I am not very excited about my running time on this...but this whole experience was for a good time...not a good time. :) And a good time is what we had!
After being at the Boston Marathon last year there was no way Tom and I were going to miss out on this year. We are so grateful for the opportunity we had to be able to participate in a most amazing race!
Not only was the race itself amazing but the whole time in Boston was priceless!
This will be long...but I need to have it for me. If you want to read along that is fine too. :)
The fun all started when Alan and Joy picked us up at our house for our trip to meet the red eye flight in SLC. I was still quite nervous about my cough...I was afraid I would cough the whole flight and have
people ready to toss me out the window. I was ready with cough meds and drops and a face mask. Luckily it went well.
At the airport we already started meeting people heading to the same place for the same reason! It was fun to meet a guy named Lloyd in SLC and then a guy named Jim in Long Beach. We had a good little
posse there chatting about past experiences and looking forward to the new one ahead. After spending some time with them we finally found out that Lloyd was the one and only "Tom Slick"! What fun to
get to know him!
All flights went well and we landed in Boston in the early morning hours. Utah time was 3:30 am so we were pretty well tuckered out. We were able to get to the hotel and check our bags but there was no
room in the inn for us yet. We looked around and found the pool with four lounge chairs there waiting for us to take a nap on. We all zonked there for a bit and woke up to a very busy pool and game court
area. I'm sure we looked kind of silly as we woke up to all the action but we were sure grateful for a few more Z's!
Off to the expo to pick up our numbers! I still get amazed of how many volunteers it takes to pull off an event like this! It really makes me want to go back sometime to be on that end of things! After
picking up our numbers and checkind out the expo we went over to the finish line. We took some pics and spent some time at the memorials of last year's victims. There was an awesome memorial in the
Library. I definitely needed tissues in there. My thoughts as I left were how emotional and reverant those rooms were at that moment.
Another very cool thing that day was to go to the Old South Church and be draped with a handmade blue and yellow scarf. There were thousands of them made by people all around that were given to the
runners. Each had a tag on it with the name and city of the person who made the scarf. So fun to be on the receiving end of that beautiful service. And again I thought of how awesome it would be to be
the other end making them with love for someone you would never even meet.
I knew the race would be emotional but I didn't realize I would shed so many tears before the race.
Sunday Alan, Joy, Tom and I found an LDS church to go to. We were happy to run into lots of other folks doing the same thing! It was also fun to talk to the missionaries and run into friends we already
knew. We met new friends Melissa and Ryan there and ran into them many times through our stay as we were in the same hotel. Fun to make new freinds! We happened to go on the day of Stake Conference. So between that, Easter and all the visitors all the rooms were full!
At 4:30 we met at the finish line with many of the Utah runners to take a group photo. I wish we could have spread the word to all of the Utahns so they could all be there. We did get a large gathering
though and it was fun to sit there with cameras all around like we were rock stars!
That night was the marathon pasta dinner. It had a super long line and was a bit chilly out but even in a long, cold line we were able to meet more amazing people. One of my favorites from that night
was cute Connie from Germany. As we learned about her we found that she is the mom of three kids, one being a deaf and blind 9 year old. It was amazing to hear of the things her family and this little
boy imparticular had to face...and the love they have for each other was felt as we watched and listened to her! I was sad that our time with her was cut as we lost track of each other without a proper
goodbye.
We were able to enjoy a nice sleep that night and wake up to a beautiful Monday morning race day! Joy was not running so Alan, Tom and I said goodbye to her and headed to the bus pickup location.
Last year we remember waiting in a long, winding line for quite awhile before boarding...this year we stepped out of the train station and right onto a bus! I can't believe how organized it was! We
enjoyed more visiting and getting to know more amazing people!
At Athlete's Village we all headed straight to the POP lines! Everyone seemed to be in dire need of getting to the front of those lines but everyone was patient and visited some more. This is the only
place I see that can be drasticly improved....If you had a roll of toilet paper there you could buy about anything you want from people. TP was a very rare and unfortuanatly very needed item there!
We took time to write our names on us and take some pictures. We added the names of Jeff & Cheryl and Desi & Alison to our shoulders. Jeff and Alison are both fighting some huge battles and I wanted to run for them. We also added CRTCJTTR for our kids and our dog. Before we knew it we were off to our corrals. It was beautiful already so we knew it was going to be rather warm on the run.
Tom and Alan both came back to my corral to run with me. As soon as we got to our place it was time to start running on the exact same course that the winners of the race were running on. How many sports
are there where you get to participate in the very same event as those who win the big bucks?
I had taken some little tokens that I had stamped BOSTON on to give away to people along the course. It wasn't anything big or amazing but it was fun to find the right people to hand one to along the
way. I mostly gave them to kids around 9 or 10 or to people in wheelchairs. I would go over to them and tell them thank you for being there to support us and give them one. One little boy was my
favorite as he got the biggest smile on his face and said "Mom! Look what she gave me!" I was able to put one in Team Hoyt's wheelchair along the way. That one was for Elsha! I didn't talk to them but I did sneak one in.
With a few strikes against me before the race even started I knew this would be a slow marathon but that was ok because if we were going to go slow on one it might as well be one as fun as this!
I had been sick for over a week, not ran at all for about 8 days and had some knee troubles from my long runs. I'm also a little fluffier than I like to be for a marathon (which probably adds to the
knee problems) and our training had only been "to finish a marathon". So with all that in mind we just decided to take it how it comes.
Most of the first half felt great! However at about mile 11 I got myself into a coughing fit that made me a bit nervous. I wasn't sure how in the world I was going to be able to get through it and
start running again. Tom and Alan were right there on the side waiting for me wondering the same thing but never leaving my side. Somehow I got through it and the cough never really caused
any more trouble.
The crowds were even more amazing than I was remembering or anticipating! It is so crazy to have people yelling for you all the way through the race! There are a few wooded areas where it is
harder for the crowds to be and it is a weird silence throught those places but everywhere else is full of excitement!
By the half way point my knee was already giving me some greif. We got past the Welsley girls (which is not the best crowd of the race as they are often given credit for. They are loud but not
nearly as loud as other areas such as Boston College). About mile 14 I was able to remember last year at that point where there were several people cheering for a guy named Kevin. And as my race
last year was dedicated to my big brother Kevin I took some time to think of him and how much I miss having him around. I think mile 14 of every marathon will be my Kevin mile forever!
I didn't feel like eating all the things people were giving along the way this year but Tom had a few...even a PB&J. I mostly just kept the water and Gatorade in me so I wouldn't get dehydrated. They
sure are good on the drink stations....they come often and have plenty of helpers at each one.
The last half had a lot of run/walk time in it. My knee would burn and burn and while it was burning I could run but as soon as it 'grabbed' I had to stop for a walk or a stretch. I went to a few medical
tents to see if they had Ben Gay or Icy Hot but that wasn't something they had. I kept telling Tom and Alan to run on without me but they were both too dang stuborn and would not leave my side!
At the time I really felt I wanted them to go on without me but looking back I am ever so grateful we all crossed the finish line together! I finally found a medical tent that would bring me in for a
rub down with oils. I thought they would just do it there on the side of the road but no...they made me go in the tent, scan my bib and go back to a cot. What were Alan and Tom doing during this
time you ask....they were waiting right there for me! The rub down felt great but only helped for a moment. The knee kept grabbing and bringing me to a halt. In any other race I would probably
have just not worried and walked the rest of the way. But with this one there is no way I was going to walk it in. The crowds were amazing and something about the support would help me get going
again, at least until the next grab. One of my favorite yells at that time was "Come on Baby GIrl! You got this!"
When we got to the point where we had been stopped last year I just couldn't contain my excitement! I went over to the crowd and came face to face with some random stranger. We grabbed
hands together and were facing each other. I'm sure I probably freaked him out a bit. I yelled to him and the crowd that "this was the place I had to stop last year. I could not continue to the finish
line, my race was over. But this year it is not over! I get to go from here! I get to cross that finish line!" With that the crowd cheered as I let go of his hands and moved on toward the finish line!
I was wishing I would have had one more token to leave with him at that time but I had used them all up. Anyway with that cheer I think I was pretty much able to run the rest of the way to the
finish line!
Going down Boyleston was absolutely deafening! Anyone who did not know what was going on would have thought that Alan and Tom and I were winning the race! And we were! We
were crossing that line happy and healthy and that was an absolute win! Getting across that line and getting a medal put around our neck is what we set out to do! So even though it took
us a record marathon slow of 5 hours and 15 minutes we loved every last second of the experience!
I am so grateful for the opportunity to have run the Boston marathon in 2013 and especially in 2014! I hope to be able to run it again sometime....not anytime too soon but sometime!
Thank you Boston! Thank you BAA! And thank you to all my family and friends who support me in all I do! A big thanks to Alan and expecially Tom for being there always!
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