Boston Marathon - RunMarathon

I was happy that I got into a higher corral. It only too me about 1.5 miles to get out of the "pack". I used that time to high 5 little kids and fans. Gotta get good Karma! Plus I used this to get my mind off of things later in the race.

The first 10 miles went exactly according to my plan. I had on a 3:05 pace bracelet and was following it to a tee (with the excpetion of the first mile). The mile markers were coming fast and I was feeling good. Then reality struck! The air in Boston is very crisp. For me, that meant that I really couldn't take in deep breaths. My HR started to climb and I could feel myself slowing down. I tried to take my mind off of my body, but the battle was slowly being lost.

At mile 10, I took another gel. The problem is...i didn't rip off the top enough. I had to really squeeze it. So, of course, it went everywhere. I managed to eat about 3/4 of it and was very glad that people had wet wipes along the course. Running with sticky hands is very not comfortable. I was following a really cute girl for the first 11 miles and then she dropped me. I told myself to hang on until Wellesley where I knew I would get a temporary Boost. Plus Nancy was going to be somewhere around there. I got to 12.5 and I could hear the women there. It was NUTS! Talk about being motivated. It was an added bonus that most of them were cute, but just the sheer energy of them was phenonminal. I held my hand out for pretty much the entire time I ran by them.

After leaving them, I came upon the 1/2 marathon point. I was still thinking that I could salvage a Boston Qualifying time and justify my running Boston as my first marathon.

Just after the 1/2 point, I saw Nancy on the left side of the road. I made a Bee line to her and gave her a big kiss. She was really excited and so was I. About 1/4 mile after this, I started to get really emotional. This was a bad thing because it prevented me from breathing. I had to force the thought of Nancy giving up her B-day to watch me run my guts out. She's awesome!!!

After mile 15, I gave up on the pace bracelet and just tried to hold onto what I could without blowing up. The largest surprise came at 16 - 17 where there was a NASTY uphill. People talk about Heartbreak, but this is the steepest climb in my opinion. It was pure Hell. Luckily, there was Gel at mile marker 17. As I found out the hard way, Vanilla Power Gel is about the foulest tasting thing on the planet. But I needed it and needed it badly.

At this point, I was just holding on for dear life. My legs were getting a beat down from the course and my feet were feeling really hot. Nothing I have ever experienced on a run before. Addding insult to injury happened somewhere around mile marker 19. I grabbed some gatorade and wouldn't you know that as I tried to drink it, I managed to splash it in my eye. Around my sunglasses, around my hat and into my left eye. My god that stings like a MFer. And of course, I was already past the water stop, so I couldnt' wash it out right away. Luckily, there was some kids with water. And did Dan stop and try and flush it out??? NO! My dumb ass kept running and splashing it with my sunglasses and hat still ON. Eventually, it stopped stinging. Yeah...I'm a dumbass.

The crowd got me from miles 19 - 23. Heartbreak hill was awesome. People cheering you on and a guy saw me reach for ice and all I had to do was take my hat off. He ran along side me and put some ice in there for me. And before he left said, "Go get them!" That was an awesome moment for me.

The last 5K was on pure guts on my part. The crowd couldn't help me anymore and my body wanted to shut down. I walked through the mile 23 water stop and told myself that I would not stop again until the end no matter what. I saw people pass me and for the first time in a race, not only could I not respond, I didn't care. This was personal...me against Boston! I was not only going to not let my first Marathon be a DNF, but I was going to finish the Holy Grail of Marathoning on my feet running. There were SO many people lining the last 2 miles of that course. I had long stopped waving my hand to anyone that called out "Go Dan" or "Go Delta" (Had on a Delta Jersey) and just focused on the road ahead of me.

I saw the 1 mile to go banner and I started to feel a little better. I forced myself to be on my 5 mile loop course and convince myself that it was an easy 1 mile run. That lasted about 1 minute. All I know is that I want someone to remeasure that last mile because I swear it was 1.5 miles long!!

I got to the final streatch and knew I was going to finish. This was the first time I was convinced that I was going to finish. I allowed myself to absorb the energy from the people. I had a decision to make...push my self and sprint to the line and gain 30 seconds or keep on pace and enjoy the moment. I chose the latter! At this point, 30 seconds was not worth it and I didn't want to puke at the line. I chose instead to find a spot between runners so that I could get a decent finish line picture...vain...I know.

I have a newfound respect for Marathon runners now. Even my 23 mile training run didn't compare to this. Marathons are hard! And to think that next time I run one...it will be after a short swim and bike.

BUT...I am confident that I should be able to hold 8 - 8:30's though. As bad as I was feeling, I still managed to run around 8:30's and it felt like I was running 10 min miles.

Hydarate more during the race. I lost 7 lbs during the race. I started the race fully hydrated and drank at every water stop. The problem is that even though I had mostly gatorade, I didn't take enough water. I kept remembering my HIM where I only took water and it cost me. So I was concerned about the gatorade and forgot about the water.

I would also train longer than 9 weeks for a marathon. But in this case, I didn't have a choice. I found out 9 weeks before that I could go. Gotta take your opportunities when they come.

I think that if I would have sufferred more, I could have taken a MAX of 2 minutes off of my time. To me, that means that I ran the best race that I could on that day. I have no complaints and am DAMN proud of my time.

After finishing, I made my way through the gauntlet of volenteers. I told myself that I would not sit in a wheelchair even though I wanted to SOOO Badly. I got my chip off, my blanket on and managed to find my bus with my clothes. I kept going to the end and found Boston Common. At this point, my entire body was tingly. I mean from my ears to my toes...tingly and shaky. I put on some clothes and tried to eat. Nancy called me and we went to meet. I had to walk about 1/2 mile to get to her because it was so crowded. Luckily, mostly everyone got out of the way for me because I had my Mylar blanket on.

I had to keep myself from crying several times. I saw one girl on the virge of tears and I gave her a Hug and we cryed together for a bit. We didn't say anything to each other, we just gave each other a "great job" today look and went our seperate ways. When I finally got to Nancy, it was tears again. I have been accused of being an emotional vacuum on more than one occasion and this was not the case today. I now know how it feels to push your body beyond it's limits and win the battle in your head.

I felt like crap for the next 2 hrs. The tingly feeling finally went away after about an hour.


Only 9 weeks of training.
Being cocky and not repecting the marathon.



BOSTON is an experience that you will NOT forget. For me, it was my first marathon and it was a great one. I don't know if I want to run another one, but I'm so glad that I did Boston. Not only is it a great race, but the people are SO friendly, the town is so cool, it's beyond words.

I say the course was too hard because I didn't respect it. I now respect not only the Boston Course, but the Marathon itself.