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Comments: About a minute later, the gun went off, everyone was cheering, there were a million people all around screaming and yelling and just cheering for all of us runners…and most of the runners (including myself) were being loud and cheering too. I had to walk to the starting line which took about 3 minutes. There were over 3000 people in front of me. When the crowd reached the start line, we all started running. I was starting my first Boston Marathon!! The first few miles were pretty uneventful…I was running fast though…sub 7 pace. The first few corrals were naturally the faster ones, so I wanted to make sure I kept up with the crowd, but not overpower them. I met up with a few Marathon Maniacs right off the bat. We ran together…I think I remember one of them being one of the Main Maniacs…but for the life of me I can’t remember which one it was!! We ran up some small hills but a lot of the course was flat up til that point. I kept thinking I needed to make Terri proud of me, I knew she only had a few days left and I wanted her to know I kicked butt at Boston. So I kept my pace up. The miles seemed to go by so quickly! I was so thrilled that I was actually doing this…actually running the freakin’ BOSTON MARATHON…that I really didn’t realize how far I was going. I don’t really remember caring much about how fast or slow I was going. I looked at my Garmin at Mile 7, and I wasn’t even near an hour yet…I was running, honestly, a lot faster than I thought I would. I kept thinking, this is just Umstead fitness that I’m running off of. At no time were there no people around. It seemed like EVERY inch of the course was lined with people. Around 10 miles in, I still felt great but I didn’t want to overextend myself so I held back and just ran about 7:10 pace. I knew in a couple miles I’d be getting to Wellesley and a million screaming girls. I was looking forward to the experience because I’d heard so much about it. I kept trying to wrap my mind around it, the signs were already starting to appear…”FEEL THE SCREAM”. I actually started to get giddy about it. How strange is that? Me…getting giddy about seeing a million screaming girls. Mile 11 and 12 passed uneventfully. I had been taking gels every four miles or so and was keeping up with my nutrition plan. The crowd had thinned out now, and I was running with people at about my pace, so there was no jockeying for position. About a half mile later…I started to hear it. It sounded like an airplane. Just a constant scream…and it got louder. I made my way up a hill and there was another sign that said “FEEL THE SCREAM” and holy hell…I DID. Louder and louder and louder…until I was immersed in one giant non-stop scream. There was a band playing and they were IMPOSSIBLE to hear over the scream. I have never experienced something like this. It was absolutely deafening! There were guys going over to the girls and kissing them…hugging them…I stayed in the middle and ran thru…I wasn’t about to go over and stick my tongue down some cheerleader’s throat…but holy hell, some guys were!! It was honestly one of the weirdest things I’ve ever seen!! And the girls were loving it…some were dressed quite scantily for a chilly Boston morning. For an entire mile, I ran thru a constant scream…but at about Mile 14 it died off and I continued on my way. At Mile 15 I started wondering how fast I could get thru the race. I hadn’t seen my family yet and was figuring that I was going faster than I originally thought I would. They were tracking me via text messages though, so I was sure they’d meet me somewhere on the course. I was getting a little tired but I was still feeling strong. I thought a lot about Terri during the next 5 miles. I kept thinking I knew it wouldn’t be long before she’d not be in my life physically anymore and I needed to make her proud. I knew she wasn’t really conscious most of the day, but I knew she’d know I’d finished. She told me to go out there and kick its butt and get another BQ for next year. So I decided that was in my reach now. The time was right, I was feeling good. I was nervous about Heartbreak Hill though. I had heard so much about it, but I’d never seen the actual incline. At Mile 20 I knew we were approaching it. So I took my supplements and an extra gel just to be sure. The hills started appearing…they were small, but I could feel myself having to work now. Mile 21…I was fearing the worst…I was running up a hill with a guy…it was a pretty tough hill, but I was still keeping a good pace, and said to the guy next to me,” wow, Heartbreak is gonna be a toughy…we’re gonna get to the top of this one and it’s gonna be right there isn’t it??” That’s when he looked at me and said…”ummm…you’re on it”…and I looked at him back and smiled. I told him “I just ran a 100 miler 2 weeks ago and the easiest hill there was harder than this!!” I don’t think he