Boston Marathon 2013
Now
that I am on my way to Tokyo for work, I will have some time to get this
experience down as it should be.
First
of all I have to say that this is definitely one of the top highlights of my
life so far. It was such a great experience that I never considered
participating in. The back story to this is that I had run a BQ time a few
years ago. People would always ask me when I was going to go run Boston. I
would always tell them that I just didn’t think it was that big of a deal.
Besides I could run about 10 local marathons for what it would cost to go out
and run Boston. It just didn’t have any cache for me. The other deterrent for me had been how many
people had told me that I just had to do Boston no matter what. They would say
that I needed to do it just as an experience and not worry about racing it.
That doesn’t work for me. For me it is called a race for a reason. If you are
going to do something then you give it your “everything and more”, or you just
don’t do it!
Well
during our last family reunion my Uncle found out that I had a BQ time. He is
someone that I have always admired and he has always had excellent advice. He
convinced me that I really needed to do this. There are others in the extended
family that had tired and so far had been unsuccessful in getting a BQ time.
So when
the entry opened for the 2013 race I promptly registered at the appointed time.
I was a little excited but still wondered how I was going to actually pay for
the travel and all.
I was
training toward being prepared but in November and December I went through a
real funk where I thought I might actually just stop running altogether. I
finally pulled out of that and got right back into focused training. I also had
some fortuitous events that made the travel and housing cost become feasible. I
want to thank Scott Keate right here for letting me join in the group they had
going back for the event. I also need to thank my Uncle for his encouragement
and assistance.
So by
this time there were not many great options as far as flights go. What I ended
up with was a red-eye from SLC on Thursday night that put me in Boston at 7am
Friday morning. The housing was not going to be available until that evening.
So I had planned to spend most of the day at the airport. Scott contacted the
home owner who said they had an upstairs apartment and that it would be fine
for me to come over early. I arrived at
the home in South Boston around 08:30. They were so nice and accommodating.
They showed me to a room on the top floor. I climbed on the bed and slept until
1pm. After talking with the home owners for a bit I decided to head on over to
the Expo and scope it out before the others arrived later that evening.
I
hopped a bus to downtown. I finally got into the correct area of the convention
center. I went through and picked up my packet, number and all. It was pretty
cool to be near the front of the numbers. Especially seeing how many there
were. The size of the event was finally starting to sink in as I looked down
the hall at how many packet pick-up tables there were. Ever since I had found
out my assigned number I had been joking with everyone that it was 1 number too
high. I had used my 2011 STG time as my entry time. This ended up giving me
number 667 for the race.
The
Expo was just overwhelming. It seemed almost as big as the O.R show I had gone
to this year. Once again I was beginning to see the expanse of this event. I
wondered around in awe for quite a while. I finally decided that I needed
something special to commemorate this possibly once in a lifetime event. So
since I have been racing in Saucony Kinvaras for a few years now, I decided to
buy a pair of the exclusive “Boston edition” of the new Kinvara 4. I decided
that I would run the race in them and then use them for a few other exclusive
races before putting them away as mementos. I stopped by the Altra shoe booth
and talked with Brian for a few minutes. I was excited for his 2nd
double Boston. In fact, for a moment, I considered joining him. I called
Scott’s phone around 6pm and he and those who had arrived were just out on a
run. I decided I would head back to the house. Well I got lost in the Expo, I
told you it was big, it took me over 10 minutes to find my way back out.
After I dropped my stuff at the
house I headed out toward the grocery store to get some supplies. As I was
walking down the street I looked in a window and recognized Scott’s head. I
went into the little pizza/sandwich shop to join them. Her I met Paul and Ryan.
After e quick sandwich I left and went to the store. I purchased items for my
specific diet because I wasn’t sure what the plan was or what everyone else
would be eating. I have been doing the Paleo diet for a few months now and at
least for me I think it has been great. Later Brandon and Dan and Reed arrived.
Because I got there early and had
the furthest bedroom and because of my diet I regret that I did miss out on
some of the camaraderie and time spent with all of the others. I also stuck to
a pretty strict sleeping schedule. The meds I take for my restless leg syndrome
pretty much dictate this for me.
Saturday was a great day. We all
went to the Expo so the others could get there numbers and stuff. It was cool
to be there as Scott picked up #102. There were no lower bib numbers because
the elites only have their names on them. Everyone purchased some Boston gear
of some sort. Here I made a little mistake. I bought some new shorts. I ended
up using them in the race and paid a small price for doing something untested. That
evening we got in a short run just to keep the legs fresh.
