The Boston Marathon - April 21, 2008
Boston Marathon day greeted us with great weather! The morning was in the low 40's, so it was a bit chilly, but looking to be a nice day. Heather drove me to Hopkinton, where we navigated the stand-still traffic until we got within a mile or so of the athlete's village, where she dropped me off and drove back to our host home, where she would later be picked up by Jodi Koeman to drive to Boston for spectating. She dropped me off around 7:15 a.m., but the race wouldn't start until 10:00 a.m. I spent a couple hours in athlete's village, trying to keep warm and stretch my tight hamstring. I drank some coffee and tried to relax.
Around 9:20, I started to make my way to the start line. I dropped off my warm clothes at the bus, which they would drive to the finish for us to gather. I made a last-minute stop at the porta-potty, and felt a bit better afterwards. I was chilly in my shorts and "Do Something" shirt, but was hopeful it would warm up and I would warm up. I was bib number 2042, out of over 27,000 registered racers, meaning I had the 2042nd fastest qualifying time, meaning I would be staged in the 2nd corral from the front, out of 28 corrals. I felt good being that far up, but also didn't feel ready to run another sub-3 marathon like I did to qualify!
The gun went off at 10:00 a.m. and we were off. It took me about 51 seconds to get to the start line, and my timing chip crossed the mat, and I was running my first Boston Marathon! The weather was shaping up nicely. The first mile went by rather fast, and I hit my split to reveal a 6:53 mile. I needed to average 6:52's to break 3 hours. It was a far shot, but I thought I'd just run and see how I felt. Well, the miles clicked by, and I found myself seeing more splits in the 6:30 - 6:40 range each mile. My first 5K was in 20:30, as was the 2nd 5K, for a 10K split of 41:00. I kept up this 6:35 average through 10 miles, when I decided to back off to a 6:40 pace. That lasted until mile 11, when I ran into Lance Armstrong! He was on the side of the road, and I shouted out to him, "Hey Lance - you're one of my heros!", and reached out my hand to wave. He reached out to slap mine, taking me by surprise. As I was thinking how cool it was to see Lance Armstrong, and wondering if I should have stopped to see why he was stopped, I realized he was running behind me. He had a group of runners around him, and I joined in the run. We ran from 11 to 12 together. When I hit my split at 12, I saw I was at 6:28 for that mile. Not good! So, I decided to back off a bit and run my race, as I still had a great shot to break 3 hours, but didn't want to totally blow up before hand. I ran the first half of the race in 1:26, a little faster than I should have.
Through mile 16, I was still averaging a 6:37 pace. I knew this was too fast, and was starting to feel it. My stomach was also starting to feel a bit nauseous. I saw Heather and Jodi here, and that picked me up! By mile 17, I was starting to question whether I'd get in under 3 hours, because my stomach was hurting and I feel like drinking much anymore. I hit the Newton hills starting at 17. Normally, I like climbing hills, and these weren't that steep, but I was starting to feel the effects of my 6:37 pace.
At mile 18, I was doing the math to see what I needed to get in under 3 hours. The last 8.2 miles were tough. Heartbreak hill came at 21, and I can see why they call it so! My splits slowed on the hills, with the slowest mile coming at 7:30 pace. However, after 22 miles, I realized I had 4 to go. Part of me was happy settling for a 3:15 at this point (afterall, that was my primary goal). However, part of me wanted to get under 3 hours really bad. I played it mile by mile, and kept doing the math. When I came to Mile 24, I knew it was "do or die". I was wearing my "Do Something" shirt. As I ran by one guy, he hollered, "Do Something? You are doing something!! You're running a $%*@& marathon!". That picked me up a bit. I realized I needed to run sub-7's to get in, and pushed. I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 2:59:06 (the clock time read 2:59:57), 1103 out of the 27,000+ registered runners. I definitely left it all out on the course, and didn't leave much to spare. However, it felt so good to cross the line in under 3 hours. Leading up to this race, I would have never guessed a sub-3 marathon at Boston was in store for me. But, for some reason, the Lord chose to bless me on this day, and I felt great. My hamstring? Hardly noticed it from mile 2 on! My chest pains? None. My HR? A little elevated (averaged 171 bpm for the race), but tolerable. I am so grateful that God allowed me to have a good race at the Boston Marathon, and give him all glory and honor for the race.
Heather and Jodi met me about an hour after the race. It was difficult managing their way around 27,000 runners and hundreds of thousands of fans, but they found me! By that time, I was feeling a bit sore. My stomach was still nauseous, and my quads were feeling the pains of the downhills. We hobbled our way to the car.
But our day wasn't over yet. On the way, we walked by a restaurant and noticed Dick and Rick Hoyt through the window. We didn't want to bother them, but decided to walk inside and meet them. Dick was extremely kind and gracious, and allowed us a picture with them. I told them that they were an inspiration to me and many others, and that I've used their video in dozens of talks around Minnesota. Heather gave them a Join the Race card and brochure, and gave Ricky a hug. It was really cool!
The Boston Marathon exceeded our expectations and goals. Between running with Lance, breaking 3 hours, and meeting the Hoyts, it was an awesome experience. Again, Praise the Lord!
Here is a table of my splits for the marathon:
