In an effort to get this up, I bring you the first part of my Boston report, which doesn't actually include any of the race - that's part Two! The spacing on some of this seems to be weird, but I'm not going to worry about that right now.

 

Warning - this is a picture heavy Boston report!

 

I flew into Boston Friday night and so Saturday was Expo time! Step one is to get your race packet. Well, actually step one is to show your packet-pick up card and photo ID and THEN get your packet.

 

Once you're eagerly clutching your precious packet in your happy hands, you make your way over to the shirt table where you get your bag and selected shirt size. Part of the awesome thing about Boston? You first are handed the shirt size you think will fit. Then you head wherever you find space, try it on, and exchange it for a different size if you want.

Then you get herded into the actual Expo - beginning with a large section of official Boston gear. First thing's first, though. Picture time with my bib number! The smiley face on the bag is how they know you picked up your shirt. Too bad I don't look excited at all . . . It's so fun to be surrounded by lots and lots of runners. It's one of my favorite things about any race weekend but with 27,000 people in one race, plus their generally active family/friends/spectators, that's a whole lot of runners.

So, same as last time, the Expo is really the same as any expo except so very crazy crowded. And then there's the part where you get to meet Kathrine Switzer. She was super awesome again - spending so much time with each person that she started getting in trouble from whoever was keeping an eye on her line because it was getting too long. Luckily, I was towards the front :) She gives everyone a hug, asks your name and how you are and truly wants to know how you are. She finds a connection with each person.

 

 

I had her sign my book a second time, which seemed to amuse her (different page, though!), and I also had her sign my race number.

I don't think she necessarily signed it upside down on purpose but we giggled about it when she was done and decided that meant I could look down at it for inspiration while I was running, if need be. After that it was lots of general expo wandering. I had some gift certificate money to spend, so I had a blast picking out Boston gear. I even managed to hold back and save some, which allowed me to buy a running pack for Cedar on sale later (not at the expo - in a store that gave you 20% for showing them your bib number). I wandered around for a while looking for a companion to my bright pink Boston shorts from last time or maybe a Boston skirt but no luck. I settled for a black pair of Boston shorts with blue/yellow trim, since I did actually need another pair. 

 

Over the weekend, I stayed with my friend from high school and I had two other high school friends who live near-ish by come over to watch the race and hang out. It was great to be with them for a couple days - thanks so much for coming, guys! Sunday, we headed back into Boston (my friend lives in Cambridge, about 5 miles from the race finish). There were several pictures that I didn't even think to take my first time and I needed to make sure they happened. Pictures like me at the finish banner:
 

Or of me me kneeling (on my bad knee, silly girl) on the Finish Line.

Close up of the part of the finish line the the person taking the previous picture would have been standing on.

Okay, enough of that! Time to get ready to run which means obsessively laying everything out the night before. No, I didn't run in Vibrams, those were for afterward. Not that I remembered to change into them . . .

 

So, Boston starts in three waves. I was in Wave Two, starting at 10:20. However, this meant I had to catch the buses between 6:30-7. Everyone gathers in Boston Commons and ques in giant lines waiting for the massive numbers of buses. Enough buses to bring 27,000 people from Boston to Hopkinton. I feel as though this picture doesn't quite do it justice in terms of the crazy number of people waiting for buses. There is a line 4-5 people wide going as far down as the picture goes and winding around.

 

The key was to move to the middle lines rather than getting off the subway and immediately joining the first line right there. Step one here, though, is to hit the port-a-potty line because the bus ride is 45 minutes to over an hour and you don't want to be stuck on there and really needing a bathroom. As I was waiting in line, the volunteer in my line was waving to the loaded buses driving by.

This made me really happy so I had to take a picture of him. I waved at him as our bus drove away, too. Since I got on a bus more toward the front of the line, this meant I was able to choose my seat and also get the window. My seat partner was a great guy here with a training group from Illinois who were seated in front and also kitty corner from us. He said I look a ton like his daughter, which is why he sat next to me.

 

We actually spent a lot of the ride talking about skiing - he's a super speedy age grouper. We took pictures of each other with our bags (I blacked out his name here so if you want to freakishly stalk him, you have to work at it at least a little) so we would remember names post-race. I looked him up when I got back to internet and made sure he finished when he wanted and was safe. He did and was.

After driving for a while (this is why you get on an early bus, those horror stories out there about 1.5+ hour bus rides with traffic jams and runners jumping out the back to pee are always from people who get on a late bus) and then driving slowly through part of Hopkinton, we're dropped off at the school and a parking lot full of the buses that came before us. Get off the bus and follow everyone into the Athlete's Village.

This is not actually the start line, mind you, just the entrance to the Village. There you sit for a couple hours. Well, first I hightailed it to the bathrooms after the bus ride (shockingly short lines at first) and THEN I sat down. This is why people recommend that you bring a garbage bag - so you can sit/lay on the ground without getting a wet butt. Or an inflatable air mattress, like some people do. I settled for a garbage bag, though. I spread mine out and settled down for a bit. The group next to me was from Iceland and one of the guys had a crazy low number in the 100-somethings. Yikes. After laying down for a bit, and eating a half peanut butter and jelly sandwich, it didn't take too long for me to get a little antsy. So then it was time to jump in the ever growing bathroom line again.

