Boston Marathon 2012: Massive Meltdown

Oh, the Boston Marathon....a place where runners sail through the first 13.1 miles with ease, cruise on up and over heartbreak hill and sprint through the finish, all while taking in the magical shouts and cheers of the endless crowds that line the streets. Or so I thought....However, mother nature had something else in mind....HOT HOT HEAT!  The forecast was calling for sunny skies and temperatures in the high 80's. 

Encouragement and support from Austin...my co-workers rock!

Arriving in Boston, I couldn't help but feel overwhelmed with excitement...I was here, I had made it!
The weather was kind of an afterthought for me at this point. Coming in from Austin, TX, I just kept thinking,"Yeah, I'm prepared. I got this....I've been training in this kind of weather. The heat won't hold me back this time." There was no way, I was going to defer until next year ( race officials were giving people this option ).  I had traveled all this way, people had paid for me to get here, no backing out now.....2012 was going to be my year!

RACE DAY:

That morning, I awoke in my twin bunk bed ( I was staying in a hostel ) climbed down the wobbly ladder and pulled on my lululemon swiftly tee and speed shorts. A few of the other girls staying in my room were also running. We grabbed a quick bite in the hostel kitchen, gathered our things and headed out the door. Turns out, the weathermen were actually correct in their predictions...the sun was shining and temps were rising, already in the mid 70s.

 We walked the 15 minute walk to the bus-loading area in Boston Commons and stepped into the ridiculously long line, which actually moved rather quickly. Before I knew it, we were on our way to the start!  While en route, I made small talk with the woman sitting next to me. It was also her first Boston marathon and she too didn't feel too nervous about the weather, having arrived from Florida. We discussed race times, future races, and our plans for this race. 

All of a sudden, our bus was pulling over....we were all confused, as we were only half way there. Then looking out the bus windows, a dude from the bus in front of us was crouched down along side the edge of the highway amongst the sparse weeds, taking care of business. Ha ha, I guess sometimes when you have to go, you have to go!

We were back on the road and about 15 minutes later, the sign for Hopkinton came into view. We were almost there....the energy was high at this point, I was excited! I had my plan in mind and just continued to visualize as I patiently awaited the start line. Once we all hopped off the bus, Christina (hostel bunk mate) and I immediately got into the first bathroom lines we saw ( of course, it seemed to be the slowest line with no toilet paper, never fails!).  While waiting in the line that wasn't moving, I happened to look up and see some familiar faces....Keila, Alisa, and Sheila!!  Quick hugs and good lucks were exchanged! Even though our hellos were brief, it was still nice to see some friends in a sea of strangers.

After finally using the bathrooms, we made our way over to the other athlete village. I went out to the buses to drop my bag and then made my way back to the village. As I waited in the bathroom line one last time, I noticed that I was already sweating profusely. I could feel the sun beating down. I thought to myself, this can't be good....However, I managed to stay calm and just think about my race strategy. I was more than prepared.

My 10:20am wave was called and we started to make our way to the start line. It was a bit of a walk to get there and everyone was grabbing cups of water before we even took off. I hopped into corral 3 and waited with everyone else.

And then....we were off!

I pushed the start on the Garmin and tried to settle into pace....Mile 1 seemed to go by a lot quicker than I imagined. I looked down, yep. Too fast! I clocked a 7:25. I reigned it in, knowing I definitely wouldn't be able to hold that pace if I kept it up, especially in the heat. The next mile was better, 7:30, yet still too fast. So I slowed down even more.....5k mark, boom! Right on pace! I was feeling decent at this point, yet not great. I pushed on to mile 4 and checked in with myself and the Garmin....I had slowed a bit, 7:45ish pace. I tried not to panic. There was plenty of time.  However, coming through mile 5, I was already starting to feel the effects of the heat, and my pace was slower than the last mile. By the 10k mark, I was even slower, clocking an 8:00 minute/mile pace. It was all downhill from there.....

I decided to abandoned my race plan pretty early on, mostly because my body just couldn't handle the heat. I've already experienced heatstroke/exhaustion multiple times in races and really didn't want to end up in the medical tents once again. Without any cloud cover or shade in sight and temps in the mid 80's, it was impossible for me to keep up that 7:38/mile pace. After realizing that my hopes of a 3:20 PR just wasn't going to happen, I kind of just let loose and tried to have as much fun as I could with the race.  I mean, this was Boston, if I wasn't going to PR, I was at least going to have fun....and I did!

