How to even begin recapping my Boston Marathon trip...? Honestly, I don't know, which is why I've been putting it off for the past month (honestly I can't even believe it's already been that long...). Nevertheless, as one of my two biggest running goals, I must get it done, so here we are. It's a little long, so if you make it through color me impressed!
As you may recall, I qualified for Boston almost a year before the race (after 3 1/2 years of trying), at the
Revel Mt. Charleston Marathon where I ran 26.2 miles in 3 hours and 28 minutes. I still can't really believe I finally did it because I am NOT a fast runner and that was HARD. It took lots of dedicated training and hard work to say the least. When I qualified I had every intention of training hard again for the actual Boston race. I knew I wasn't going to try and PR, but because it's "Boston" (and most of the running field at Boston is seriously hardcore) I wanted to have a "good" time (and yes I do realize the term "good" when describing a race time is very relative), but life had other plans for me and my training was less than stellar this past winter. I got in all of my long runs, but my weekday running was virtually non existent. And while I will say the long runs are probably the most important for preparing you to finish a marathon, speedwork would be what helps you finish fast...and that I did not do. I was hoping to still be able to run a sub-4:00 marathon, but even going into the race I knew that was probably a long shot given my lack of overall mileage. So as I packed up and headed to the race, I decided that instead of a goal for a "good" time, I would instead have a goal to have a "good time" (as in have fun!).
I flew into Boston on the Friday before Marathon Monday (the Boston Marathon is held on Patriot's Day, a holiday celebrated in New England, always on a Monday, and thus the Boston Marathon has gotten the name, "Marathon Monday"). With the two hour time change and four hour flight, we didn't get into Boston until dinner time, so once we made it to our hotel, we met my parents for dinner, and then called it a night before we would all be running the 5K the next morning.
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| Mimosa's at the airport to celebrate finally being "Boston Bound!" |
The B.A.A. (Boston Athletic Association) puts on a 5K the Saturday before the race. It's a great opportunity for family members to also participate in the fun, so we all signed up to run which was great! The race started at 8:00am, but with the amount of people doing it, it wasn't until closer to 8:30 by the time we started (the top finishers actually finished before we even got to the starting line). Scott and I ran together and it was a lot of fun - it was raining out but still pretty warm overall. We had fun running the streets of downtown Boston and crossing the marathon finish line!
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| My family and I getting ready to run the 5K! |
By the time I got through the porta-potty line, I was super stressed - I was totally going to miss my start, which I was super bummed about! Not only did I still need to take off all of my extra layers (it had been raining when I walked to the bus, and the forecast was very iffy, so I had about 5 layers on that I still needed to peal off, including changing my shoes... I quickly found a spot to sit down and change and then starting running to the start line. Because of the weird weather forecast, the race had decided to start Wave 4 at the same time was Wave 3... this meant that I couldn't even get to my start wave because all of Wave 4 was already in front of me... so I ended up just weaving my way here and there until finally getting to the starting line. This whole part was a blur honestly because I was super stressed about missing the start. I had been so excited to be in Wave 3, Corral 1 because it meant I would be at the very start of Wave 3 going off...but I
completely missed it. So I don't even know if they had a gun go off or anything for the separate waves...
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| Making my way to the start line! |
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| Trying to make my way from Athlete's Village to the starting line! |
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| Apparently this is what the starting line looked like! (I was too stressed about missing my start time to notice!) |
Despite all of that pre-race stress and having no time to really take in the fact that I was "THERE" at the start of the Boston Marathon... I did finally start sometime around 10:55am. And once I did finally get going, my frustration, anxiety, and nerves finally calmed themselves and I started to enjoy the experience! From the very get-go, there were crowds on all sides of the course and I soaked it all in by running along one side of the course and high-fiving as many people as I could for miles and miles and miles... (this actually ended up being a blessing and a curse because, while I was LOVING it - seriously, it makes you feel like a rockstar, my arms ended up so tired from constantly having my arm out to high-five people! I also realized that by NOT paying attention to my watch, I ended up going out WAY too fast. My first couple miles were 8:15-8:30's, which I was NOT in shape to be able to keep up for the long haul.