 

Towards the front of the line, I watched DUFF MAN (he put a nice red cape on, as well) and a hotdog getting dressed.

 

 

Both with lower numbers in the 4,000s so these were definitely not charity runners. It was fun to see.

I decided to head to the starting area a little early. So - change from my keeper warmup gear (to be worn at the finish) to my throw warm-up gear (to be worn to the start line and then tossed), exit the Athlete's Village, find the bus to put my bag in (which included my camera since I didn't want to carry it or stop for pictures so only official pictures from here until the finish), and start the .7 mile walk to the start line. It was a constant crowd of people heading down and some of the houses had people out just watching the show. Fence lined the whole way with collection bags for your discarded gear at regular intervals - they gather everything you toss off and donate it. Last time, I had two friends to walk to the start with so it was a little strange walking there on my own since I'm also used to being at big races with at least one other person. I knew I'd run into Tonya in the corral but I didn't expect to see her before then. When we finally got to the starting area, Wave One was lined up and they were doing some announcements so it was back to a bathroom line for me. Which took maybe a little longer than normal since I let a couple Wave One guys who were in line behind me go in front of me.

Oh! While waiting for Wave One to go (NO jet fly over! I was so bummed! That's half the reason I headed over early), I saw a woman wearing this running dress. It was so cute. I loved it! And now I kind of want one - she said it's super comfy and it would eliminate the rubbing raw that I always get on my lower back from shorts. Anyway. Sidetrack finished . . .

Wave One was off and it was time to boogie into my corral (7!) for Wave Two. I took off my toss pants before heading over but decided to keep the zip up hoodie on until I started running. As I entered the corral and headed to the front, I was looking around for Tonya and just maybe was talking out loud along the lines of, "Tonya should be around here somewhere" when she said hi! It was nice to wait for the start next to a friend.

 

Up next - the actual RACE part of my race report! 

 

I finished Boston and was about two block away when everything happened.  More about the race later.

Okay, I'm good and exited now. I'm checking the weather sites as though they actually mean anything (currently 55 with a high chance of rain and a headwind) and packing one of everything just in case. Or rather, planning on packing one of everything since I haven't actually started packing yet . . . At least I don't have to worry about single digits, snow, mud, and river crossings like some of my friends this weekend. Not that I don't also wish I was able to head to Zumbro, too . . .

I don't have too much of a plan for the race itself. I don't even know what a reasonable goal really is right now. I feel as though I'm in good shape but I don't know about good road marathon shape. And I had those 10 days of sick in March. So . . . under normalish weather conditions (no raging heat, no brutal head wind the entire way) anything under 3:50 sounds good with a preference to rock it out and see something 20 minutes faster than that. If we get not normalish weather, then it will probably become time to just have fun and enjoy.

Now, my old shoes were getting rather flat feeling and once I checked my shiny mileage spreadsheet I saw that they did, in fact, have probably a good 350 miles on them (I got them before I started using the spreadsheet, so I'm not positive on the exact mileage), so I decided on getting new shoes this last weekend. Since they're the same brand/model as usual, I'm not too concerned about switched to new shoes so close to a race. I've been on a couple of test runs and the problem area from my previous pair don't seem to exist on the new ones, so I'll probably wear them Monday. Granted, the runs were nothing too long but what I was worried about was a tight and sharp part of the heel that needed a couple weeks to bend back/soften up on the old pair and made itself apparent from the first three mile run that rubbed my heel off. I might wear my old shoes to walk around in this weekend and that way I have them with me if I change my mind. Though really, I'm checking a bag that will be probably mostly empty (since all race clothing will be on my carry on) so I could always just pack them, too.

If you don't know, I'm an over-packer for short trips. Especially for races. I want to have everything with me that I might possibly want. Now, come a longer trip and I'll probably have the exact same amount of stuff, so I'm not a heavy packer for those! It's New England in the spring - we don't really know what the weather will be like. So my racing jersey, t-shirt, and long sleeve. My roll down sleeves. Shorts, half tights, skirt. Boston has a .7 mile walk from where you drop your bag to the starting line so not only do you want clothes to put on when you finish, you ALSO want clothes to wear to the start that you can just toss (they have loads of collection points and donate everything that gets dumped to charity). Last time I found a zip up hoodie at Savers and it was great because I could keep in on for the first mile but still have my number showing and then toss it when I warmed up, so I'm planning on doing the same thing again. If it's even chilly enough to not toss it right at the start. Is it going to be 70? 50 with rain? Who knows! I've seen both predictions today!

