Boston, you were everything I hoped you would be and everything I needed.
I ran for the vibes and a positive mental experience, and I accomplished those things!
Back in 2013, I came for my first Boston Marathon experience: thirty years old, no kids, and traveled to Boston with Craig. Kristy (my sister), my parents, and aunt met us there as Kristy was also running her first Boston Marathon. I dealt with an injury most of the build, so I ran that day just for the experience–walk/running the last 8 miles because the lack of training due to my injury and training through an Alaska winter didn’t give me the best fitness. We left with broken hearts for what happened that year and some experiences that seem almost inconceivable. 2013 was the year of the bombs, and my family was far too close to the destruction. (You can read more about my experiences HERE.) So this year, 13 years later, was also partly for redemption and wanting a much more positive experience.
I will say the trip started out a little rough for me, and I was hoping and praying it wasn’t going to be indicative of the rest of the trip. I went for my run Friday morning before I had to head to the airport for my flight with some nausea. I had my usual pre-run snack of a Nature’s Bakery fig bar with iced coffee and a little bit of cream, but I started feeling nauseous on this run, which was odd. I got ready for the airport, forced myself to start my carb load and force-fed myself oatmeal through the nausea. I was texting Craig and a friend about my nausea while waiting to board my flight and figured I must just be nervous about the weekend, which is unusual for me! We hit some bad turbulence at the start of the flight, which definitely did not help my nausea, and about halfway through the flight, I couldn’t hold it in anymore. I grabbed the puke bag, stood up to go to the bathroom, and immediately started vomiting repeatedly into the puke bag. Of course, everyone was staring at me, which just adds to the level of embarrassment. Ha! I finished throwing up in the bathroom, and then felt much better after that. However, when I finally make it to my hotel room, I was wiped and went to bed at 7:30 p.m.
Since I virtually got no carbs in on Friday, I was supposed to make up for the missed carbs over the course of the next two days. I did my best to eat as many carbs as I could, but it was hard! I generally don’t really struggle with the carb load (It’s not my favorite, but I tolerate it.), but it was difficult this time. Food didn’t sound good, dry bagels and pretzels did not taste good, even gummy candies weren’t that appetizing. I usually religiously track my grams of carbs, but I didn’t and just hoped I got enough in.
Come Monday, I knew I did what I could, and I would have to hope that I wouldn’t hit the dreaded wall like I have so many times prior to learning about carb loading. (Read more about doing the carb load and the importance of it HERE.)
Anyway, backing up to Saturday, I did my shake-out run in the morning by myself. I thought about trying to find a group to go with since there are about a thousand shake-out groups meeting up on Saturday and Sunday, but I wasn’t sure how my stomach would do, so I just went myself. Afterwards I stopped at Whole Foods for some carb loading essentials.
I had tickets to Ali on the Run’s live show at The Track at New Balance for Saturday afternoon, so I got ready for that after my run. I was going to give myself about an hour to get to the show, but then when I was checking the train schedule, I realized that the trip would take me almost an hour, so I ended up taking and Uber to it. (I’ve gotten spoiled living in a small town where it literally takes me two minutes to drive anywhere! Ha!)
Ali had Eric and Aisha from the podcast Off the Rails on stage with her, which was so fun and hilarious because if you listen to Off the Rails, you know how much fun Eric and Aisha have. After the show, I had gotten tickets to the marathon relay they were doing at the track, but I ran into friends and decided to hang out with them instead.
Later that afternoon, I went to the expo to get my bib. I didn’t realize how small the expo was since so many running brands have store fronts on Newbury Street, so I didn’t stick around there long. And don’t come for me for this, but I didn’t get the Boston jacket or any branded memorabilia.
Saturday evening I went to Des and Kara’s live show, which was also great!
Sunday morning I went for another shake-out run in Boston Common. (I also learned it is Boston Common, not Boston CommonS as someone informed me on Instagram.) Once again I thought about trying to find a group to join, but it just seemed easier to do it on my own.
That afternoon I met up with my athletes who were also running the race. I had four of them running, which was so fun to meet them all in person. While we were at the coffee shop, we saw Kara Goucher and her podcast editor, Chris, which felt like seeing a celebrity in the wild.
