Pre-Race

I have a ton of stuff that I wrote while I was in Boston and I'll post it as time permits, but I wanted to write about the race while it is fresh in my mind. I'll start with the pre-race and then I'll post about the actual race as soon as I have time. Here you go:

Pre-race

I walk over to Boston Common at 6am to catch a bus to the starting line. I’m surprisingly calm since I know that I won’t be “racing” but merely “running” this one. There are buses lined up as far as the eye can see. The buses are full so I pick the shortest line and wait for the second wave of buses. Minutes later, I’m on a bus and we’re off. They’re going to drive us 26.2 miles away and then make us run back. There is a convoy of buses being led by a police motorcade and the police are blocking traffic at every intersection to allow us to drive through. I could get used to this. It is obvious that this race is a big deal.

It takes about an hour for us to arrive at the Athlete’s Village, in Hopkinton. We walk down a road and around a school building and into the village. Several huge, circus size tents are set up and runners are already staking their claim to their own little resting spot in the village. I grab a bagel and a cup of Gatorade and slowly wander the length of the village. I have a couple of hours to kill before the race starts so I pull out my $3 pool raft, place it on the ground and decide to chill out under one of the big tents. In an effort to avoid further aggravating my piriformis (ass) injury, I decide to lie down on my stomach. I actually fall asleep briefly until some guy from Marathonfoto.com decides he wants to take my picture. Dude, I’m resting.

Time passes slowly, I hit the porta-john a few times and finally it is time to meet up with some friends from the Running Times Marathoners internet forum. I walk over to the meeting place and there are probably 20 runners there already. I quickly meet a half dozen or so runners who I’ve talked to for years online but am finally meeting in person. We talk race strategy and one guy tells me to take it easy through the first eleven miles or so because although it is a “net” downhill, it is actually steady rolling hills the entire way. I explain my injury and tell him that I’ll be “taking it easy” for the first 25 or so but his advice turned out to be very solid.

My friend Lisa shows up, better late than never, and it turns out that she is also fighting an injury and her and another runner are planning to start with the second wave and try to run a comfortable 3:37 or so. She invites me to join them and it is tempting but I finally decide to stick with my wave one start time, partially because I might need the extra half hour to get to the airport on time and partially because I don’t even know if I have a “comfortable 3:37” in me, and I didn’t want to hold them back. (They ended up running a 3:45, so yeah, I would have held them back). She makes a point of showing me her shoe, which is signed by Ryan Hall, my running hero. Yep, I’m just a little bit jealous. I tell her she’s crazy to be running in that shoe.

We pose for countless group photos and then it is time to check our bags and head for the corrals. As we walk toward the corrals, the elite women’s race is about to begin. Over the PA system, I can hear the announcers talking about how Senator John Kerry will be the official starter for the women’s race. Also, the three women who qualified for the Olympics the day before are in attendance. Again, I get the feeling that this race is a big deal. One last stop at the porta-john and then it’s time to head to the corral. I’m assigned to corral 8, which means there are 8000 runners lined up in front of me. They announce that there are several previous Boston Marathon winners racing this year. Everyone claps, time starts speeding up. Star Spangled Banner, complete with military fly-over, and holy crap, the starting gun.

It takes close to 5 minutes just to get to the starting line and I try to take in as much of my surroundings as possible. TV cameras everywhere, helicopters, famous athletes and politicians. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore. Finally, we reach the starting line. I hit the timer on my watch and we’re off.