RACE REPORT: Boston Marathon #2

Submitted by: Brian Lankford

First I must say that Boston is the coolest city I've ever visited, clean, safe, historical and very walker friendly.  Sandy and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there with each other and friends.  Boston also has an incredible marathon they've been hosting for the last 115 yrs.  You may have heard about it.  Let me tell you about my experience in that race.

Marathons require training, lots and lots of training.  No ones training ever goes as planned but come race day you got what you got and you run the race you brought.  In spite of the 19 alcohol injections in the foot, and a 16 mile run as my longest run, I felt like my training went well and I was in great shape (and I was).

I have run 2 marathons in my brief running career and I am fortunate to say that Boston is one of them.  Therefore I am no expert on running marathons and being new to the experience, well sometimes the excitement can be overwhelming.  I'm a reader, one who studies.  I have a great library of running books and I've read them all.  I can talk to you about any aspect of training, VO2 max, aerobic, anaerobic, tempo, speed, interval, I've studied it all.  And during my training I amassed a great amount of information and did numerous calculations of that data to arrive at paces, carb depletion and fluid replacement.  I was ready.

I was fortunate to start Boston in the 1st corral of Wave 2.  That means I started right on the starting line with a clear and empty downhill road ahead of me in Hopkington.  I was right in the middle of the starting line with the official starting clock and starters gun just to my right.  Everyone in corral 1 counted down in unison.  10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1.  BANG!  The gun went off in my right ear!, and all my numbers, calculations, deep thoughts of running philosophy, pace, form and all running wisdom went flying out of my left ear!  I WAS RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON!!!  Holy Cow, this is so cool.  I don't know if my feet were even touching the ground as I ran.  The crowd started about 5 feet from the start with cowbells and cheers.

I blew through the first mile 10 seconds too fast.  I told my self to calm down.  The 2nd mile was 10 seconds too fast.  I said, "Brian get it under control."  And now it is time to start hydrating.  I have very little experience drinking on the run because...I don't do it.  I made eye contact with the volunteer at the first water station, pointed to her cup as I ran and snagged it like a pro without spilling a drop.  I squeezed the top of the cup to form a small opening just like I read.  And at a 7:00 pace I lifed the cup, put it to my mouth and poured 6 oz. of Gatorade up my nose over my face and down my chest.  2 oz went down my throat and 1 oz went down my wind pipe.  I dopped my cup and kept on gettin it coughing and hacking like a 4 pack a day smoker.  I ran the 3rd mile 15 seconds too fast.  I told myself this would not work and to get a hold of myself.  The 4th mile again was 10 seconds too fast.  I was on fire with enthusiasm and loving every minute of it.  Being in the 1st corral, I believe the crowd was cheering extra loud because the first wave was gone and we were the new group and I was eating it up.  It was the greatest feeling.

It was chilly, no it was cold, at the athletes village and although I stripped down to shorts, I kept my long sleeved shirt, tobogan, and light gloves at the start.  Around mile 4 gloves, hats and various items of clothing were strewn on the road or thrown into the crowd.  The little kids on the side of the road were yelling "Throw us some clothes!"  So I figured I didn't need my hat anymore, it was pretty hot and I was already sweating pretty good.  I hated to take it off because I knew I would have "sweaty head" and my hair would look stupid for any pictures.  But I took it off and made it to the side of the road and tossed it to a little guy about 6 yrs. old.  Running at 8.5 MPH and throwing an object at about 5.5 MPH meant that the unsuspecting little kid got a sweaty sock hat in the face at about 15 MPH.  I believe I lost a little time right there laughing, but the look on his face was priceless.   

  

As far as the water stops go, I learned by mile 4 that even though there may be 6-8oz of fluid in the cup you grab, you must sqeeze the top of the cup then pour out all but about 3oz. then put it to your mouth and take it all down.  Water stations were a breeze after learning that.  In fact I got to the point where I was taking water from small children and elderly women in addition to the aid stations. 

At this point in the race I knew I was in flameout mode but I didn't care.  I was having fun and actually just taking it all in.  I didn't know how far I would make it but I couldn't recover at this point and the running philosophy became: Have fun.  I adapted to that philosophy quite well it just felt right.  I ran past the girls at Wellesley (however you spell it) and their screams were just as ear splitting as I was told they would be.  I kept the crazy pace up through the half way point with a potential 3:06 finishing time.  Ya Right.  The downhill and the crowds continued through all the towns with cowbells ringing. 

At mile 16 I knew the hills were coming and the potential flameout also.  And here we go.  The first of the Newton Hills.  Hey, not too bad, in fact that wasn't bad at all.  And here we go again.  Hey, I'm feeling this one, ya I'm feeling it.  And here's another one,  Woah,  this is tough, ya it's pretty tough.  I believe there is one more but I don't see anything ahead.  Oh, there it is.  Ya, that's a big one.  Ya, it's big and I'm pretty tired now.  I'll just shorten my stride and lean forward and pump my arms suck some air and just-feel-like-dying.  The top of Heart Break Hill.  No glory, no medal, just tired.  Well, I was wondering when the flameout would occur.  It was somewhere around mile 20 or so.  I can't really say because the glycogen to the ol brain was running pretty low at this point. 

There's a nice downhill after Heart Break but me and gravity didn't really have any deals going at that point.  My legs really couldn't tell much about the topographics of the course at this point.  The next water station, which I will now refer to as water stops because I used these to stop running at mile 21, 22, 23, 24.  There's a couple of nice things about walking through a water station.  You get a lot more fluid and you get to STOP RUNNING.  The worst thing about walking through a water station is you have to start running again. The legs really don't like this little joke you just played on them and they honestly have more control over who gets the last laugh than you might like to think.  They definitely rebel and make you pay, but in reality they really appriciate it also though they might not admit it.

After mile 24 I knew my loving wife, who had put up with 16 weeks of training, complaining of how cold it was, how hard it was, and how much my foot hurt, would be in the crowd somewhere between here and the finish.  I just didn't know where.  Therefore I had to run, and I had to run the entire 2.2 miles without stopping.  I could never, ever, ever let her see me walking.  It's a man thing.  So I ran.  I passed people who were walking and I felt their pain, I saw people standing still just swaying back and forth about to topple and I wanted to give them a shoulder to lean on.  I passed people who were collapsed on the ground and I wanted give them some of my strenght I had left.  But I kept running, feeding on the cheers of the crowd.  

I made the left hand turn onto Boylston and say the finish lineabout a half mile down the road.  I had nothing left except what the crowd could give.  They gave me a lot and I actually passed people in that final stretch.  I knew the end of my Boston was coming to an end and Mr Boston might be laughing at me but I enjoyed my run he's put on for the last 115 years and I even qualified to run him again with a 3:29:25 as I crossed his finish line.  Not a smart marathon, but a fun marathon.  Not my fastest marathon, but my best marathon.  Could I have run faster, ya I believe so.  Could I have had more fun, no way.  So now I've run 2 marathons:  Qualified for Boston twice and run Boston once.  Would I run another marathon............?