As we neared Wellesley around mile 11.5 and I caught a glimpse of the sign "Wellesley is all in", I could hear a dull roar and I knew, the wall of women wasn't too far away. As they came into sight, the roar got louder and it was just screams and cheers all around. These ladies were excited! I couldn't help but smile! This helped push me on! ( I end up coming through 13.1 in 1:50:43....over 10 minutes off of what I was hoping to do.)

As the race went on and I was nearing 16, I was feeling the effects of the heat....at this point, I was just pushing myself to get from water stop to sprinkler to water stop.  Awhile back, the Garmin stopped clocking my mile splits, so I was going purely by feel from here on out. The crowd support was overwhelmingly awesome!! Everyone was out there to help cool us off, with hoses, ice buckets, and orange slices.  At one point, I just saw a kid holding out a Popsicle...I swooped in and grabbed that...ahhh, root beer! It wasn't a part of my race day nutrition, but it tasted AMAZING! 

Then, there it was, heartbreak hill.....so many people were walking up it. Not me, I was running this whole hill. Surprisingly, even in the heat, this hill wasn't as bad as everyone says. Granted, I wasn't clocking any amazing times at this point....probably a 10 minute mile, if I remember correctly, but I was shuffling up it!

While on the hill, I saw another popsicle....strawberry! After eating half, I had to toss it aside.  The heat was starting to make me feel a little nauseous and any other food at this point wasn't sitting so well, but there was no way I was puking in this race! I decided to stick to ice cubes from there on out.


I pushed on, and by mile 21.... I had to walk a bit (really bad side stitch-probably due to the popsicle!) Of course, who do I see??? More friends!! NYC running buddies cheering me on! Francis was snapping photos and Steven offered me some much needed gatorade. I chatted for a bit and then continued on....5 more miles to go!!!

Francis capturing me as I'm walking out a side stitch!

At this point, it was just a mental game....my goal had gone from 3:20 PR, to try to qualify again, to just have fun, to just FINISH! I was exhausted and starting to melt!!  We were approaching the Boston College cheer area and I had to walk a bit again....I was really starting to feel the chunks rising in my throat! And then, my favorite part of the race.....

While walking a bit more, I see this crowd of about 15-20 college kids along the right side of the course. I hear them chanting a number...1-1-9-1-0....11910....wait a sec, that's me!! I couldn't walk now! I pushed the thought of puking out of my head and started running. The entire group erupted in cheers....with a grin from ear to ear, I continued on once more!

By mile 24, it was becoming a struggle...my mouth and throat were SO dry but I was afraid to drink anything for fear that I just might throw it right back up. I looked over to my right side and a dude was up against the wall, vomiting rivers of brown ( I can only assume it was chocolate GU).  I didn't want that to be me, nor did I really want to see that any longer, so I picked up my pace a bit.

By mile 25, I just didn't want to be doing this any more. However, I remembered that JC and Nicole said they'd be stationed somewhere between mile 25 and 26 and there was no way I was going to be walking if or when I saw them. Unfortunately, I never did see them. But, before I knew it, I had turned the corner onto Boylston Street....there was the 26 mile marker....and up ahead, the finish line. A glorious sight....I picked up my pace as much as I could.....FINALLY, across the line!!  In a record slow time of 4:13:16,  I had completed the Boston Marathon.

Sadly, this race turned out to be the complete opposite of what I was expecting to do. At first, I was disappointed. After thinking about how much work I had put into training, running such a prestigious race in a time that was almost 1 hour off of my goal time didn't really feel like something to be proud of. However, the more and more I though about it, I was realizing that everyone else out there was in the same boat, battling the heat and just hanging on, missing their goals by a long-shot as well. Now that it's been over 2 weeks since race day and I've had time to digest the results, I can be proud of the fact that I stuck it out and just finished. This just wasn't my year, but I can only hope there will be more Boston marathons in my future. It wasn't an ordinary race day and even though I didn't PR, I still managed to have fun in tough conditions, smiling almost the entire way.

View my race photos here!