Here is when I started to see how
supportive the people of Boston are for this event. Everywhere we went people
were thanking us for coming and telling us to have a great race. This continued
all weekend long. I never heard one negative comment the whole time.
Saturday night I got some great
hours of rest. Sunday was a nice relaxing day. By now the other guys were
making comments and asking about my diet and the food I would bring downstairs.
I have always enjoyed raw meat and this seems to fascinate many people. It is
not a macho thing at all; I just like it that way. That afternoon Scott Brandon
and I did another sort easy run. It is amazing how easy it is to breathe at sea
level when you run at almost 5000 feet.
I was getting very nervous about
the race and the paces I should run. I had brought many different pace charts
and I could not decide what to do. Finally after talking with Brandon, Reed and
Scott, I decided not to use a pace chart and just follow their advice and start
easy then go by feel. This ended up
being a great decision. So many of the Utah races have so much downhill in them
that I am always thinking that I can bank time and then gut it out to the
finish. I do OK but know that it really isn’t the smartest way to run a
marathon.
We decided on a departure time of
05:15 for Monday morning. I tried to sleep bit it was only fits and fleeting.
It was so great to head out with such a great group of guys. It gave me
confidence and it was so much fun. Even though the bus rides were a bit nerve
rackingly slow I was feeling good.
When we arrived at the athlete
village it was awesome to see so many people all with a similar goal. Get to
the finish of something very challenging. No matter the pace of the individual
runner we were all in this together!
By now I was a little warmer than I
had expected it to be. I think it was partially the excitement of it all. I
decided on just the singlet with arm sleeves and throw away gloves for up top.
We dropped our bags in the bus and headed to the start. WOW, I realized again
what a huge event this is. There were runners everywhere. Scott went up to the
front where he belonged and needed to be. Ryan, Reed and I lined up together as
Brandon joined a few online friends. It looked like we were only about 15 rows
back. It was hard to tell though. I was surprised and the narrowness of the
start and the road I could see ahead. By now I was so excited and overwhelmed
that I didn’t realize the national anthem was being played. When it finished I
realized I had not removed my hat but I was shaking from cold and excitement. I
also had my Go-Pro with the head mount. I had done at least 2 rest runs and
felt like it wouldn’t be a hindrance. I am so glad I had it. I can hardly wait
to get the video all edited and uploaded.
Bang went the start gun. We walked
a few strides and then jogged a few until we stepped over the start line. I
pushed the button on my watch and we broke into a real running stride. Already
there seemed to be a sea of people ahead of us. I really had to pull back and
not take off with those who were streaming by. I kept to the plan and held
back. We Reed, Ryan and myself, saw Brandon a bit out front of us so we did a
small push to get the 4 of us all together. The first mile it seemed like the
world was slowly pulling past us. This was a different experience for me. The
first 3 miles went to plan, 6:35, 6:23, 6:18, easing into and lowering the pace
as we went. The first 5k was 20:04.
The crowds were amazing. There were
more people and cheering in the first 3 miles than in most of the entire
marathons I have run in the past. It only got better and better as the race
went on. At the Expo they had these stickers you could take and write your name
on so that the crowd could call out your name. It ended up that I didn’t need
one. I became Mr. Go-Pro. It seemed like everyone that noticed the camera would
yell out “GO, Go-Pro”, or something similar. If I would turn my head to point
the camera at them then they would really go crazy. So much fun! I am going to
wear it for many future races also.
By Mile 5 I realized the
challenging nature of the course. It is just roller after roller hill, or bump
for us Utah mountain runners. Still the grades going down were enough to make
you want to over accelerate. Then the up slope was just enough to slow you
down. In looking at a graph of the pace it is really erratic compared to any
other marathon I have done.
I feel that this has been my best
tactical and smartest race so far as fueling and hydration. I took gels before
I needed them so that I had the energy when it was required. Even though I
always struggle with drinking on the run from a cup I took at least some at
about every other spot. At every split I would turn and ask Brandon how we were
doing. Right on the mark he kept saying. Our next splits were 10k -39:43, 15k –
59:22, 20K – 1:19:14. Somewhere along here there were photographers and Reed,
Brandon, Ryan and myself went through the area all together in a line. What a
cool thing to be able to do.
I could hear this screaming noise
from a distance. I turned to Ryan and he confirmed that it was Welsely coming
up. Wow the noise was amazing and energizing. I moved a bit behind Ryan so I
could film him slapping the hundreds of outstretched hands. It is something
that must be experienced in person to truly get the immensity of it all.
