Boston Marathon, April 21, 2008

15624	Hageman, Jessica L.	32	F	Schenectady	NY	USA
Checkpoints 5k 10k 15k 20k Half 25k 30k 35k 40k 0:24:25 0:48:49 1:13:21 1:38:24 1:43:46 2:03:15 2:28:54 2:55:13 3:21:18 Finish Pace Projected Time Official Time Overall Gender Division 0:08:08   3:32:57 7435 1428 1092

While I didn't quite get my goal of 3:30, I ran a PR nonetheless, and that makes me super excited!  I beat my best by over 5 minutes!

It was a nice, calm day.  Perhaps a little warmer than I would like, but I'm certainly not complaining (after running in the Chicago oven of 2007).  I got REALLY sunburnt on my right side, and my arm/shoulder is actually in more pain from that than my legs are from the mileage!

I'll start from where my last blog left off.

Monday prior to the race.  No running. . .boarded the cruise ship.  Attended the bachelorette party.  Consumed more alcohol in this one evening than in the past year combined (I'm not much of a drinker)!

Tuesday morning, I woke up and ran on the ship's treadmill. . .no hangover.  I was very pleased!  I did 5 miles, starting at 9 min miles, increasing until the last two were 8 min each.  Tuesday was a day at sea.  I lounged by the pool and read my book The Buffalo Soldier.  It was quite good.  I carefully avoided sunburns and/or yucky tan lines because I had a strapless bridesmaid dress.  I went to bed fairly early Tuesday night.

Wed morning, I ran around in Key West for about 50 minutes before getting back on the ship to help the bride get ready for the wedding.  The wedding was at 1:30 so we didn't have a lot of time on the island (bummer!).  Wed afternoon/evening was drunken adventure #2.  What fun!  Again, it all ended well with no hangover.  I had pretty much decided that I would cut out alcohol & dessert after Wed, but things seemed to be going so well. . .

Thursday, we went to Breezes, an all inclusive resort in the Bahamas.  We played beach volleyball and I went windsurfing. . .which turned out to be a very dumb move on my part.  I had not windsurfed in ~7 years.  Plus, I had only previously done it on a lake, not on the ocean.  Somehow, I convinced the guy I knew what I was doing.  He said it was too rough for beginners and he wasn't giving lessons, but if I knew how, I could go.  So, I went.  I made it out and back and that's all he cared about, but it took a while, and I took a beating.  The sail was bigger than I was used too, and the wind was much stronger.  It was very hard for me to handle.  Therefore, I kept letting it out and having to pull it back up and in.  I got severe rope burns on my hands.  I didn't even notice at the time because I had so much adrenaline from the surfing.  However, when I was done, I saw it and nearly freaked!  Well, it's a good think you don't run on your hands!  The next day, my back was also really sore, but it wasn't injury sore, it was just muscle sore.  I wasn't worried about the marathon.  I could deal with both those issues.  And, I had a lot of bruises on my shins from falling off the board a couple times, but I wasn't worried about that either.  My hands were just in pain, and they were UGLY (still are).  After, sundown, we went to Atlantis, another hotel/resort in Naussau.  They have a neat aquarium with some very large stingrays.  It was cool.  Back to the ship for another late hangout night.  I drank water but still ate dessert

Friday, I ran for the last time.  I did a half mile warm up and then 3 miles at race pace and a half mile cool down.  I lounged by the pool and started another book Nineteen Minutes.  One of the girls from our group (there were ~60 people with the wedding which made the cruise a fabulous time!) performed in the ship's talent show that night and then I went to bed after that but still ate dessert

Saturday, we had a long flight home.  Our flight from Jacksonville went to Atlanta and then to Akron, OH before going to Boston.  It was silly because very few people got on or off the plane in Ohio.  Most were Boston bound, and many marathon bound.  The pilot even gave a shout out to runners!  There were runners all over at Logan airport.  Pretty cool!  Saturday night, I was exhausted, but we went out to dinner nonetheless.  And, neither of my dinner dates were doing the marathon so we stayed out kind of late (at least later than ideal for me) while they enjoyed some drinks.

Sunday morning came too early.  My friend who was running the marathon called me at 6:45 so we could make plans for meeting and watching the Olympic trials.  Uggh.  I just wanted to sleep.  But, I suppose in the end, I'm glad she drug me out of bed because the trials were inspiring, and watching them is what got me excited about my race the next day.  Honestly, I hadn't really thought about my race that much in the cruise week.  I needed to get my head in the game, and the trials certainly did that.  Man, I just wanted to run right then!  My cousin also came to watch the trials (he lives in Cambridge)  After the trials, we ate a pasta lunch, and then I went to the expo.  I got autographs from Jen Rhines & Grete Waitz (and a few others I didn't really know. . .HA!) but I didn't really spend too much time there.  Then, I went home and napped!  My friend got home from work at 7:00 and we just hung out for the rest of the night.  I ate my leftover pasta from lunch.  It was a perfect pre-race evening!  I was in bed reading by 9:30 and probably asleep by 10:00.  I didn't sleep great as I must have overhydrated and I had to get up a couple times to use the restroom.  Plus, at one point, I had a calf cramp.  That wasn't cool.  You're not supposed to get them BEFORE the race.  Yikes!!!

