Andrea looked over at me and said “What a view we have!”
If you had asked me in early March if I was going to be running the Boston Marathon, I would have replied with a “maybe.” Because of a minor four week setback with my calf, at that point my training was not near where I had planned to be. I was running again, but with […]
It’s only after you tell yourself you can’t that it becomes true.
Running in the elite women’s start—an opportunity I’ve never had before—was one of the things that made me most eager to run Boston again, despite the poor buildup… There is an obvious downside to a women’s-only start: with only about sixty women and obviously no men, you may find yourself alone pretty early. At Pittsburgh […]
“Not just anyone can run in the Boston Marathon.” (signed) Mom & Dad
What happens on the third Monday in April in Boston? Ask a Bostonian and they’ll say it’s Patriot’s Day. Ask any runner and they’ll tell you it’s the day of the Boston Marathon, the granddaddy of all marathons. One day in 1997 while on a run, my friend Miles and I were talking about Boston […]
Twelve years earlier, Heartbreak Hill seemed like nothing; this time around, it kicked my butt!
Our Cruiser running group enjoyed a fun weekend filled with attending the huge Boston Marathon expo and packet pick-up, the guys’ 5K on Sunday morning, and our pre-race dinner on Sunday night. After dinner, we got back to our hotel, and before heading to bed, I tied my chip to my shoe, and set out my […]
A Brief Detour to Cot #12
In 2007, I wrote a post in my Myspace blog in which I discussed the differences among plans, goals, dreams, and fantasies. Qualifying for the Boston Marathon fell into the “dreams” category at that point. My marathon times were nowhere near fast enough for Boston to seem feasible, but I thought if I continued to […]
“Plan your run, and run your plan”
The Boston Marathon was everything I hoped it would be. Well, it would have been nice if the weather was a little better. But, hey….the weather could have been much worse. The temperatures were actually nice (started in upper 30’s and stayed in 40’s). However, there was a strong headwind (gusts up to 37 mph) […]
Choosing to run rather than drive the bus
In April of 2000 a relationship began. A runner fell in love with a city. Back in the summer of 1989, after doing some hiking in the Green Mountains, my cousin and I took in a Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park. It was my first look at the city, but only a five hour […]
I became delusional around mile 20, barely finished, and ended up in the medical tent
I finished the Boston Marathon, I ended up in the medical tent, bombs went off, people were hurt/killed and nothing has been the same since. It’s been difficult to shake the images, memories, and sad feelings from my mind. The past week has felt a haze, it feels like my mind is stuck in quicksand. […]
The little old lady start line volunteer told me “Oh honey, you can go on waaaaay up there”
Eventually we found our place in line at the start. It was kinda funny though. Thanks to my qualifying time of 2:54, my bib number was 1966 – which meant I was actually in both the first wave and the first corral. But because I had no plans/desire to run a 6:30ish pace for Boston, […]
“…But whatever you do you have to keep moving forward!”
My Boston Story is not complete yet. My Boston Qualifying story is. After seven marathon attempts, with my best time being 4:02, I had basically given up qualifying for Boston. I took a five year hiatus from running, had a couple of beautiful baby girls, and finally got back into running in 2012. In early […]