Now comes the half way mark. We all
cross together at 1:23. The mile splits so far were (6:45, 6:23, 6:18, 6:12, 6:23,
6:14, 6:15, 6:17, 8:18, 6:25, 6:12, 6:23)
This is where I knew I had to start to “wick” it up to enable a negative
split. Ryan had begun to drop back just after this point.
Reed and I stuck together through
the 25k at 1:39:09. We hadn’t seen
Brandon for a bit and I made the comment that I expected him to blow by us at
mile 23. I am sorry that it didn’t happen. Reed and I had been kind of drafting
off of each other for a few miles. He pulled in behind and said “I am on your
6, do want you want”. I looked back to see him there and I expected we would
continue all the way to the finish. A couple of minutes later I looked back to
see him still close. But the next time I looked back I didn’t see him. He began
to have some cramping issues and fell back.
By now the energy of the crowds was
just shoving me along. I began passing people at will. I never looked at my
watch once the whole race, but as I was going along the cheering would rise to
a crescendo and I could feel my pace just increasing. It was an amazing
feeling.
Somewhere around mile 18 I felt
what I will call the beginning of my Prefontaine part of the race. I could feel
that at least 2 of my toes were filling with blood. It is something that I have
had ever since I started running. I have tried every shoe and appliance there
is to prevent this. I have just accepted that it is going to happen in most
every half and full marathon race. The one preventative I did do was to have
all except my big 2 toenails removed. They have grown back a little, but it
makes getting to the blood pocket much easier than going through a nail. Anyway
I just pushed on through it as I am used to it. It wasn’t painful and at about
23 I felt the pressure drop in one of them and I felt the liquid.
I just kept waiting and expecting
Brandon and Reed to come motoring by. In fact I was looking forward to it as I
knew it would give me a boost. I so enjoy giving and getting encouragement from
my fellow competitors. Even though all these guys are not in my age group I
enjoy competing with them. They never did come by me. My splits for miles 14 -
19 were 6:16, 6:33, 6:09, 6:31, 6:27, 6:14.
The last few miles were just
amazing for me. I was just running with so much energy and passing so many
people. It was so exhilarating to have the energy to be going strong rather
than just gritting it out as I have done in the past.
I didn’t even realize when or where
Heartbreak hill was. When I looked at my splits afterwards I see that I slowed
a bit but it was so much less than I had heard about over the years. One thing
that really helped was that at the Expo I had watched a full video review of
the course. Her it is that I learned the real reason Heartbreak had received its
name. I suggest that everyone find this out before you ever run Boston. It made
a big difference in removing any trepidation I had about this “hill”. Mile
splits for the “hill” were 6:26, 6:39.
Once again I cannot convey the
energy of the crowds of spectators along the route. In fact I don’t think it
does them justice to call them spectators. They are full participants, just not
runners in the race. My splits for 22 – 25 were 5:56, 5:57, 5:58, 6:05.
I could see the Citgo sign up ahead
and just as I passed the 25 mile marker the camera beeped to tell me the
battery was dead. What a bummer. I had another one with me but there was no way
I was going to slow at all to change it out. I just motored on with increased
speed to get to the finish. The 2 tight turns in the last mile slowed my pace a
bit, but the finish sprint down Boylston was still in the 5:30 range.
I crossed the finish, stopped my
watch, and looked to see a time of 2:46:01, but a distance of 26.41. I was
elated with the time. I had kind of thought that the lower elevation and “flat”
course would help me get at least a few minutes faster than that but seeing it
was the first time on an unknown course I am just thrilled with it. The last mile
split was 6:11. This result would place me 529th overall, 501st in gender, 18th
in my age group and 2nd overall Utahan. I was, and am happy.
I moved through to the water area
and changed out the battery in my camera. I hoped to see some of the others
coming through soon. I also removed my shoes to see some blood swollen toes. I
waited for quite a while but finally figured that I had missed them in the mass
of runners somehow.
So now here is an addition to my
“Pre” moment. I walked into the medical tent and asked if I could borrow a
needle to drain my toes. This always freaks out the medical personnel. I tell
them that it is no big deal and that I have to do this all the time. No they
scan my number and lead me over to a bed. I hop up on the end and now there are
half dozen personnel gathered around. 2 kneel down and start cleaning my toes
with alcohol. I tell them “usually I just spit on it and wipe it off”. You
should have seen the face of one of them. I am glad I got it on camera as it is
priceless. So now they get out a scalpel. I just wanted a needle or something
with a pointed end. I tell them to stand back a bit. I finally get the end of
the scalpel to pierce the first one and blood sprays out about a foot. I them
get the other one. Relief, feels so good to release the pressure.