I still hadn’t gotten my picture at the finish line, so I ventured over there afterwards in the pouring rain. I ducked for cover under a hotel awning, and as I was waiting for the rain to let up, Emily Sisson and her husband were coming out of the hotel with her bottles for the next day. I should have at least wished her good luck but couldn’t even think to do that.
I then went back to my hotel room and started working on bedazzling my race shoes. Originally I wanted to put rhinestones on my bib and fill in the numbers on my bib, but after talking to a couple of people, they thought that might be defacing my bib, so I decided against it. Instead I put them on my shoes, which was fun–but tedious!
The activities in the days leading into Marathon Monday have changed so much compared to when I was there in 2013. Back in 2013 when I ran, there weren’t shakeout runs, group meet-ups, and maybe brands had store fronts on Newbury street, but I don’t remember them. I did meet up with a blogger in the hotel of a lobby, which was actually really just awkward the whole time. Ha! So a big part of this trip was going for the weekend experience. I wanted to make sure to do a bunch of activities even if that meant being on my feet more than I usually like to be before a marathon.
I say that all because I had tickets to one final event on Sunday night. Emily Saul, the sports psychologist I have been working with to handle the negative thoughts in the marathon, was giving a talk at the Asics store front. I really considered not going because it was kind of late (6:00p.m. –ha!), but I also told myself this is what you came to do. Luckily it was a relatively short train ride to the event, and it was very insightful, so I’m glad I went. Plus, I scored a free Asics bag and hat.
When I got back to my room, I had to finish putting rhinestones on my shoes, and I definitely stayed up too late working on them, but once again it was 100% worth it.
I think I got about five hours of sleep that night, which isn’t enough but also kind of what I expect the night before a marathon. I actually slept pretty soundly, only woke up once and was able to fall back to sleep quickly. My stress dream that night was that I was still in Minnesota Sunday night, and I was taking a red eye out to Boston for the race Monday morning. Wouldn’t that be epic if someone did that!
Race morning started with a 4:30 a.m. alarm, and I got ready to leave my room at 6:00 a.m. to meet up a friend. Cortney from the Instagram account @eatwell.runbetter said we should travel to the start together, and I am so glad she did because it was infinitely better to go with a friend. Luckily we had a seamless morning, boarding the buses, being transported to the start, hanging out in Athletes Village, and then walking to the start line. Porta-potty lines were short for us, and I ran into another friend through Instagram on the walk to the start. (I heard terrible stories from so many others in waves behind me, so I was thankful for an uneventful morning.)
I was in wave one, corral eight, and I ran into a couple other people I knew, which is so nice to see familiar faces! Our wave started at 10:00a.m., and I off at 10:07 a.m. It actually felt like a rolling start, which was odd for me.
I wanted to be *super* conservative at the start with all the downhill, so I went out nice and easy. My first mile came through at 7:25 min/mi, which is about 45 seconds slower than I would usually run, so I think I succeeded in going out conservatively. I just didn’t want to blow out my quads on all this downhill.
I notched the pace down slightly over the next few miles, but honestly I ran so much more based off effort than my watch, which was so freeing. I soaked it all in and truly ran off vibes. I had thoughts like:
“This feels like a party.”
“I don’t want this to be over because it is so fun.”
“All these spectators are electric.”
“I am having so much fun!”
You guys, I have NEVER had these thoughts in the marathon!! But it was exactly what I needed to restore my faith that I still love marathoning.
Usually I share a breakdown of my splits in my race recaps, but I am not even going to do that since this race wasn’t about the time. I ran Houston back in January as my potential PR race and Boston was always about the vibes and the experience. I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a loose time goal. I thought I could dip under 3:00 on a stellar day but did want to finish in 3:0X something. However, I really tried to be open to whatever the day brought.
The weather was truly so ideal for racing: low-40s, tailwind, some sun but mostly overcast, and just the best weather day in my memory of the Boston Marathon. I had on throw-away arm warmers (my husband’s old compression socks with holes in them), a headband, and gloves, but I ditched them early in the race.
