Boston Marathon 2011 – Been There, Done That (Kinda)

My Boston race experience was not what I expected and it went something like this:

Start. Run for 40 minutes. Walk. Walk. Walk. Walk. *Smile* (camera). Bar stop. Walk. Walk. Run (there’s another camera). Walk. *Kiss* (Wellesley) Walk. *Smile* (camera). Walk. Walk. Walk. *complain* Walk. Walk some more and finally, FINISH!

That pretty much sums it up. I had a commitment that day to run 40 minutes easy so I just did that inside of the actual race. I don’t think my coach liked that idea based on this text a few days later (geez, word spreads fast):

Coach: So u walked the marathon!

Me: Like a grandma and slow! Walking doesn’t bother me. Running does!

Coach: Not smart! But it’s done so let’s move forward and please, no more of that!

Me: I actually bar hopped throughout the race and only jogged the first 40 minutes since you told me to run that.  I’m not hiding anything and I won’t do something if it will make me worse which is why I am not doing much running.

Me: OK. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Sorry!

Coach: I like that. That’s good. OK, you got me. I have 2 laugh, I’m glad you had so much fun! I’m here having beers.

PHEW – I was in trouble for a minute. 🙂

Another cute email I got from a man and his son who were at the restaurant that we dropped into around mile 5 to have a little beverage and to see the leaders on TV:

“I’m glad Daniel and I got to meet you both and as far as we’re concerned, you two are the winners. The first pic is the men’s leaders passing LaCantina and the second is just a classic. Nice meeting you and see you next year.”

Our first pit stop at mile 5 – Lacantina (Framingham).

He couldn’t believe we stopped during the race and his little boy was so excited to be near the marathoners. Really cute kid but he will be sorely disappointed to know it is not that cool to walk, stop or do anything during the race besides running!

Anyway, it’s funny how we look at situations differently once they are behind you. You might know what I am talking about – when a situation seems unbearable and then when that situation is over, you just look back and smile and remember that those situations are really just blurbs of your life and really insignificant.  You even wonder why you wasted so much energy worrying and stressing when it probably wasn’t that big of a deal after all. That’s me now post-Boston. Until that race was in my past, I was a wreck, I tried to hide it but there was this penned up emotion in me that at any moment would come out in the form of bitchy-ness. Phew…glad this is behind me.

So…as everyone knows, I mysteriously got injured the week of LA Marathon in the form of pain in my ass. I had no clue what happened, it was kind of freaky.  My sacroiliac joint (pelvis left of my sacrum) was really jammed and at it hurt in a way that I can only describe as being punched in my lower back, butt and hip. In the beginning I felt tremendous pain when I walked but as I took time off from running, I didn’t feel the pain. This was a little misleading because I would try to go for a jog and immediately the pain was back again. Finally, after more than six weeks and two races (the only two marathons on my schedule), I was finally able to run 6 whole miles without any discomfort. Before this I tried running at various times and my body was just not having it.  I filled all this extra time I had on my hands with other things like eating, drinking and some pilates. Not the stuff that I should have done but I had to stay sane. For the past 20 weeks leading up to LA Marathon, I was a running fanatic – doing whatever I had to do to stay on point to break that 3:00:00 mark. The competitive side of me wanted to continue working out like crazy to keep all of my fitness but the other side of me (I don’t even know what to call that side) told me to have fun so that I wouldn’t get depressed and be angry all the time.

Now my focus is on staying healthy and short term goals like a 5K PR. I do have some marathon wishes (races) in my back pocket but it is too early to think that far ahead.

It was Donald’s idea to walk the race.

I had fans and didn’t even know it!

I couldn’t be left out of the Wellesley fun!

Smiling made everything better!

Apparently my boyfriend didn’t want to be left out neither.

My course fluid replacement drink of choice.

I came all the way to Boston to get this medal and I am NOT leaving without it!