The first 6 miles felt great when we were with the wind, but awful when we were into the wind. I saw Dante at mile 6 and he gave me the advice that made the race. He told me to jump into a pace group to help battle the wind. It was a great idea, but I had to decide do I try and catch the 3:30 pace group or slow down and let the 3:40 pace group catch me. If most of you know me you know what I did. So now here I am in the 3:30 pace group, ahead of my pacing plan (sorry Jeff) but happy as can be to have bodies to help fight the wind with. By mile 12 my parents had joined Dante and formed what we called the mobile cheering section. The professional (as my dad described it) mobile cheering section consisted of an organization director (Mom), a strategic coach (Dante) and a motivational coach (Dad). And they were mobile, I saw the group at mile 12, 15, 18, 20, 23, and the finish.

After mile 12 the winds really picked up and our little pace group tightened together as the rain started. The rain came and went. By mile 15 I was still hanging with the pace leader. At mile 18 I fell back about 20 feet from the pace leader and my cheer team got a little nervous that I might have gone out too fast. I saw the concern and quickly realized I needed to catch up to the pace pack. I caught up and just in time because we started to get pummeled by the wind again. By mile 20 I started to think I would be able to stay with the pace group the whole way and qualify for Boston. Then I thought maybe I could even break 3:30. Once that thought entered my mind breaking 3:30 became my focus. Mile 22 came and our pace leader said something about challenging yourself and enduring pain. I can’t remember what he said but I know it sent me running. I picked up the pace and took off. I felt great. I was actually ahead of the pace group. I saw my cheering section at mile 23 and was pumped. My Dad and Dante started running down the street with me, while my dad yelled something about a dog he bet on last night at the race track and won named flying home (really the dog was named flying home depot but I heard flying home). I am not sure how that is motivational but it was to me and I picked up the pace again. The winds were still gusting and at times it felt like you were just running in place against the wind. Mile 24 came and it was painful. I started to think maybe I kicked too soon but I just kept moving, (Jeff told me to that when it gets tough, just keep moving). Then I saw mile 25 and I stopped feeling my legs and just ran as fast as I could to the finish. I rounded the corner and saw the finish and couldn’t stop smiling as I ran it in. I think my smile was as big as ever. I finished in 3:28:46. I qualified for the Boston marathon! And ran faster than I thought I could. It was great and I can’t stop smiling. I feel like a little kid.

The mobile cheering section endured a long day in the cold wind and rain and I could not thank them enough for their support. I heard that the three of them had a good time talking about topics ranging from analyzing different runner’s outfits to my dad possibly getting a tattoo (what kind, where and the size of it (?)). The mobile cheering section also encouraged, cheered, motivated, and helped many other runners during the race.

Stats:
16th female out of 496
3rd in my age group out of 83
7:58 pace min/mile
1 big smile