worse to the point that all I could do was lay down a cry.  I was so upset that I was feeling so awful.  This was not supposed to happen.  I was in Boston to run the Boston marathon!!  My dad, step mom and son went to dinner, while Chris stayed back with me to take care of Anna while I slept.  My dad brought me back something to eat, which was consumed at 9:30pm.  I immediately crawled back in bed after eating and passed out.

Monday April 15th

The alarm went off at 5:30am.  We needed to be dropped off before 7:30am since that is when they close the roads in Hopkinton leading to the state park.  Chris snapped a couple photos of myself and my dad, I gave him a kiss and on to the bus we went.  It was long, maybe 5 minutes, and the bus began to move.  We had a short ride to where we were being dropped off.  If you take the bus from the state park, you are dropped off about .70 miles from athletes village.  If you take the buses from Boston, you are dropped off in athletes village.  Since we were staying in Framingham, it only made logical sense to be dropped off at the state park.  The weather was great, breezy but sunny!  The high for the day was to reach 52 degrees.  Perfect running weather. 

On our .70 mile walk to the village, we came upon this.  Now THAT is a lot of port-o-potties!

Athletes Village

 

Dad resting before the start 

 

 

We waited around athletes village for our time to drop our bags and head to the start.  We were in wave 2, so we dropped our bags and head to the start for our 10:20am start time. 

 

Making our way to the start area

 

We started on time and I immediately felt the pull of the downhill.  I told myself to run by feeling and not to look at the Garmin.  Dad and I were cruising.  The spectators were lined up and down the streets from start to finish.  I wish I could break the race down mile by mile, but I can't.  I had a smile on my face the entire time and the miles just kept going by so easily.  Wellesley College was just what I had imagined.  The girls were so loud and had some really funny signs.  My dad had warned me that once we get into Newton (mile 16-ish) the hills would start.  I don't know if it was the adrenaline of the race or the fact I trained doing all long runs on hills, but they didn't slow me down.  Even Heart Break hill didn't break my heart. haha!  I was clipping along up HB hill and a runner asked if I had done this before.  I told him "nope, but I am loving it!"  It was about heart break hill where my dad began to feel the pain of running harder than we planned.  If I got too far a head of him, I made sure to slow up until he caught up.  I still tried to push the pace a bit because I knew we were close to getting a PR for my dad and a BQ for us both.  The last 3-4 miles were simply amazing.  I had a permanent smile and even began to tear up a couple times.  I now know how an elite runner feels when you have all these people screaming for YOU!  It was one of the running moments I have ever had.  Ever.  My dad and I crossed the finish line at the exact same time at 3:29:46, with an 8:01 average pace.  This was a new marathon PR for my dad and gave us both another BQ for 2014! I immediately took out my phone, snapped a photo of me & dad and then called Chris to tell him we had finished.  He had seen us.  He had been standing at the finish line watching and taking photos (the same spot the first bomb went off).  We told him to find a place to wait for us, and we would call once we made it through the finishers area.

 

Seconds after crossing the finish line

making our way to the blankets/water/medals/drop bag claim

 

After making our way to the buses to retrieve our drop bag, I called Chris to find out where him and Josh (my son) were at.  There were on the corner of Berkley & Newbury, one block up and one block over from the actual finish line.  Berkley actually crossed the finishers area and was partially used for drop bag buses.  We found them within a few short minutes. 

 

Chris and I at the corner of Newbury & Berkely



 

We snapped a few photos and by 2:40 we made our way to the Arlington subway station, located exactly 4 blocks up from the finish line, to get on the green line.  Chris had parked our car in Newton and took the green line into Boston earlier that morning.     

 

The circled area is finish line/finishers area, the other two spots highlighted are where we met Chris and where the subway station was. 

 

I want to say we were in the station for maybe 10 minutes, when all of a sudden the transit police were telling us to evacuate the station.  Someone asked why and we were told all T lines were shut down. We went up to street level and you could hear sirens coming from every direction.  I knew something bad had happened.  it wasn't long after and we over heard someone on their phone say there was an explosion at the finish line.  No sooner did we hear that, and I started to receive text messages from friends.  We called my step mom to let her know that the transit system was shut down and we had no idea when or how we would get out of the city. Our car was parked in Newton at the T line station.  We had been checking our phones and start to realize how bad it really was.  In the meantime, the sirens had not stopped.  They were still coming from all over.  Ambulances, police cars, unmarked police cars, etc... flying by from every direction.  We didn't know where to go or what to do.  So we started walking.  We walked and walked and walked.  A local who had ran the marathon over heard us talking and asked where we were trying to get.  We told him that our car was parked in Newton and needed a way out of the city.  He told us to try the Backbay station.  It houses the Amtrak train and orange line.  Maybe we could get on one of those to at least get out of the city and then try to find a way to Newton.  As we were approaching the station, a man asked where we were headed.  When we said Newton, he said "oh, if it were Newport, I could help you.  Sorry I can't help you."  Dang.  so close to having a ride out of the city.  Chris suggested that if we can't get out through the Backbay station, maybe we could hitch hike on I-90.  Um, no. 