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| Sometime during the first couple of miles - one of the few spots where there weren't tons of spectators along the side. |
Nevertheless, I kept at my fairly fast pace because I still felt good. I ran next to a Skirt Sports ambassador from the Denver area within the first couple of miles. Then around Mile 6 I ran into another Skirt Ambassador Cary, from Hawaii. The crowds has spread out a little by the time I ran into her, so I snapped a picture of us, which turned out to be one of my favorite pictures I took on the course!
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| Running by Skirt Ambassador Cary - we were wearing the same skirt! |
Around Mile 10 is when it really sank in that I went out too fast and that I needed to slow it down. From then on I focused on slowing a little and started to shift my focus towards some of the different landmarks I knew about. I knew the Wellesly Scream Tunnel would be around the halfway mark, and it ended up being about 12.5 miles. I had so much fun giving high fives to everyone in the Scream Tunnel - although I will say I was super surprised that the Scream Tunnel was only on one side of the road - I had just assumed it would be both sides since they call it a "tunnel", but it was just on the right side!). I tried looking for my sign that they had made me (you can request the Wellesly girls make you sign - which they then post on facebook), but I never did find it. I really did have a blast through this section though - the cheers and excitement is such a crazy, unique, memorable experience!
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| Giving high fives to everyone in the Scream Tunnel (my arm was SO tired after that section!) |
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| My scream tunnel poster! (I did not see it on the course though - they posted them all on facebook). |
I'm not going to lie...after the scream tunnel I was starting to get seriously exhausted. I honestly think that the whole "don't look at your watch" thing hindered me more than helped. Had I looked at my watch, I probably would've reigned in my first several miles... so here I was only half way through and exhausted... this was going to make my "have fun and just enjoy it" mentality a little more of a challenge. Nevertheless, I told myself to just try and not care what my splits were showing up as when people tracked me.. it wasn't about that... it was about having fun and enjoying the experience like I had said. So I just tried to focus on having fun and kept at it!
Meanwhile, it had really gotten seriously HOT out. Not to mention all of the rain made it extremely HUMID, and if there's one thing this Colorado gal is not used to or good at, it's running in the humidity (just take a look at Houston Marathon 2017...). Then of course around mile 16ish, the hills start... and so yes, I'm slightly ashamed to admit it, but I totally let myself walk through a lot of the Newton Hills. On one hand I'm upset with myself for that, but on the other hand, it was part of my "try to enjoy it" mentally... I figured giving myself some walk breaks would allow me to enjoy it more. Plus, at the end of the day I am still a Boston Marathoner whether I walked a few sections or not, right? So that's what I did - I took turns between walking and running as I made my way through those infamous Newton Hills.
Another Skirt Ambassador, Deb, was volunteering at Mile 17, so I made sure to keep my eye out for her and was so happy to see a familiar face along the route!
If you look at the course profile, you'll see that there are four major hills starting at Mile 16 and ending with Heartbreak Hill around Mile 21. I tried to count them as I was on them, but they were kind of rolling as you were on them, so I totally thought I was on Heartbreak Hill earlier than I was... nevertheless I eventually made it through (this whole section I was mentally wanting it to be over, but at the same time I had waited to run this race for SO long that I didn't want to be finished... it was an interesting experience for sure!).
Once I finally crested Heartbreak Hill I knew it was mostly downhill from here so I tried to pick up my pace a bit. It was still really hot out and I was SO thankful that most aid stations as well as spectators along the course were offering ice to runners. I kept taking handfuls of ice and putting it in my sports bra and on the back of my neck. The sun had come out around the half-way mark, and it was around 70 degrees out. That may not seem that hot, but with the high humidity and winter, it feels seriously HOT when running this kind of distance... Because of this, I was actually grateful when the rain started around Mile 23 or so.
At first the rain started slowly, but as I started making my way into downtown Boston it really started picking up. Despite this, I still tried my best to keep enjoying the experience, and made sure to snap a few pictures (including the famous CITGO sign). I knew Scott and my parents were spectating about a mile out from the finish so I set my sights on looking for them.
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| I loved this view of the city as I made my way into downtown Boston! |
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| Of course I had to get a selfie with the CITGO sign! |
Finally I was on part of the course that overlapped with the 5K from the day before so I knew I was really close! My family was right on the other side of an underpass, before the turn onto Hereford, so I made sure to look for them despite the rain which was now coming down even harder. They were a little ways off the course, so I just waved rather than going up to them, but it was good to see them nevertheless!
