First up, the numbers:
- 4 months into the #Sub3ForPtR campaign and we're already over $2000! One third of the way through the year and over 2/3 of the way to the fundraising goal, you guys are awesome!
- 7 people guessed my finishing time of 2:59:01 within a minute and one person guessed within 2 seconds! That totaled up to an additional donation of $90.
- 4 marathons complete, cumulative time of 12:04:58, average time of 3:01:14. Less than 5 minutes left to make up from Birmingham!
A little delayed getting this one up but it took about this long for my fingers to thaw! If you haven't heard by now the weather for Boston 2018 was... challenging, to say the least. Head winds between 20 and 30 mph, pouring rain, and temperature right around 40F. So about the worst weather a runner can think of for a race.
I packed accordingly but didn't pick up a rain poncho before leaving Pittsburgh. I found one at Target with the Red Sox logo and figured that would be perfect. That is until I got the e-mail from the race saying ponchos in athlete's village had to be clear. So I scrambled around for a clear one with no luck. But then at dinner with friends Sunday evening I lucked out. As I was talking about my poncho conundrum a friend of my friends said he had a jacket he'd gladly let me borrow! I was amazed and very thankful that someone I had just met was willing to loan me his very nice jacket and totally trusted me to return it to him.
Monday morning, Patriots' Day, my friend Cecilia was generous enough to drive me out to the start area buses thereby allowing me to sleep in a little more and spend less time in athlete's village. When I got to athlete's village and saw the wide variety of colored ponchos I was a little exasperated but glad I had brought my Red Sox one anyway.
Athlete's village was a mess! Muddy, wet, and cold. I hit the port-a-potty then shuffled my way out of athlete's village with the Wave 1 masses. With about 45 minutes until the start I decided it best to huddle under an awning with several other runners waiting as long as possible instead of heading straight to the corrals. With 15 minutes until the start Wave 2 was getting called to the corrals so I figured that was my cue to head down. It was a short 3 to 4 minute jog down which acted as a bit of a warm up and put me into the corral with a little less than 10 minutes until the start.
Precisely at 10 a.m. the gun went off and number 4 had begun! The weather was actually bearable initially, light rain and the wind was blocked by the sea of runners as well as the surrounding trees. Everything changed around 10k as we entered Framingham. The sky opened up and any notion of staying even just a little bit dry was completely gone at that point.
You had to laugh a little bit because it truly was ridiculous. Near one of the water stops a guy next to me went to toss his half empty cup to the side but pulled up so as to avoid hitting me with it. He apologized and tossed the cup behind me. I chuckled, thanked him and said it wouldn't have mattered either way at that point.
The race progressed and the familiar towns passed by, Natick, Wellsley (you could still hear the girls from half a mile away), Newton, and stayed right on target for another #Sub3ForPtR. I got over Heartbreak Hill and was feeling the exhaustion start to set in but I knew the most challenging part of the course was behind me. As my body started to protest a little more I just kept telling myself to keep moving and power through because I wasn't about to miss my goal!
At last I made the right on Hereford and then the left on Boylston which brought the finish line in sight! The clock was still reading under 3 hours and I also knew I had a 40 second cushion between clock time and my chip time. Officially I crossed in 2:59:01 and amazingly that's precisely what I recorded on my watch. Additionally my GPS clocked the total distance at 26.3 which is well within the accuracy of GPS watches and closer than I typically end up with for a marathon.
It was a historical day on many accounts. The men's race was won by a Japanese man, Yuki Kawauchi, for the first time in 31 years. The women's race was won by an American woman, Desi Linden, for the first time in 33 years. Side note, I'd like to think I'm the Americans' good luck charm at Boston since the last time I ran it was 2014 when Meb won the men's race breaking a 31 year drought for American men :).
Nearly two dozen elites dropped out, most of them the normally dominant East African runners from Kenya and Ethipoia. Sarah Sellers really shocked the running world by finishing second in only her second marathon ever.
Overall about 3000 runners didn't even start the race and another 1200 didn't finish. One of those being my friend Gar who was pulled off the course around mile 18, basically the same spot that Galen Rupp was pulled. So the silver lining for him was the medical staff put him down in the bed that Galen Rupp had just gotten out of.
Gar would also later find out that his mom was a part of one of those moments that exemplifies the good in humanity. She gave her jacket to a runner in desperation and spawned this story http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2018/04/18/man-finishes-boston-marathon-thanks-to-kindness-of-stranger/
I'm glad to have been part of one of the most memorable Boston marathons in recent history but I certainly do not need to experience something quite like that again! Hopefully the weather for the remaining 8 is much more tolerable.
Next up, PITTSBURGH!!!
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