 

Anyway, once in the Backbay station, we began asking if anything was running (T lines) and if any of them could get us remotely close to Newton.  One of the T line employees was super friendly and helped us.  She made a phone call and said the green line has an outbound only train running, but we needed to make our way to the Hynes subway station.  While in the station I observed a police officer with a bomb sniffing dog.  And on our way out of the station I saw a man with blood splatter on him.  He was trembling.  I'll never forget what he looked like. 

 

We left the Backbay station, headed across the street to the mall, cut through the mall and it was then that we saw the news coverage on TV.  It was then when we actually saw what was going on.  We exited the mall in hopes of crossing the road, but it was taped off.  The street was filled with ambulances, police cars, SWAT team vehicles, etc....

 

 

We began to walk down the sidewalk to find where we could cross.  We needed to get to the other side of this street.  Eventually we were able to.  There were 2 runners walking in the opposite direction who had clearly not been able to finish.  They were freezing, trying to wrap up in pieces of garbage bags found on the ground.  Luckily I had held on to my "blanket" from the finish line and wrapped one runner up while my dad wrapped the other in his.  We offered runners along the way food, water, etc....  No one wanted anything except to know where they should go and how they could get to their hotels or vehicles.  We ended up finally reaching the Hynes station but it was closed.  One of the T line employees told us our only hope to getting west of Boston was to walk to the Fenway station.  There is one single train running outbound only.  That is what we needed.  We needed an outbound train heading west.  Riverside is the last stop of the green line and is the green line station in Newton.  We needed to get on that train.  So again, we started walking.  We walked and walked and walked.  We ended up picking up a family of 3 who barely spoke english.  They, too, needed to get to Newton and asked if they could follow us.  We were still hearing sirens.  I was receiving phone calls and text messages from just about anyone who knew I was in Boston.  After what was about 3 hours of walking and trying to find a way out, we arrived at the Fenway green line station.  I asked one of the police officers if there were any trains running and he said "outbound only".  That is just what we needed to hear!  We hopped on the train when it pulled in and once it was full, we were on our way out of Boston.

 

I can't believe what once started out as the best Boston experience I could have ever asked for, instantly changed.  I feel so badly for every one affected by this horrible turn of events.  Will this keep me from running Boston again?  Absolutely not.  I fully intend on running it in 2014! 

 

And the man I saw in the train station?  Well, I saw him again a couple days later.  He is the man wearing the cowboy hat in the photo of the young man being raced down the street in a wheel chair, missing both of his legs.

 

If you are interested in donating to the victims, here are a few ways you can help.

 

The One Fund

https://secure.onefundboston.org/page/-/donate8.html

 

BIC Bands; $12 headband and 100% of the SELLING PRICE will be donated to the One Fund.

http://www.bicbands.com/thin-boston-strong/

 

Adidas Boston stands as one T shirt (mens only, hoping they release more womens)

http://www.adidas.com/us/product/mens-running-boston-marathon-tribute-tee/L89320X?cid=L89321&breadcrumb=1z13uluZ1z13071

 

 

 

 

 

 



 



 



Speechless... Boston Marathon

I really want to write about my first Boston marathon experience and how well my race went.  But every time I try to, I stop myself.  I am still in shock.  Had I ran the projected finish time my dad and I discussed prior to arriving at the start line, it would have put us just crossing after the first bomb went off.  Instead, we were a few short blocks away at the Arlington stations trying to get on the subway when, what should have been one of the best marathon experiences of my life, turned to chaos and confusion.

I will write more later this week or this weekend.  I am just glad everyone I personally knew running was accounted for.  It breaks my heart to think about the Innocent lives lost and Innocent people injured.

5 days until Boston....

