Saturday, April 26, 2008

"The pain is our badge of honor"

Coach Joe English, who's creating a documentary on the 2008 Boston Marathon writes this on his blog...

"The pain is our badge of honor"

"The pain doesn’t last long though. And perhaps that’s why we continue to run marathons. Not because we are gluttons for punishment, but instead because we want to wear that badge of honor for a few days now and then to remind ourselves of what we can do when we set out minds to it and try."

Follow this link to read the full post...

Friday, April 25, 2008

"20 Miles is Half Way"

In an interview before running the 2008 Boston Marathon, Lance Armstrong mentions that it was either Alberto or Johnny who told him that '20 miles is half way'.  

This is probably some of the best advice/insight into running a marathon that I've ever heard.  It becomes serious at mile 20.  It's painful at mile 20.  You need to seriously focus at mile 20.  You need to get ready by mile 20. Your blisters will show themselves at mile 20.  You will start to cramp up at mile 20.  The wall will be in view at mile 20.  

Yes, there's only 6.2 miles to go at mile 20 but at mile 20 you are half way there.

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Boston - Thank you to my friends

A couple of years ago, running (qualifying to run) the Boston Marathon seemed like a goal that was just too far out of reach. I didn't even consider it possible. With some encouragement by brother-in-law and friends I decided to give it a shot. Next year I was turning 40, I was coming off a good running year and my PR streak wasn't going to last must longer, so why not.

I can't tell you how much it helped having friends asking about my running, upcoming races, how my injuries were coming along... Not just that I didn't want to let people down but just having some good friends express interest in what many think is crazy (yes it is a bit crazy having to put in 20 mile runs on Sundays) really kept me going. It certainly helped my drive and focus. Last November after some seriously hard training I qualified for Boston with a 3:14– over a minute to spare. Just a year earlier, running 7:26 minute miles, for 26 miles seemed crazzzzy impossible to me.

A few days ago I ran the Boston Marathon. It was one of the most difficult but most exciting experiences of my life. I was coming off an injury, worried it would flare up and I'd blow up mid-race, missed 4 weeks of training, but I was determined to get there and finish.

I was originally shooting for a 3:20 (my original goal back in December) but within 10 miles I knew this wasn't going to happen. By mile 20 with hamstrings locking up, having to stop to pull out my orthotics from my shoes due to a huge blister on my foot and running head on into a 7 year old trying to cross the road, I changed to my goal to make it up and over Heartbreak Hill at mile 20-21 and not have to walk. So I put my head down, focused and headed towards the finish.

Luckily Stacey, the professional spectator (http://waitingtogetthere.blogspot.com/2008/04/crowd-goes-wild-tom-runs-boston.html), as usual found the perfect location to spot me with spectators 10 deep for 26 miles. She found me among 25k runners around mile 16 and ran with me a 1/4 mile or so (bandit) and then again at mile 24 which was just what I needed at that point.

Along the way I saw John Kerry (who walked past me at the start who announced the start of the Wheel Chair Race), a few runners dressed as super heroes, bikers partying outside of biker bars in Hopkinton, lots of kids handing out orange slices, ice cubes, ice pops, cold sponges, water from their own water/Gatorade stops and jolly ranchers, women with 'kiss me for a beer' t-shirts, screaming college girls from Wellesley College (as loud as any concert I've been to, seriously), giant signs on the side of a bar with an arrow and saying 'Short Cut This Way ---->', an amputee runner who was FAST, several 55+ year old runners who've run 10+ Boston Marathons running just as fast or faster than me, and hundreds of volunteers who were real helpful and congratulating every runner they met.

I finished with thousands of spectators screaming as I crossed the finish line crossing in 3:31:31. A bit off my goal, ending my PR streak, in lots of pain but sooooo happy, emotional and completely drained.

This is something that I couldn't have accomplished without the support of my friends and family and I wanted to thank you all for the encouragement and checking in on how things went.