Showing up to a marathon averaging less than 20 miles a week for a 21-week training cycle is a bad idea. It hit me how scary that was as I attempted to psyche myself up when answering the question “are you excited?” before boarding a plane to attend the Boston Marathon.
I told myself this race would be run on grit and I gave myself what I thought was a reasonable goal: don’t get hurt, have a good time, shoot for 3:45. If all else fails get to the finish line. I expected it to be difficult, I didn’t expect it to be so much fun.
When I had been training well, I was showing up to the Seattle Green Lake Running Group (SGLRG) on Saturdays. There I would do my long runs. I had trained with them during my last marathon, and many of us had qualified together for Boston off of the same race, the Tunnel Light Marathon. Like me, this was going to be the first Boston Marathon for about half of the group. I was traveling with my training partner, Penny who had invited me to join SGLRG about a year ago. She’s a Boston Marathon veteran and kept me in the know about all the plans when I didn’t see them in the group discussions online. There was so much planned ahead of time, from dinners to baseball games and I was excited to get to know the group better.
Of course, all this can be a little nerve-wracking, meeting a lot of people for the first time during a big marathon that I didn’t train well enough for. My go-to anxiety move is to talk too much, so I’m very lucky this group was gracious enough to put up with my ramblings about my running history, my kid and/or my career.
At least during most of those interactions, I was also stuffing my face with delicious food.
This was my first time at Fenway Park, and while I’m not a baseball fan, it was a perfect strategy to stay off our feet. We purchased tickets that kept us in the shade of the upper deck, no pre-marathon burns for us!
All these meet-ups leading up to the marathon made me feel more at ease. We had heard that race day temps were rising from a predicted 55 degrees to 70, so many of us were re-thinking goals and aiming to have fun. When we got together to load onto the buses at Boston Common we buzzed with anticipation. Some of us still in long sleeves to stay warm even though the morning air felt balmy.
By getting to the athlete village all together we were also able to secure a large spot under the tent. We spread out our ground coverage and waited. Pre-race rituals that help manage our nervous energy included lots of chafe protection.
I slathered the heck out of my feet in body glide and other moisturizers to protect from blisters that I’m extra prone to in the heat (spoiler alert, it still wasn’t fool-proof). Eating the right things in this hour and a half was important. My friends were generous in getting up to get food as they hit up the village aid stations. Water, bananas, and energy chews rained down on our little camp. We also had strategies for the porta potties that made the lines easy to navigate.
Finally, it was time to say good-bye to our Wave 1 friends and Wave 2 was preparing to get the call to the corrals. I didn’t want to start out too fast so I decided to move back a corral. I chatted with a couple people to find out “goal” time estimates. That’s when I found out that Jaime was considering running a 3:45, I decided I’d stick with her and see how we did.
I knew I wanted to take it as easy as possible in the first downhill miles. Jaime was the perfect guide. We chatted on and off and took in the crowd. With Brooke, Izi and Lydia not too far from us, we made a good pack of Seattle Green Lake Group runners. Because they were wearing the Seattle Greenlake Running Group shirts we were hearing a lot of “Go, Seattle!” “yeah, Green Lake!!” all the way through the course. I felt like I was running with celebrities!
Jaime was the most supportive and considerate running partner I could have asked for. I have an irrational fear of over drinking during marathons, so I wasn’t planning on taking water at every stop. Jaime knew better and was kindly grabbing waters for me when I didn’t make the move myself, so I kept taking sips. Little did I know that’s exactly what I needed to continue to run at the pace we were. When I left Jamie I didn’t do a good job of keeping myself hydrated enough, which led to some cramping in the final miles.
As we made our way through the course, it was a relief to have someone so positive and nice to run with. When we heard the Wellesley College “Scream Tunnel” I felt an immediate burst of energy. We looked for signs that inspired us we ran over and gave cheek kisses to the ones we liked the most.
At half way, my legs were feeling pretty good but my stomach was not. I wanted to take care of business so I sped up in hopes that I’d be quick enough to catch Jaime after a pit stop.
I found her again but I still wasn’t feeling great. Jamie continued to support me and pointed out that otter pops in this heat were heaven.
Soon after this spot, my legs started to feel worse. We came across another SGLRG member, Lydia, who was walking on and off. When I stopped and walked with her, I hit an unintended conscience of my occasional water stops and lack of sodium, my calves cramped up. I felt if I pushed it, I would collapse. I could tell this was the start of my long haul, told Lydia to keep going, and started walking.
This was around mile 20. I had six more miles to go. I’d try to shuffle a bit and then get a shooting pain up my calf and stop. When I was walking, my shins started to cramp. I started to feel a little sorry for myself.
I stopped myself from being too upset by looking around, enjoying the crowd who occasionally called out my entire number and watching stronger runners from Wave 3 pass me by. I enjoyed the sounds and sights of the marathon at my extra leisurely pace.
I also saw people struggling way worse than me when I’d peer into a med tent. I thought a lot about stopping and checking into one but I was too afraid that would end my race so I trudged on. Walking during a marathon with that many spectators is a tough thing to do. At this point, I was happy that I wasn’t wearing the SGLRG shirt. I would have felt guilty representing our club in this way and the crowd would have pushed me to move faster or harder than my body could have taken at that point. So my anonymity served me well.
As I passed the Citgo sign I told myself I’d start to run. I started shuffling for about a quarter mile before we went down a slight hill. That triggered another pain and I walked up a short incline in a tunnel. I was getting so close to the end, I was begging to turn right on Hereford and left on Boylston. Before I did, I heard someone calling my name, I looked to my right and it was a friend I’ve known since college. I ran over to her and gave her a hug. Her happy energy transferred over to me and she told me to get going, so I ran. I was able to run in that last little bit. Not fast, but I didn’t stop until I crossed the finish.
I finished the Boston Marathon in 4:29:53, an hour and a half over my qualifying time, my worst marathon time by far. I would take it hard, beat myself up and be sad for awhile if this were a different race. I can’t help but look back on that weekend and see anything but joy. I made a lot of new friends who I look forward to training with (especially on Friday FLUR, and Saturday Rise and Shines). I’m happy I’m done worrying about marathon training for awhile. I’m excited to get on with speed stuff.
While it was my worst marathon, it was the best time I’ve had at a race. I’ll be back to get a better time next year, and I’ll wear the SGLRG shirt proudly with more training under my belt.
