Baystate

Heading into Baystate I was pretty nerous about how the day was going to go. I hadn't completed 100% of my training for the 2-3 weeks prior and was really questioning the plan. I hadn't run more than 13.1 in 9 months and more than 15 miles in two years. I rode my bike a lot this year, but not so much that I felt confident. I filled out a couple "race predicting calculators" and found that my target time would be around 3:08. So I made this my goal, but needed a 3:10 to qualify. All morning my stomache was a mess. I slept ok and at my normal prerace meal, but I was in trouble. Pre race I chatted with Kate and my Mother and just couldnt shake the gut rot. I did my warm up run with Tim and before I knew it, I was running a marathon. At mile 1, I vividly remember thinking, "I am so F-ed." I felt ridiculously tight and my stomache was a mess. I had a roughly 1,000 people in front of me and my goal pace of 7:08 felt like a 5:08. To put it simply, I was in a really bad place. Miles 2-9 I didnt say a word to anyone and kept my head down. I just kept thinking, "get to mile 13, get to mile 13" I have no idea what the plan was once I got to 13, but it sounded better then "get to mile 7". Mile 10 - My stomach was still off, but not horrible. Fortunatly my legs felt fine. It was at this point that I realized in the last 3 miles I had passed about 50 people and no one had passed me. A little, (very little) boost of confidence. Mile 13 - My legs felt really solid and looking at the clock, I had created a 2 min "buffer" for my Boston Qualifying time. Its a little weird, but once I got to the halfway point my stomache went away and I was ready to run. Miles 13-20 I ran at aa 7 minute pace and felt really good. Of course really good at mile 20 in a marathon is all relative. I was definitely in pain, but the positive feedback from my watch out weighed everything else. Mile 20 - Because of my stomache issue earlier, I drank a ton of fluids the first 13 miles to try and keep my stomache temperature down. It seemed to help my stomache, but I was now encountering an new issue, I REALLY had to pee. I waited as long as I could and at mile 20 I found a tree and went for it. After what felt like 10 minutes, I started to run again. My legs were a bit tight from stopping, but overall still felt good. 20 - 26.2 For some reason, I decided to push it a little and see how my body reacted. I started to run at a 6:50 pace and passed A LOT of people. Great support by other runners and the crowd made the pain that much more tolerable. There were quite a few people who were now walking and I couldn't help but think of how I felt in 2010 when I did the same thing. I crossed the line at 3:06 and had grabbed my Boston spot. It wasn't until I started to walk that I realized how shattered my legs were. The race had gone well and I had given it everything I had. Definitely one of my better race days. A short while later Kate came FLYING down the road. Even after 26 miles her gait was perfect and she looked amazing! It was a pretty emotional moment once she crossed the line. 16 months ago she gave birth to our son, but in process she had severely damaged her femeral nerve. We didn't know if she would ever walk again, but like everything Kate does, she took it head on and overcome the challenge She ran a 3:39. Kate's goal was to run strong, but not have any real time goal. She missed Boston by less than 5 minutes! You hear of inspiring stories, I can say I live with one.