I left the medical tent and
followed the crowd of runners. We
proceed on down the street and they hand us reflective blankets. I really
needed this as I am starting to get pretty cold. I then head over to the bus
and retrieve my drop bag. I figure this would be the best place to find
everyone else. After while we all meet up, Scott, Brandon, Reed, Dan and I.
It is now that I start to hear
about the problems everyone else had. All this time I just knew that we all
were going to have amazing races. I had hoped that we all could get a PR and
just represent so well. It is not always meant to be. I know, I have been there
myself. You never really know what the outcome will be after 26.2 miles. I am
still sad for those in our group who had such difficulty.
We then decided that it would be
best to just head back to the house. Scott was feeling bad enough that he
couldn’t really go back to watch his mom finish. This turned out to be a good
thing as we all know now. We found our bus and entered. The driver was directed
down a road where runners and spectators were filling it. A police man stopped
us and started yelling at the driver. After a bit of arguing the driver started
to pull the bus to the side of the road. As he did this we heard and felt the
explosion. The driver and all of us were trying to figure out what he had just
hit. Shortly thereafter we heard the
second explosion. No one knew what to do and we decided the best thing was to
just sit tight. After a minute we started to see people start to stream by. In
many of their faces you could see shock and panic. I saw one woman who had a
light dusting of powder on her and tears were streaming down her face. We still
had no real idea of what had occurred. A bit later after hearing that all buses
were shut down we decided to find a way back to the house. Usually this is a 21
minute ride on the bus. It turned into quite a trek.
We went back and found the correct
train to start with. We started to see and feel more tension in people. Our
phones also started to burn up with email, text, Facebook messages. You could
not reply quickly enough. I tried to call my wife but couldn’t get through.
Somehow my sister Tina made a connection and I told her that we were all fine.
We had to change trains because of stations being closed. I was able to connect
a call with my wife for a few seconds as we entered the second station. The
closest train stop was still a great distance from the house. This trek ended
up taking 2 ½ hours. Even now the citizens of Boston were congratulating us on
our run.
When we arrived at the house and
turned on the TV we finally learned the magnitude of what had happened. I think
we all spent the next hour + replying to tests and messages, letting all know
that we were OK and out of harm’s way. We were concerned though as we had not
heard anything directly from Paul for quite a while. He didn’t arrive at the
house until later in the evening.
I am so sad for the citizens of Boston.
This had been such a great day and for it to be interrupted and ended in this
way is a great tragedy. I feel very blessed that everyone in our group was not
involved.
I now need to say to everyone who
is a runner of any kind that the Boston Marathon truly is a very special event.
I greatly encourage anyone to do whatever it takes to go and experience this
event. I doubted that it could be so great and I was blessed to be able to
learn so much.
I can only echo what so many others
have stated about this not being a deterrent to me or any other marathoners.
Personally I will be back when it is possible.
I have to thank everyone of the
Utah crew for all of their support and help. It would never have been what it
was without all of you guys. I look forward to running with all of them again.
Well getting home was another
adventure. We all left at different times. Ryan had left immediately after the
race and then others early on Tuesday. I was alone on my flight as the last to
leave much later would be Scott and Brandon. I decided to just walk to the SL
line. This ended up being over a mile and lugging all of my bags. I should have
turned on my watch and counted it as a workout. The flights were Boston to NYC
and then on to SLC. A delay leaving NY meant that I didn’t get to bed until
after 1 in the morning on Wednesday.
I made it into work by 08:45. I am
not sure it was right but at lunch time I went out with Terrell for an “easy”
run. I am glad I did no matter what the effect. I ended up seeing my brother and
family drive by. So I went up by the temple and was able to say good bye to my
nephew as he was entering the MTC.
I then went into the office for
half a day on Thursday. I then packed for the trip to Tokyo. I decided that it
was best to switch to Tokyo time and so I did not go to sleep until 06:00
Friday morning, as this would be bed time in Tokyo.
We will arrive Saturday afternoon.
Then Sunday morning I am running a 10k race here. I know it is crazy but how
often do you get a chance to race in another country.
I know that this is super long but
there was just so much that I had to record and share. I am looking forward to
continuing to run for as long as possible.
“To give anything less than your
best is to sacrifice the gift”, “All In for Boston”
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