liked that too much. He didn’t answer me and then he faded back. Oops…sorry. Heartbreak Hill was NOT a heartbreaker…it was actually quite simple to ascend…just lean in and go. I was up in no time and the rest of the race was mine to conquer! OK, Mile 22…my body was really getting tired but I knew the race was almost over. I tried to settle into a decent pace and still have enough energy to nab that 3:15 or better that I needed. It seemed easy enough to do. I saw Brian, my mom, my aunt, and Jim’s buddy Bill at about 22.5 and they were all cheering! That made me feel so awesome!! I told them to head to the finish, I’ll be there soon! That was just the pick-me-up I needed to get there. The last 2.5 miles were hard but I kept up a good pace…I knew I had the 3:15 in the bag. The energy in the last mile was incredible!! The crowds were bigger and the cheering was louder! It felt great to be running into the city and to be almost done! I ran up a small hill and turned a corner and there it was! The finish line!! I ran down the street (it seemed to take forever to get to) and I looked at my watch! I was at 3:11 and change and I knew I’d gotten my BQ for next year all wrapped up, just like Terri said! I crossed the line at 3:12 on my watch and I was super thrilled! I think I even cried a bit. What would you do differently?: Are you kidding???  Post race
Warm down: Immediately, I had to go thru the chute, get my medal and get my chip taken off. The cool thing was, at the chip removal station, you get a free hug from the person taking your chip off. The hug was good…cuz I was cold. Immediately after getting my chip off I set off to find the dry clothes bag buses. The chills were setting in and the wind was picking up. It took a while to get my bag, but I got it and immediately put my nice warm clothes on and went to get inside so I could warm up. I waited for Jim to get in. When he did, he was freezing. He hadn’t dropped off any warm dry clothes…Bill had his bag and I had no idea where they were. I called my mom and Brian to see where they were. When I found Jim, he was almost hypothermic…I ushered him inside the hotel I was at and got him seated next to a fireplace so he could warm up. Then I got in touch with Brian and actually had to run out about a half mile to meet up with him so I could get Jim’s bag. They were having a hard time getting thru all the people, but since I was a runner I had access to more of the “backstage” area so I could get thru. I got Jim’s bag and brought it to him. Eventually, the rest of the gang showed up, we relaxed a bit and then headed back out to get some food! We ate like kings. It was good. Event comments: It's BOSTON. It's awesome. Everything is awesome. Profile Album Last updated: 2009-01-07 12:00 AM
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United States
Boston Athletic Association
40F / 4C
Sunny
Overall Rank = 3121/22849
Age Group = M18-39
Age Group Rank = 555/1865
Brian, Jim, Bill, and I were up early. Only Jim and I really needed to be, as we had to be outside the hotel by 615 to get on the bus which took us to Boston Common…where we’d get on MORE buses to get to the start line. We made our bus on time, but when we got to Boston Common, the lines to get on the starting line transport buses were incredible! They stretched all the way across the common and snaked down the street. The line was so long that I was able to go get us some Starbucks while Jim stood in line. I got back with the coffee (I got myself a little bit of lemon cake too, but I was so nervous I wasn’t able to eat it right away) and we got on a bus about five minutes later. Time was starting to tick away and we were wondering how easy it was gonna be to get to the starting line. My stomach was already tied in knots and I knew I’d have to go to the bathroom when we got to the staging area.
About a 45 minute ride, the bus took us to the staging area where we were to drop off our dry clothes bags and any other needed equipment we’d need after the race. I gave the correct person my bag and joined Jim in the portapotty line, which I needed BADLY at this time. We were both very cold but it was time to “man up” and get into our racing clothes. We both tried to ignore the cold and concentrate on the race…and more importantly, I had to concentrate on getting in that portapotty…my stomach was NOT happy. Finally, we were at the front of the line, and it was 10 minutes til race time! HOLY HELL…we had to rush! About a minute later I was done and we were ready to go.
We decided to jog, not walk, to the starting line as we had literally 5 minutes until the gun went off. We jogged, walked a bit, jogged a bit more, until we reached the corrals. Finally!! Jim found his spot…we slapped hands and wished each other good luck. I walked up to my corral and squeezed in where I could. It didn’t matter exactly where I started, I was there to have a good race with no goals.