Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Boston 2011

I ran the 2011 Boston Marathon on Monday!

My time was 3:34:11. That amounts to approximately 24 minutes slower than my ideal race time, 12 minutes slower than my last marathon, and 9 minutes slower than the pace of my last 23 mile training run. AND, despite the slow pace, it was possibly the most difficult running I have ever done in my life. (Considering how some of my other runs have gone, that's saying something!)

I could give you a laundry list of excuses. And I will. I was sick for three weeks prior to the race. I got dehydrated, had heart palpitations and cramping muscles (I decided that for THIS race I didn't need my camelback or endurolytes). And I probably should have started the race at a more moderate pace and worked up from there.

But let's be honest, there were 27,000 other people in the race, and I bet they have the same excuses if not better ones.

So, excuses aside, given that things DIDN'T work out as planned, that I WAS in agony and pretty darn miserable for over half the race, an interesting question is WHY ON EARTH DID I KEEP RUNNING? Well....

1) I thought about my baby girl and husband who were EXPECTING me to come to the finish line before 1:30.

2) I thought about Heather, who had also been sick, and who was also somewhere ahead of me. My inspiration!

3) I thought about my dad, and what he would think of me if I dropped out.

3) I heard my mother telling me "Just put one foot in front of the other" as she used to on long hikes when I was small.

4) I thought about my sister who doesn't run, and yet has the highest endurance of anyone I've ever met, and who would NEVER quit.

5) I thought about Rachel and our many discussions about how often the difficulty of running is just mental. I kept telling myself "It's just mental!"

6) I thought of Tory and how much easier running is than labor.

7) I thought of all my friends tracking my progress on line, willing me to finish.

There it is. I wouldn't have finished without all my family and friends. You didn't know I depended on you so much, did you?

I don't want to bore you with details of my agony, but I do feel compelled to share three incidents from the last half of the race.

The first happened around mile 15. I was hurting. I hadn't even hit the hills and I was having trouble keeping an 8:30 pace. I was despairing. 11 miles still to go! I stopped for a big drink of water. A guy on the side said "How is it going?" I replied "It's hard" and continued to stand and drink. Finally, when after a minute I was still standing there drinking, he said "Are you going to finish?" I glared daggers in his direction and indignantly replied "Yes" as I headed out.

The second was in the middle of the Newton hills. I was trudging up a hill and momentarily lost my desire to continue (this happened quite a few times). I stopped and walked. A guy was squatting at the top of the hill and he started yelling at me. And I mean YELLING. "Come on 8841! Don't stop!" He repeated it like 5 times at the top of his lungs! I had to start running again just to get him to shut up! Good move, guy, good move.

The third was about 500 yards from the finish line when Heather came out of nowhere and started running with me. At that time my left quad was up in the rotation of cramping leg muscles. And I was pinching my right side where a rebellious and obscure torso muscle was cramping. Despite it all, I think I actually smiled and felt happy for a moment!

Then I finished and felt like never moving again.



P.S. My overall finishing place is 8,861. That's only 40 spots down from where I started!
P.P.S. I got burned to a crisp in the sun.

7 comments:

Sha'Niqua said...

Congrats! What a big accomplishment! I'm not exatly looking forward to mine, except for that feeling of overwhelming relief when you finish. Nothing like it. Also, I've NEVER run a marathon where they give you a blanket at the end. I'm JEALOUS!

penn said...

you finished! way to go :-) I am super proud of you. I think of YOU when I am slogging through yet another BS education paper (because writing a paper is easier than running). wish I could congratulate you in person.

get rhythm said...

Seriously you're awesome! I'd rather be in labor and deliver a baby again than run a marathon.

Bonnie said...

...me too, rhythm. Since I can't be in labor, I can say that. The I don't have to do either one.

Liv said...

So incredibly proud of you. I've been telling anybody who will listen:
"Did you hear about my sister? She ran the Boston Marathon yesterday. Yeah, she ran 26 miles"
"Did I mention she did each mile in about 8 minutes each?"
"How fast can you run one mile?"
"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Way to keep the right attitude all the way through that horrendous experience! Way to finish no matter what!

You're fantastic.

pecwanpete said...

I had to read this again and I absolutely love the image of you glaring at the guy at mile 15. I can picture this so perfectly.

Lindsey said...

Wow Suz. I just got winded READING this! You amaze me... Congratulations!