The Boston Marathon was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. I have never seen so many people in my life. No words can describe what I felt today. The crowds were so overwhelming, I just had to phase them from my mind. Going in to this race all I wanted to do was maybe re-qualify at a 3:40, if I was lucky. My Avg. pace of the day was an 8:06. PR of 3:32:24, St. George was 3:35:00. I felt like I had accurately tapered and carb loaded. I was 1169 in my division and 1479 out of all the ladies.
6:00 am I woke up, soaked in a hot tub to loosen my tight muscles, got ready and ate RockIt Fuel. (oatmeal for athletes, very delicious). Got myself ready and headed out the door at 6:45. I was really nervous that I was going to be late. But at the transportation station there were about 10 other people with yellow bags like mine. I got off the bus and followed five thousand other yellow bags to the bus pick-up. The line to get on the bus was the stretch of the entire park, about a half mile long. Got in a bus, and off we went for the 45 minute ride to Hopkinton.
I made small talk with the young man sitting next to me. He was from Boston, and this was his second marathon. He had not qualified to run this race, somehow his uncle got him in. I learned that about 10-20% of the people that run Boston actually do not qualify. Places are given because of stories, sponsors, and other miscellaneous reasons. I was happy that I had earned my place to be here. I got off the bus and joined the "party" of runners. The athletes village is what I call, "Runner's Paradise." Here you chillax with some of the top runners in the country. I went straight to stand in line for the PoP. Took me about 40 minutes to get to the darn thing. Got inside and of course it was out of TP. Love PoPs! The smell of half digested Power Bar always makes me excited for a race... I brought a mattress to blow up and sit on. But I had like 30 minutes to get to the start line and I wasn't going to waste my breath on blowing the darn thing up. I found the Power Bar station and they were giving away BOXES of Power Bars. I think I stalked up for a year. (I took about 30 bars). lol. My bag became very heavy. Dropped my bag off at my bus and started toward the start line. Keep in mind that now I had about 15 minutes and my place in line was way at the top, by the start line. Hmmmm, there were thousands and thousands of people that I had to try and pass through. 5 minutes was now approaching.... I almost got to my coral by the time the gun fired. I crossed the start line about one minute after start time. There was "magic" when that gun fired and the pack flowed down the road. This was MY Boston. The past four years of training had now paid off. This was like Christmas morning. I was sad when I tried to power up my Ipod Shuffle and no music was came out. "Oh well" I thought. I didn't need music for this. Just at that moment I spotted the legend Bill Rodgers. I started running next to him and the crowds of people on the side lines were shouting his name. He was talking softly to his friend about the course. It was so cool to be by him, but Bill was a little to slow for me. I wish I could tell you my mile splits, but my Garmin is not set in that mode. I was running this race on the way I felt. Downhills and flats were ground for me to speed up a hair, and hills I could slow a bit. I usually split my race into three sections anyway. 1-13 nice and easy, barely feeling any effort, 13-20 feeling the juice flow and pushing a little harder, and 20-26.2 telling my body I can do it. Seems to work. By mile 8 my music started working, that was welcoming. I could now drain some of the outside world away. Up until the 30k I had maintained 7:50 minute miles. I had saved some power for the hills as well. The hills came, hmmm, I still wonder where the hills really were. I remember going up two inclines but I they weren't anything like St.George's Vayo. It was almost like I was running in the avenues of S.L.C. Heartbreak wasn't a heartbreak. My friend Brian popped onto the course with me at mile 20. I can't believe that he recognized me out of the thousands, but he did and ran for about a mile with me. I felt kind of bad because I was completely in the zone. He started talking to me and I was just not feeling it. That was probably the hardest part of the race. Now that I think about it, he was running with me on Heartbreak. So maybe it was good that he was there to distract me. Then it was downhill. I passed my family at mile 23. Oh bless their sweet hearts. I love them so much, I was so happy they were there sharing this with me. I gave my mom a quick hug and kept running. That was one of the highlights of the run. They are so supportive of me, and it was so exciting to see them. A few times during the run I had to hold back tears. So many people were out cheering everyone on. I slapped so many hands. I finally had to tell myself to not get so excited from the crowds because they were draining me out. Some of the time there were thousands of people watching but I had zoned all of them out. It was such a blur. Welesley was very WOW! I could hear the screaming crowd from a good half mile away. Slowly the crowd grew louder. I just don't know how these girls can just stand outside on the curb all day and scream like that. It was so loud. I think they spent more energy than the runners. I want to go back to Boston just for that. There was one old dude in the crowd out of the thousands of Welesley women holding up a "kiss me" sign, but ew, no thanks. The finish line was emotional for me. Just being a part of one of the thousands of runners to see the blue and yellow arch. Then I saw my PR time. I was proud of myself. Extremely happy that I had PR'd at the race I have worked so hard to be at. At the very end of the race I looked up at the race director sitting on his tower and gave him the biggest smile. He called out, "Good job Becca." Boston has a piece of my heart.
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