I can't believe after years of trying to get here, its now only a few short days away!  I thought I would be overcome with excitement but right now I am pretty chill.  I keep stalking the weather and going over in my mind what I need to pack.  Today it says Monday's high will be 60, low 45, partly cloudy... I'll take that.

Since we are driving and the whole family is coming along, I have a TON of packing to do!  I started making my list of what I need to pack for myself and for Anna.  Her list is huge!  Not only do I need to bring the nessecities like clothing and diapers but I also need to bring her pack & play, stroller, toys, etc... 

Anyway, if we are friends on facebook, expect multiple photos bring posted throughout the weekend.  I'll be carrying my phone on the course and hope to snap a few photos then as well.

In 2 weeks from today...

I will be a Boston Marathon finisher!



That is all. 

Rock CF Half Marathon Race Results

The short:

New Half PR of 1:36:50!

The longer version....

This race is in its 3rd year and holds a special place in my heart.  Not only is the event coordinator a local woman, but the funds raised go towards something she is immediately affected by. Cystic Fibrosis.  Or CF for short.  If you'd like to read more about her, click here.  You can also check out her foundation at http://letsrockcf.org/.

This race is also home to my previous half PR set in March 2011 (1:37:31) and I ran this race in March 2012 @ 30 weeks pregnant with a respectable finish time of 2:10.  So this event has a lot of meaning. 

The night before a few of us runners gathered for a pre-race dinner. 

  Left to right: Anita, Missy, Helen, Carolyn's sister, Carolyn, Jeff and myself

 

Chris, our Anna, me and Jeff's Anna... yes we both have baby Anna's.  They are 6 months apart and future BFF's!

 

The morning of the race I was really tired when the alarm went off at 4:45am.  I have to allow plenty of time to pump (TMI, I know) plus Anna had woken up during the night and I didn't get to bed as early as I would have liked.  The parking lot at the high school was closing at 6:30am so I wanted to make sure we were there in plenty of time to park in that lot.  We arrived at 6:15am, leaving us 1 hour & 45 minutes before the start of the race.  The time actually went by quickly.  I was able to socialize with friends and was able to see Jeff at Detroit Runner.   By the way, if you would like an exceptional review on this race, please see his blog.  He is one of my favorite bloggers and he is top notch when it comes to giving detailed race reviews!

 

It was pretty chilly at the start and a bit windy.  I originally planned on shooting for 1:35 but as I have gotten further and further into my Boston training, I decided to scratch that.  I would shoot for 1:40.  Not as hard of a pace, but still a good time.  My dad was sick that morning and told me he wasn't sure how he would do but for me to run my own race.  Well, he ended up running with me (at times, ahead of me by a few strides) all the way through mile 12!  At mile 12 he yelled at me to push it and I did. Or at least was trying. I ended up crossing the finish line at 1:36:50 (7:24 pace) for a new PR!  Shaved 39 seconds off my previous half PR, which was set in March 2011 at this same race on this same course. Who knew I'd pull this off?  I certainly did not!  We had planned to run 7 miles after since my training called for 20 miles, but instead we ran an easy 3.9 miles for a total of 17 for the day.  I figured, with the race I had just run, I deserved to cut this 20 miler short.  Besides, I just ran 20 miles 2 weeks ago on a VERY hilly course and had a pace of 8:15 per mile. 

 

After our extra miles, we went inside the high school to grab a cookie (or 4 but who's counting...) and a chocolate milk.  That is another reason why I love this race so much.  The food is amazing!!!  SO MANY homemade cookies, Panera bagels, bananas, chocolate milk.... I always skip the bagels and bananas and head straight to the cookies.  :-) 

 

I think this race was a great way to finish off my final hard week of running before Boston.  Now its time to taper and get ready for the big day.

 

A few photos from the race

Anna and I, she is so sleepy.  These 5:30am wake up calls are rough. 

Beth, my dad, Chris, myself and Jeff - pre race

 

Josh, Kevin, Jeff (Detroit Runner), Ty and myself

Chris and I - post race





 

Official Results:

Time: 1:36:50

Pace: 7:24

Age Group: 7th / 68

Overall: 78th / 799





Boosting my Energy...

I recently received a new pair of running shoes and, surprisingly, I am IN LOVE!  I feel bad since I feel like I am cheating on Brooks.  But I can't help it. 

Here are a few photos of the new shoe.  I am shocked that not only do I love an Adidas shoe but its a neutral running shoe.  I always require a minimal to moderate support running shoe.  Not with the Energy Boost.  These fit great!! 


Expect a detailed post in a few days.