I would never have considered
myself a runner until I completed the Disney World Marathon in 2012. Even then, it was hard to believe that
someone who had previously been allergic to the sport, was now a runner. That marathon was my first full marathon, and
I had run my first half about four months before. The Boston Marathon was seemingly an
impossible task, and the ultimate goal.
How was I supposed to go from a 4:19:21 marathon time to under
3:35? And not get injured?
Yet, after the Disney Marathon,
I knew it was not the end. After taking a
few weeks off for recover, I set my sites on the Green Bay Cellcom Marathon (Wisconsin)
to try to qualify for Boston. I ran a
half marathon in between with a time under 1:45, so I knew it was at least
possible to get under 4:00 and just try to keep getting better.
However, the Cellcom Marathon
was a disaster. In May, in Wisconsin,
there was a heat advisory at the temperature at the start of race time was
already about 70 degrees and climbing fast.
I did not think I went out too fast, but when the full and half
marathoners start at the same time, it’s hard to know who you are pacing with
and what race they are pacing.
The first half of the marathon
was fine, but at about mile 14, it all started to fall apart. The temperature was getting hotter, and there
was little shade to hide from the hot sun.
The water stops started to have ice delivered for the water, and very
few people were not stopping for water.
I remember very little from miles 16 to 20, other than the bridge in De
Pere was very long, there was a little girl handing out Coca-Cola to runners,
and the hot blacktop trail from miles 17 to 20+. There was more than one time on this
blacktop trail that I thought I was going to pass out, and I started walking in
the sun areas and running in the shaded areas.
This was only my second marathon
ever, and I did not know that marathons could be cancelled until I got stopped
and pulled off the trail at mile 19.90.
One of the volunteers said the marathon was cancelled and we were to get
back on the bus to go back to Lambeau Field and the finish line.
So I stopped, and looked around confused. There were still people running and not
stopping, so I got back on the trail to run to my dad who was waiting at mile
20. He said that if people wanted to
continue they could, so I restarted my Nike + and walked the last 6.2
miles. At some point, my iPhone died, so
I will never know my time, but at 20 miles, it was 3:06. I think it took at least an hour and a half
to two hours to walk the rest of the race because I could not accept the medal
if I did not finish.
As mad as I was that the race
was called, I am sure it was the right decision (though it still ticks me off a
little bit the way it was handled). But
something happened during those 26.2 miles that pushed me, motivated me, and
made me more resilient. Someone made the
decision to tell me (and the other runners) that they could not do
something. I don’t like being told no
and I don’t like being told that I can’t or something that I worked for is not
possible. The training for the next
marathon began the next week, and I had one focus – Boston.
After several short distance
races – 5ks and a 10k – and a half marathon at Disneyland, it was time for an
emotional Fox Cities Marathon. I will
always consider this marathon and half marathon something that my mom would
have and could have done if she were still alive. Since this marathon is very close to the
anniversary of her death, I decided that Boston will happen when it’s supposed
to happen, but this marathon was for my mom.
It was a chilly September morning
in Menasha, Wisconsin for the start of the Fox Cities Marathon in 2012, but I
was focused and very excited to be running through my city and an area familiar
to me. The first half of this marathon
was great. The fan support, the
relatively flat course, and even the weather, were all perfect. At about the 12 mile mark was the cemetery were
my mom is, and running past that spot, and seeing my dad and pup Dublin lined
up on the sidewalk, got me though the next difficult hilly miles.
After the first half, the
marathon course started to go against the wind, and it was getting tough with
little fan support on some of the country roads. By mile 20, things started to hurt and
pushing forward was getting harder. Just
past mile 23, my calf muscles were so tight and sore that they felt like
someone had poured cement into my legs, and I had to stop and stretch them
out. I looked at my pace at this point
and realized all I had to do was a 10 minute mile or better and I would qualify
for Boston. I kept pushing on, doing a
run/walk, but my the pain in my legs was awful.
With one mile left, I was getting
very disappointed in myself as it all seemed to be slipping away. It was hard to run for even two straight
minutes, but when I saw the finish line, I gave it a final push, but it was not going to be enough. I missed qualifying
for the 2013 Boston Marathon by 36 seconds, with a finish time of 3:35:36.
However, this was a bittersweet
moment. At 34 years old, I was at the
last age of the age bracket that had to get 3:35 or better to qualify for
Boston. So as someone turning 35 in
2013, and I will be 35 at the 2014 Boston Marathon, I do qualify for 2014. Missing Boston and making it at the same
time, again, bittersweet.
I know there are others that
miss the qualifying time by seconds or minutes, but those 36 seconds pushed me
through the 2013 Disney World Marathon to get a better time of 3:33:43. Now I get to register in week one. Sometimes things don’t always work out the
way we want them too, but in the end, they work out for the best.
Good Luck and Best Wishes to
everyone running the 2013 Boston Marathon!
See you in 2014!
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