 posted Apr-16-2007 06:22 PM
  
A good day for me & a better day for everyone than most folks expected.Athlete's village in Hopkinton, was, as predicted for this Nor'easter, a bit of a mudbowl. The announcer, who was much shorter on material than someone pretending to be a comedian should be, kept mentioning that someone had tried to walk across the baseball infield & had sunk in the mud & hadn't been seen again. Almost funny the first time we heard it, but most of weren't paying much attention. But it was not brutal, for hardly anyone, I think: Warmer than expected, gentle rain coming & going & only an occasional scary gust. Not wanting to stand for a couple hours in the limited tent space, I decided to bring an old plastic tube tent that I was going to throw away & treat this a camping adventure. It worked fine - I found a slightly uphill part of the athlete's village & crawled in & lined the floor of the tube with Sunday Globe sections & curled up for a rest under the orange light coming through the tent. Other than the loud & irritating announcer & the various trips to the porta-potties (with wonderfully short lines, by the way), this was a very restful time. The two-wave system (starts at 10 & 10:30) worked well - I got to hang out for a while in my comfortable tent because of my high number. We were called up in sections a few thousand at a time & the forward shuffle to the busses & corrals was quite tolerable & there was not much standing around. I even found some high-tech dry-jacket that some earlier-wave runner had abandoned. I was a bit wet & cold as I wandered to the corral after abandoning my sweatshirt & pants & garbage-bag-raincoat at the village. (yes it was a mistake to remove the coat - lucky I fond that dry-tech jacket). Fashion report, which is mandatory on this forum: I had dark green shorts & my dark blue underarmour coldgear long-sleeve shirt, my 'JIM S-G' white singlet, my new high-tech black & neon brimless running cap that I bought in a moment of weather-panic on Saturday, and a brim that I adapted a few years ago by ripping the hair-covering portion of a hat. Oh, and a race belt with GU packets & a small water bottle in it (so I could skip the crowded early water stops), a GPS racing watch & a wrist band with a 3:59:59 plan on it. As I trained for Boston, I calculated that my conditioning might support a 3:45 marathon, or maybe less, depending on which of the many calculators I used. But my goals were more modest - to celebrate turning 50 by finishing Boston strong:so I chose a plan that would get me there under 4:00. I recognized even that might be unrealistic given the forecast, but the running conditions were largely ideal once we got started - a few short drizzles, some gusty wind but no as-advertised awful constant headwind, and temps in the mid-40s. Being way near the back meant I had to be patient for the first couple of miles, but it seemed like a good way to remember to go easy. I was only 20 second behind plan after a few miles. As things opened up & I warmed up, I went faster, but tried to keep it easy - I drifted down to 2-3 minutes ahead of plan by mile 9 or so, and stayed there for quite a while. My wife and some neighbors were between mile 17 and 18 - a bit uphill from the Newton fire station at the big right turn on to Comm Ave. It was very wonderful to see her and them, but I kept going with just a big wave & an air-kiss - I was feeling good & feeling like I might be able to surprise myself with my time. I found the hills a bit endless but not very hard on my legs, and stopped looking at my watch at the top of the hills. Oh, but first, the ProFromDover & his friends found me & handed me a bottle just before mile 20! (See separate note thanking them. Umm who actually handed me the bottle?) Downhill & wiggling through Boston those last few miles, I went by feel & went faster than before - some miles in the low 8s & I felt pretty good. Legs getting sore but not that awful pain & cramping I'm used to feeling in the last few miles of a marathon. I had been hydrating (mostly gatorade) & eating a GU every 5 miles & I was NOT bonking at all, just noting that my legs were feeling a bit fragile. My fine mood was reinforced when another neighbor ran out from the spectators around mile 23 & said hello & we agreed I was looking good.. My mind did some of that 'oh, you could slow down, or walk -- wouldn't that feel good' talk, but I was able to just ride it out. I was passing many folks & my singlet made it easy for folks to cheer me on - I did feel, often, that I was the only one getting cheered on - that wonderful ego high of feeling strong & feeling like thousands of my fans came out to cheer me on. Just the birthday present I wanted. I crossed the finish line at 3:52:40, I see on the BAA website now. Met my real-life running club buddies at a room at the Park Plaza, and took a shower & my wife & neighbors took me & another neighbor runner home. My only cramps were after I took my shower & my feet started curling up. That passed. I feel sore but good now. Off to have dinner with still more neighbors! Life is good. Feeling so good that I had to sit down right away & start the upcoming chain of Boston reports on this fine forum. My thanks to those cool-runners who helped make it possible. And it was a delight to meet some of you on Sunday at henrun & marjrun's brunch in Brookline. Many happy returns. -Jim in Acton MA.
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