Boston Marathon!

It' time to come back down to Earth and start training again. What an exciting time Boston was for us! I can't say I was really too thrilled during the actual race, but I guess the conditions made this an epic race. 

It seemed that every time I checked the weather report, the conditions just kept getting worse. By Saturday (race was Monday), I had accepted the fact that a P.R. was not going to happen. I learned from my mistake at the 2016 trials and was just going to run a "smart" race. Meaning run based on feel, start conservative, and don't be an idiot (fly and die method). I figured that several of the foreign runners may drop and that if I just finished I could possibly sneak into a higher finishing position.

With the gusty winds and pouring rain, no one really wanted to take control and lead the race. Therefore, we opened with a slow first mile as I had expected anyways. Almost immediately after the first mile, the professionals started to break away. I stayed with a handful of others for about 7 more miles running fairly conservative, but really not too far off 6 minute pace. By mile 8, the girl I had been trailing slowly started to pull away and I was left to fight by myself for a large portion of the race. I would later reel this runner back in. 

I came through the half way point in just under 1:22 and thought maybe I could have a good last 10k and hopes of holding onto a sub 2:45. By this point in the race, I had passed the first professional who I saw pull off at the 13.1 sobbing and went to the med tent. Over the next 5 miles, I started to see more and more women dropping. I heard a spectator tell me he thought I might be in the top 15. Yes! I thought.

Near Mile 25 - look at that rain!

I kept telling myself to get to mile 21 because this would be the top of heart break hill and then I would get a downhill to get me going again. I was so excited when I finally reached that point, but once I started going downhill, the quad were so cold that it felt worse than going up heartbreak hill! Talk about a let down. . . however, it was shortly after this that another spectator told me I was knocking on the door of top 10! I thought he must be mistaken, I had jostled position and couldn't keep track of who I passed and who had passed me. Never the less, I felt a small beacon of hope start to spread through me. 

I knew at this point I had less than 35 minutes of running. My hands were freezing, the hand warmers were soaked, but I think the plastic bags were at least still cutting the wind some. I really don't know how I survived, but I did! I missed a GU at mile 19ish because my hands were too frozen to open the pack. I debated stopping until I could get it open, but decided I could make it without the GU. My legs were so numb, I feared I might not get going again if I stopped. 

At mile 25, I saw Molly huddle walk over to the bottle. At this point I started to get excited. I thought, if I can hold her off for about a mile, I might actually beat Molly Huddle! I knew I would NEVER be able to say that again, and a little bit of adrenaline kicked in. It was raining so hard, I couldn't see any runners in front of me (and I wasn't about to look behind me!). As I turned onto Boylston street, I saw another female just a little a head of me. I was gaining on her quickly and it didn't take too long to catch her. I thought maybe she would put up a fight down the home stretch, but she didn't have anything left at that point. She looked familiar to me, but with everyone wearing jackets, I couldn't see her number on her back. Turns out it was Edna Kiplagat who was the Boston Marathon Champion last year! 

I would have tired to look happier if  I knew what place I was in. I was just relieved to finally be done!

I also heard them announce Shalane Flanagan's name as I was nearing the finish! Holy smokes, I thought to myself, I finished right behind Shalane. I couldn't wait to tell Marshall. I still had no idea what place I finished. I asked the lady that was escorting me back to the tent, but she didn't know either, but "there weren't too  many ahead of you" she told me. Once I changed into dry clothes, got some snacks, and stopped shivering enough to turn on my phone is when I found out that I had placed in the top 10! My phone was blowing up with text messages and I wouldn't have believed it if Kathy Carroll hadn't sent me a screen shot!

Marshall is already looking forward to going back next year and improving on his finish time/place. He wasn't super thrilled with how he did. Also, according to the locals, we didn't get the "full Boston experience" because of the weather. I thought it was still pretty awesome though! It might take a little bit longer for me to commit to next year, I am still recovering from the mental trauma of the conditions ;) 

Thank you to everyone for the good luck wishes before the race! I also cannot BELIEVE how many people have sent me congratulatory e-mails, texts, snail mail(!), or messages on social media. I'm probably also 5 lbs heavier because everyone keeps bringing me goodies also. Haha!