Right after passing them it was time for the famous "Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston"! This was, of course, the most exciting part of the race. I was almost to the finish line of THE BOSTON MARATHON. Hereford is a super short stretch, but after you turn onto Boylston you have about a third of a mile to the finish line, so I truly tried to soak this stretch in - the rain was pouring but the cheers were so loud - it was amazing! And before I knew it I had finished... I was a Boston Marathoner!
RACE STATS:
Race: The 123rd Boston Marathon
Distance - 26.2 Miles (my garmin came in at 26.47 miles)
Date: April 15, 2019
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Temperature: 60's - cloudy and humid at the start, sunny in the middle, pouring rain at the end!
Elevation Gain: 889'
Bib Number: 16596
Official Time: 4:17:29
Average Pace: 9:50 per mile
Overall Place: 19764
Gender Place: 8217
Age Group (F18-34): 4175
Splits: 8:15, 8:24, 8:37, 8:28, 8:53, 8:47, 8:37, 8:55, 8:53, 9:04, 9:14, 9:18, 9:38, 9:30, 9:58, 9:39, 10:40, 11:47, 9:51, 11:07, 12:34, 10:39:10:26, 11:05, 10:33, 10:19, 9:19 (last .2)
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| Course Map |
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| Elevation Profile |
The first few minutes after crossing the finish line I was still in post-marathon bliss... taking pictures and enjoying myself. But then of course the fact that it was pouring rain and the temperatures had dropped significantly left me freezing in a matter of minutes and I was so thankful for the typical post-marathon space blanket. It's kind of funny though - I have gotten tons of these at races but this was the first time I truly needed it and noticed how much they really do help when you are freezing and don't have any warm clothes on.
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| This is my "I just finished the Boston-Freakin-Marathon" face! |
After getting my post-race snacks and medal, it took awhile to get in touch with Scott and my parents, but I finally did and we decided the best course of action was for me to find them since they were stuck behind crowds and I needed to go that direction anyways... so about a half hour or so after finishing we finally met up at the corner of Boylston and Arlington by the entrance to the Boston Public Garden. We took a few minutes to get pictures before making our way back - by way of Dunkin Donuts (the cold weather had me seriously craving a hot chocolate... which is so funny considering how HOT I was for most of this race).
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| How cool are these signs that they had at Dunkin Donuts! |
After the race we headed back to our hotels to shower and rest for a bit before we had a celebratory dinner later that evening!
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| Post-race dinner! |
POST-RACE THOUGHTS:
Honestly, I loved everything about this experience. My absolute favorite part was how the ENTIRE city of Boston is into the marathon and excited about it. I've done some fairly big marathons before but outside of the race itself and the expo, no one else really pays much attention to the fact that there is a race going on. Boston however goes ALL out. All of the street signs are decorated with marathon banners, people at the airport are talking about it (you can even get a shorter line through security if you're wearing your medal), the downtown hotels all had Boston Marathon banners and some perks if you were doing the race, waiters at restaurants we went to would ask if we were doing it... It just makes you feel like an elite runner (despite most definitely NOT being one)! As far as the race goes, I'll be honest, the course itself was just okay... it's the crowds, the hype, and the history that make this race truly AMAZING and truly one of a kind! So much course support, so many spectators and people out. I just loved it all. Just experiencing the city of Boston was great too - I liked walking the freedom trail and loved the city itself.
So will I do it again? I definitely hope so! I know it won't be an "all the time" thing like it is for a lot of people just because A.) It's HARD for me to qualify and B.) It was VERY expensive... but I do hope to go back SOMEDAY. It probably won't be anytime soon, but maybe in 10-20 years if I'm (hopefully) still running, I would love to come experience this again. There's just so much excitement surrounding this race, I would love to be a part of it again. Of course, you never know what life has in store, so whether or not I get to come back someday, I'm just so grateful I got to experience it once. I truly did have an amazing time! I'm so glad I got to share it with Scott and my parents - thanks to all of them for coming along as I achieved one of my dreams!
POST-RACE TRIP TO BERMUDA:
Scott and I hadn't done a "big" trip in awhile, so I knew I wanted to combine this Boston trip with something else as well. I had originally looked into going to Cape Cod, but the weather can be pretty iffy this time of year (and a lot of places aren't even open), so when I discovered that Bermuda is only a two hour flight from Boston, I figured it would be the perfect post-race getaway! So on Tuesday after the race we made our way to Bermuda for the rest of the week!
