Boston Marathon 2009.

I ran the 2009 Boston Marathon on Monday. 26 miles, 385 yards. Hopkinton to Boston. It was an amazing day.

I wasn't nervous about the run. Curious is more how I would describe my feeling. This marathon was the least prepared I'd ever been before a marathon. The past two months I hadn't been running. I ran 12 miles on the Monday a week before the race. I was sore for three days. Then I ran 5 miles on the Friday before the race...before that, it'd been about 7-8 weeks since I'd ran. I haven't been a slug, however; I've been training quite intensely on the bicycle. But still...even with all the cardio and endurance cycling provides...26.2 miles is a long way...and pounding on the legs and body is quite brutal. And being sore after 12 miles, I wasn't quite sure how I would hold up. I was curious. Will I feel okay? Will I have a total melt down? Will it just be average? Will I pull out some sort of crazy feat?

The weekend was great. I stayed with friends in Boston on the North shore. My friend Laura also went for the weekend. So it was a great time being with friends. Very relaxing.

Another friend, Angie, was also running the race. I stayed with her on Sunday night, close to downtown, in her apt. It was great having a friend also running the race. We were able to encourage each other in our lack of preparations :) Her brother made us breakfast in the morning. And it was nice just having a friend on the bus to Hopkinton.

Race morning was perfect. The weather was cool and slightly overcast. The energy in Hopkinton was fabulous. 26,000+ runners taking care of last minute race preparations. Talking, laughing, hanging out, getting ready. Sort of a nervous energy just crackling through the town.

I ran Boston in 2007...the worst weather I've ever run in. COLD. WINDY. RAINY. It was awful. I mean, it was sweet running Boston, but it was awful. The runners suffered. The times suffered. The crowd turn out suffered.

I remember being impressed with the crowd in 2007. It was still a lot more people cheering than normal. And I remember being a bit sceptical when people told me it was probably about 1/10th of the normal turnout.

They were not exaggerating.

Since the weather on Monday was so beautiful, the crowds were full and energetic. The number of screaming spectators along almost the entire 26.2 mile length of road was overwhelming! People handing out water and gatorade. Kids asking for "high fives" and handing out orange slices. It was great! It awesome how the city gets behind this race. And definitely made running a lot more enjoyable.

My run went well. I was maintaining about a 7 minute mile pace for most of the race. I was really good about staying relaxed and focused, not letting the crowd or the downhill sections lure me into running faster than I knew I should. I was on pace to do it in just over 3 hours, thinking maybe if I felt good enough I could pick it up at the end and come in under 3 hours. However, the last 6 miles or so, the hills took it out of me. I never slowed down too much, but I also didn't have the leg turnover to pick up the pace at all. I finished with a time of 3 hours and 7 minutes.

The highlight of the race: Wellsley College. There's a big sign proceeding the Wellsley section which reads, "Feel the Scream." They are not kidding. About a half mile before you get to Wellsley you can already hear them screaming. And when you get there...it's wild. 1000s of screaming college girls :) holding signs that say "Kiss me!" Well, all right. Mostly I just ran along the fence giving "high fives." A few times, though, I went for it. Twice I got cheeked...they turned their faces at the last second. One time, though; money. Wellsley...yeah, I'll be back to Boston some day :)

So, yes. It was a great weekend. Great time with friends. Great time relaxing away from work and the daily grind. And a great race. I'm quite sore, though. I think I'll just relax and take it easy.