Alright, I work a half day Friday. Then I take the Skyline Shuttle to the Cities (yay for not stressing about driving in gross weather or making a friend or sister worry about emergency snow parking with my car), fly out Friday night, arrive crazy late in Boston. I plan to sleep in late Saturday, spend too much time at the expo, and then hang out with friends until Monday. I may or may not update again before then, depending on how fast I pack tomorrow (ha! I'm a slow packer!) and what kind of time I have over the weekend.

If you want to track me, you can get texts or emails by going here. My bib number is 15438. Looks like it sends out at 10K, half marathon, 30k, and finish.

I ran the Human Race last weekend (the 24th, not the 31st). Though, it's not the Human Race now, as it's been renamed to Irish Run, complete with a bright green race shirt but hey, more shirts for being visible on a bike is always good, right? This was a short little 8K down in the Cities. I'm on the Austin-Jarrow racing team and we do the USATF team circuit - most of the races of which are in the Cities. The bad part is it's a long way to drive for short races but the good part is there's always lots of teammates running with you and they're generally a fun time.

The Irish Run changed it's start/finish this year to be right behind Macalester. It was also fun to have a race covering roads I ran in college - I knew exactly where I was at all times and knew what the road crossings meant in terms of distance to the finish, which really helps. We do about a mile down Summit and then turn around and head back up, past the start and just over a mile the other direction before turning around Billy Mitchell Law School and finishing where we started. I didn't think I would like the change but I really did. You end with a nice three block downhill, which is always a good finish.

It took a long time for my Short Race head to get in the game so perhaps two miles of warmup was not enough. Around two miles in the race, I felt a tap on my shoulder and saw my friend Rudy going by me. An awesome guy but he should not be passing me! Crap. My second mile split was no good either, but I generally try to not freak out about mile splits one way or the other and just use them as a guide. About a half mile later, I passed Rudy back and finally got some groove going and was running the 7 minute miles I should have been doing for mile 2. I wish the race had been at least a 10K and I could have done so much better! It was great fun to pass so many people on the way back, though, since it felt like the entire race was passing me in the beginning.

I came across the finish in what I thought was a few seconds slower than last year and was a bit bummed about it. But then I was rather hyper and ready for more running! On the way back to Duluth, I remembered that it took me a few seconds to cross the starting line and low and behold, I actually ran two seconds faster than last year! Granted, I wanted to run about thirty seconds faster than last year since last year was grossly hot but since I really haven't been doing any sort of speed training (so much for marathon specific track workouts . . .) I'm happy with it. Stupid second mile time. Good thing there were footsteps right behind me on the last stretch to help push out those two seconds! I didn't realize she was so close, though, until I saw the pictures! I did manage to drop her in the last block :) I like to think I'm a hard person to beat coming into the finish. Unless your name is Marcus . . .

So, here I am now, 13 days to Boston! Soon I can start stalking the weather predictions. Of course, I'll be bringing every possible racing gear anyway, so I don't know why I bother. I have my seat booked on a shuttle down to the Cities and back (it'll be nice to not have to drive, even if it gets me back to Duluth a little later Tuesday than I would like), my tickets are bought, my friend is going to host me. All that's left is obsessive list making to make sure I don't forget anything. And trying to figure out if airport security will let me fly with a sealed bottle of Boost . . .

Okay! The crash ate my last entry. I've been trying to repost but the crash also ate the ability to post contractions. So I ever so carefully went through the post, took out/edited the contractions, hit post. Nope, I missed one, so it all disappeared. Then I decided to wait until things were fixed. So here's my post from last week again:

 

Ooof. Take over a full week off due to sickness and concern about it lingering on forever and ever if I didn't rest and you come up with some pretty dismal March mileage so far . . . Let's talk about silly happy things. Like how I have my number and wave/corral assignment for Boston!

 

I am number 15438. Wave 2, corral 7.

 

Numbers are assigned by speed, so I have something like the 15,438 fastest qualifying time. I think. The elite runners all get their names on their bibs and I'm guessing they don't start the bibs with number 1 and I'm not sure where they start numbering at.

 

For the 2009 Boston, my qualifying time was two minutes slower and my number was 14800 - wave 2 corral 1 (pretty cool to start at the front of the race). So the race has definitely gotten speedier. From last year to this year, the website told me that the cut-off between Wave 1 and Wave 2 is 37 seconds faster and the cut-off between 2 and 3 is 23 seconds faster. My original goal for running Boston again was to get into Wave 1, but I since decided that probably wasn't going to happen and started to worry about being in Wave 3 so Wave 2 is just fine.

 

Less than 4 weeks away now! (Well, 17 days, now) Have I mentioned how it's really strange to be excited but not have it be my big focus for the year? Basically since I started running in 6th grade and heard about this Boston Marathon thing, it was a goal to someday make it there. I was worried that I was maybe over-hyping it in my head but that ended up not being the case at all. Despite it being a horrible race for me, it was still an amazing experience and I left determined to go back and show the race what's-what. So, I'm heading back, now. I'm in good shape, for sure, though I'm not sure what kind of speedy-road-marathon-shape I'm in since I haven't really been focused on super marathon training. Guess I'll find out, huh?