The vibes were vibing on Monday–so many people out and so many people yelling my name, which truly made my day. I soaked it all in and was just so grateful to be at the race. (I NEVER smile like that!)
I had different check-points in my head, which was a strategy that Emily, my sports psychologist, and I had talked through prior to the race. We used my 30 minute fueling increments along with points on the course to break up the race. Honestly, I didn’t remember every landmark on the course, but the ones I did remember were: the 6 miles downhill at the beginning, 4 miles of flat or more rolling hills, a steeper downhill at mile 11, the Wellesley scream tunnel at mile 13, the turn at the first station at mile 17, 5 miles of the Newton hills, and then the last 5 miles of the race. Doing this gave my smaller sections to focus on rather than one big, 26.2 mile long race.
I ran “comfy” through most of the race and wanted to make sure to save something for the Newton hills. I remember when I ran back in 2013, the hills are where I started walking–and continued to run/walk the last 8 miles. Nothing wrong with that, but this time I really wanted to not kill my legs prior to the hills so I could run up all of them. I succeeded in doing that and really felt strong on the hills.
In the past, I’ve struggled with the high-teen/miles in the early 20s–still a long ways to go, relatively, and already hurting so much. Well, on Monday, I got to somewhere around mile 17/18, and when I saw the total on my watch, I thought, “We’re already here?” Definitely a great feeling after dreading these miles in so many other races.
Someone told me before race day that he never felt like he was running flat and the course was a constant rolling of hills with sections of longer downhills and uphills, and I couldn’t agree more. I think I really only remember one section that felt like it was mostly flat. Thankfully even with very little hills to train on in Southcentral Minnesota, the little bit of running I did on hills prepared me sufficiently. Heartbreak hill was definitely the most noticeable hill, but I adjusted my pace and ran up it–just like any other hill I’ve trained on.
I have to say the highlight of the race was Emma Bates cheered for me at mile 19.5. She was standing in a section all by herself, and when she yelled to me, I looked and saw her standing there in a bright green outfit. I couldn’t believe it and yelled, “Emma!” like she was a good friend. Ha! It was cute to see her smile, knowing that she had just made someone’s day. Her husband was standing a little ways away but I was shocked she was all by herself. I love to see the pros do things like this!
The one “bad”/not ideal part of the race was my fueling. It wasn’t bad, and I didn’t vomit again like I did at Houston, but my stomach got crampy after my third gel. I’ve had issues with the Precision 100mg caffeinated gel, but this one was the regular Precision gel. I’ve noticed I will have issues if I don’t take the gel with enough water, so this may have been this issue on Monday as well. I was very thirsty during the race–much thirstier than I ever have been, which was odd with the cool temps. I’m not sure if it had something to do with my puking escapade on Friday, and I was low in electrolytes, but this is something I need to figure out in training. I did take part of my fourth and fifth gel, but it was hard to get them down.
As I neared the finish line on Monday, I definitely was starting to hurt more at this point. I definitely ran hard but didn’t go to the well like I have in every other marathon. I did my best to soak it in and enjoy the iconic right on Hereford and left on Boylston. I crossed the finish line happy for the experience and knowing this race will always hold a special place in my heart.
The sad part was not being able to share the finish line with any friends or family since I had traveled by myself. I also didn’t carry my phone, so I wasn’t able to capture any footage of me at the finish line or getting my medal. So all I have are the memories, but they’re pretty incredible too.
I slowly made my way back to my hotel and happy that I had remembered to turn up the heat in my room before I left because I knew when I got back I would be shivering. I spent the rest of the day resting and catching up on messages, and then flew back to Minnesota on Tuesday.
Monday was exactly what I hoped it would be, and I am so happy walking away with such a positive experience. My work with Emily gave so many more tools in my toolbox to be able to handle the hard miles and even enjoy training more. I’m excited to be able to tap into those things when I go for my next PR in the marathon, which likely won’t be until 2027. I knew this mental piece was holding me back in races (and now I realize in training too!), so I am excited to see where this improved version of myself takes me!
