Almost As Good As Being There


Last night I didn’t get a posting done for 1 reason … I spent 2 hours on Daily Mile reading race reports from about 15 of my friends who had run the Boston Marathon on Monday.  And what a 2 hours it was.  It just carried forward from the excitement and trepidation by proxy that I felt for them on Monday as I looked at their pre-race photos and read the short blurbs they wrote as they made their way to Runner's Village and then while the waited for their wave to start.


I am a pretty emotional person and reading about my friends who were realizing their dream/goal of running the Boston Marathon was a roller coaster of emotion … maybe more so since I have qualified for next year. Some of them ran as qualifiers, others on charity teams.  They all had the same goal … to finish. 


I saw the pictures from the Daily Mile Meet Up and how much fun they were having together, many meeting each other for the 1st time.  I read as they posted their last thoughts about the race before they went to sleep the night before. When I got up at 0430 Monday morning for my own run, a few of them had already posted their first thoughts on race day. I read how they worried about the heat as they sat waiting for the race to start.  Some were even, amazingly, able to post pictures and notes as they made their way along the course.  I watched the coverage on Universal Sports and got excited every time my cell indicated I had a race update. The day ended with many of them posting a short note that they had finished, stating their time and promising a full report “later.” One stood out though.  It was from Lori.  Lori had raised money for Team Dana Farber and was running for her father who had died at a young age (I posted a link to her fundraising page in an early blog entry).  Her posting made me cry.


Most of the crew had recovered enough by last night to sit down and type their full race reports.  I think the most commonly mentioned word was HOT.  They talked of struggles, the awesome crowds along the way, other racers that would not see the finish and the best were their individual evaluations of their race.  Almost all of them talked about having to reassess their ultimate goal for the race.  Many attempts at PRs were throw out the window because of the conditions.  It was interesting to read posts from the 1st timers just as much as it was fun to read the ones from the many times marathoners.  Lori again wrote an report that left me in tears as she talked about the times she had watch the marathon with her dad and the things she did to memorialize him along the route.  The report from Ally, one half of a superstar couple, made me cry when she talked about how her husband Steve grabbed her hand and held it as they ran down the last stretch.  Today she posted an awesome picture of this moment of their race.


There were other things that I gleaned from these awesome report … intel for my run next year.  Some of the things I learned:

• The girls at Wellesley form a very loud tunnel of screaming that sounds like thunder as you approach the campus.  They also wave signs begging for a kiss.
• The boys at Boston College smoke cigars (for the record that’s not a good thing to do around people running a marathon) and yell things at you like telling you how sexy you look.
• Heartbreak Hill has that name for a reason.
• When you see the big Citgo sign that’s a good thing!.
• The stretch after you come around the last corner is A LOT longer than you think.
• Seeing your Daily Mile friends before and during the race can be just what the doctor ordered to keep you going.  Seeing them after is the icing on the cake.
• Most importantly, you can only prepare so much and there is always the possibility that something totally out of your control, like the weather, will change all of your best laid plans.  When that happens just ENJOY the run.

My friend Heather summed it up best, “Isn't just amazing!!! I think what is neat about it is that we get to experience first had these individuals achieving their dreams. It is inspiring! I can't wait to read yours, and hopefully some day you will read mine...."to Boston" cheers!”