Monday morning, my friend drove me down to meet the buses to the start.  Last year, it was an hour ride to the start (an hour to go 26.2 miles, yep).  This year, I was on the bus for 1 hour 45 minutes!  There was so much more traffic this year.  I think many people skipped the race last year because of the bad weather.  Or, I don't know what else caused the delay.  It was okay as I had plenty of time.  It was just odd.  We were stalled in traffic, and people were jumping off the bus to go to the bathroom on the side of the highway.  I just kept thinking, what if traffic starts flowing and these people get left?!?  Traffic didn't start flowing so that wasn't a problem, but it did make me nervous for them.  Anyway, when I got to athlete's village, I was there no more than 5 minutes when I hear someone shouting "Hey, Jess".  It was a guy from my running club. . .the one I just met last month at the Wurtsboro 30k.  Crazy that we meet amongst 25,000 runners!  Anyway, I didn't visit long as I was supposed to meet up with my friend in a certain spot at a certain time, and I was already running late because of the bus ride.  I found here exactly where I was supposed to so that was good.  We went to the porta potty line, warmed up a bit, checked our bags and headed to the start.  The start is .7 mile from the village so we didn't want to miss getting in our corral (we did that last year and got stuck back with all the charity runners which made for a super slow start).  As we were walking toward the start, I could smell someone with sunscreen.  It gave me cruise flashbacks, but it also made me realize I didn't have any.  My friend said it's not good for you when you run anyway. . .your skin can't breath.  I've used it before when I run and had no trouble with my skin breathing, but there was nothing I could do, so I adopted her theory and stayed positive.

And the gun sounds.  Our first mile was a little slow because we were still in a dense pack.  I think we saw our time and got nervous we weren't on pace so we picked it up a bit the 2nd mile.  Then we settled into a good pace after that.  My calf was hurting though.  I have no idea why.  My friend kept suggesting that I play with my stride a bit to see if I could find something comfortable.  It wasn't working.  It was hurting, but it wasn't unbearable.  I could run as is, but I couldn't imagine what I would do when it got worse, and I definitely thought it was going to get worse.  It was hurting in the first couple miles. . .how could more mileage make it feel better?  Anyway, the pace was slightly quicker than necessary for our goal, but it felt good (other than the calf).  We held that pace for a while, but just before Wellsley, my friend said she wanted to drop back.  I kept talking her into hanging on a few more miles, but I lost her at mile 16.  Somewhere between mile 10 & mile 16 my calf started feeling better.  I don't exactly remember when it started feeling better, but I know it didn't hurt the entire race like it did at first.  That was an amazing gift to me.  But, one of my mantras is "this too shall pass."  My other main one "let the run come" practically means the same thing.  It means that you just cope with whatever, and then when you feel good, you run like hell, and I most always believe that eventually you will feel good so you just have to wait and let the run come!  Anyway, my pace finally slowed a bit on the Newton hills between 17 & 21, but that was expected, and I figured if I could get back at 8 min miles after 21, I would still get my goal.  After mile 21, I really had to remind myself to run fast.  It wasn't coming naturally.  I would surge and run at pace for a while, but then I'd notice that I was slacking off.  If I quit thinking about it for just even a second, I was slowing.  And well, I got tired of thinking about it and I just decided not to worry about it.  I decided that even if I kept at 8:20/8:30, I would have a PR, and it would still be awesome!

Mile splits according to my watch:

8:13, 7:38, 7:45, 7:46, 7:55, 7:49, 7:51, 7:55, 7:54, 7:55, 8:05, 8:04, 7:58, 7:58, 8:03, 8:01, 8:16, 8:20, 8:14, 8:19, 8:56, 8:09, 8:26, 8:20, 8:37, 10:19

After the race, I just wanted to sit.  My legs hurt.  However, I know walking is good for you so I walked.  I tried to find my friend, but I had no idea how so I walked back to my friends house where we were to meet.  I was desperately hoping my friend would know how to get there because we hadn't really discussed what we'd do if we didn't run together the whole way.  I think we just thought we'd finish together.  Anyway, she found her way and got there shortly after me.  It was a long walk because we had to detour around the course a bit.  I guess that's what you get when you have a place to stay that's right in the middle of it all!  Totally worth it though!!!  Anyway, we showered and then hit the subway to get out to the park and ride where my friend's husband left the car.  He drove us home, but I actually think he was more sleepy than either of us.  We had so much adrenaline and excitement I don't think it would have been a problem to drive ourselves home, but I was glad he drove anyway.  We stopped and ate, and oddly enough I wasn't that hungry (probably because I ate nearly everything they gave us in our post race snack bag!).  I got home around 9:30.  I didn't unpack.  I sorted out some stuff for school and then went to bed.  I didn't sleep that well.  Muscle soreness was a factor, but the sunburn was the real pain!

Today went okay at school.  I had to tell my story to so many people, and it's hard because I never know what version to tell.  Are they asking just to be polite?  Or do they really want to know?  I gave the all out, long version here, but I figure people can jump around and read what they want.  In a conversation, it's harder.  Oh well.

After school today, I went for a walk.  I went to the bikepath where a couple of my friends usually run on Tuesday.  I wanted to visit with them a bit.  It was nice to have some real runners to discuss the marathon with rather than my co-workers.  I also ran into a couple other folk I sort of know so that was cool.  They are a bit older, but they are still really fast.  The one woman told me I'll continue to improve for several more years.  She said it takes about 8-10 years of running marathons before you really get good.  Interesting?  I had not heard that before, but you can bet I'm going to be doing some reading/researching on that!  She is good!  They actually invited me to join them in some workouts. . .not this week, but in the future.  Could I really keep up with them?  Maybe.  We'll see if I actually get invited (with a date & time) later this month.  A general invitation and a specific invitation are very different.

Well, I'm off to bed.  I'm going to try and get lots of post race sleep as well.  I don't want to be grumpy. . .or get sick!  Goodnight!