The Big Day!

My first Boston Marathon

April 18th 2011

Start Time : 10:40am

My race time : 3:59:27

Well, the 2011 Boston Marathon has come and gone, and I'm proud to say that it was a complete success! I ended up raising just over $6000 for the Alzheimer's Association, and managed to finish the race in just under 4 hours. (and I do mean JUST under!)

The event actually started off on Saturday when Dan, Hiroshi and I went into Boston to attend the Expo at the Hynes Convention center. 

Me getting my first Boston Marathon Bib!!

The scene at the Expo

Hiroshi, Dan and I with our numbers. Actually, Hirsohi and I have our numbers, Dan didn't check closely and ended up with someone else's! He had to go all the way back to Boston to straighten it out.

Race Day

Suprisingly, I had no trouble at all falling asleep the night before the race. I had thought for sure that I wouldn't be able to get much decent sleep, but I guess I wasn't all that nervous...

When I woke up in the morning the nerves started coming on, but I had my wonderful wife Kate and my little pal (see below) to calm me down.

 Getting a little time with Max before leaving for the Marathon!

After saying goodbye to the family, my buddy Rori picked me up and shuttled me to Athlete's Village in Hopkinton.

I arrived at Athlete's Village early. (like 7am). All of the roads within a few miles of the starting line were to be closed at 7:30, so it was either get there early or get stressed out trying to be there on time!

Hanging out in Athlete's Village was VERY COLD. I think one of the best pieces of advice I got for race day was to bring a trash bag and cut a hole out for my head. It felt silly wearing a trash bag, but I'd bet that the temperature inside the bag was at least 20 degrees warmer than outside!

After an hour or so I managed to find some of my Run for the Memory teammates to pass the time with. It was nice to have them to chat with and keep my mind occupied. After one last trip to the port-o-john, (45 minute line! ), we were shuffled down to the starting line in Hopkinton center!

 The Coffee line at Athlete's Village!

 Athlete's Village starting to fill up.

 Brenna's classic photo pose!

 Coach Rich Schilder and Ed Cederholm 

Ed taking it all in in Athlete's Village.

The Race Begins!

The run started out great. For the first 8 miles or so, the only problem I had was having to exert precious energy trying to get around slower runners. Especially the ones who run in packs and feel the need to run four or five abreast. That can be very frustrating when your trying to get your groove on! After a few miles though, things started to spread out and I was able to run my pace.

At the 2.5 mile mark, I made my way to the left side of the road because I knew Rori and his wife Susan would be watching the race from there. It was in this exact spot that Rori and I watched the race from last year. It was then that Rori told me I would be running the marathon this year. I told him he was (explitive) crazy.

Rori gets a quick shot of me as I pass.

Around 6 or 7 miles in, i passed my next screaming fan. My cousin Farrah told me she would be in front of the Cantina restaurant in Ashland. With a huge high-five and a whole bunch of screaming (not by me), I passed her as I headed towards Framingham.

Somewhere around the 8 mile mark is when I started to have my first problem. I started noticing a progressively sharper and sharper pain on the edge of my right foot, just before my pinky toe. I couldn't believe it. I had NEVER had this pain on any training run leading up to the race! I still don't know what caused it, but somewhere around 15 miles the left foot started up with the same exact pain. All I can figure is that the downhill nature of the first half of the course caused my feet to push up toward the fronts of my shoes and caused my foot strikes to not be quite right. This sharp pain would continue throughout the rest of the marathon.

Around the 10 mile mark in Natick, some of Soup Groupers were cheering me on. It was great to see my training partner Mike McMullin and his son Tom out there.

Foot issues aside, my run was going pretty smoothly until about 15 miles or so. It was somewhere around there that I started feeling like I didn't have my normal energy levels. The energy gel that I had taken around the 9 mile mark was making my stomach feel tight. I found myself really looking forward to stopping at the Alzheimer's Association cheering station where Kate and Max would be waiting for me along with my mom and step-father Scott.

My little guy waiting for Daddy to run by!

Taking a quick water break at the Run for the Memory cheering station. This is where I was able to see my family and get some motivation for the last 10 miles!

After getting a brief rest and some motivation from family and friends at the cheering station, I headed off towards the big turn into the hills of Newton. I popped a couple of Advils and charged on. By this point my right foot was hurting enough to throw off my stride quite a bit. As a result, I was feeling a little gassed coming into the first big hill. I decided to walk a bit to try to get my system back under control. After I started running again I looked down to check my pace and saw the my timer was stopped! Unfortunately, I must have instinctively stopped it when I started walking. UGHHH! Now I had no idea what my actual time on the course was and wouldn't be able to strategize when I got to the final miles of the race.

And so it went. Up the hills of Newton, then past BC and Cleveland Circle and left onto Beacon Street. I started drinking water at nearly every water stop (something I hadn't done for the first 18 miles of the race, depending instead on the water I was carrying with me).  I also forced myself to consume more energy gel (which my stomach didn't seem to mind as much the second and third times around).

I won't say much about Heartbreak Hill here because, quite frankly, this was not the beast of my race. I know it is for some people, but we had trained on it quite a bit, and though I did have my struggles today, Heartbreak wasn't one of them.

As the Advil, extra water, and energy gel started to do their jobs, I started to feel a little bit better. Then, about a third of the way down Beacon street, out of the crowd comes running my friend Jen Lalime! Striding up next to me with a huge smile on her face, she told me how great I looked and how she'd been tracking me online the whole race, and how awesome I was doing! She ran with me for what must have been at least a mile lifting my spirits and getting me ready to take on the last two miles. I can never thank her enough! As a matter of fact, I'm 100% sure that without her I wouldn't have broken 4 hours!

Thanks Jen! I'll remember that forever. (and so will Steve Klise who screaming like a mad man when she and I ran past him!)

My last group of "planned fans" were my Aunt Allison and my cousins Liz and Lauren who were going to be cheering me on from somewhere in the Coolidge Corner area in Brookline. Unfortunately, I had no idea exactly where they would be. I got super-lucky though and happened to be on the right side of the road when I came upon them. 3 more high-fives!

From this point on it was chin up and push on as hard as I could. A couple of short walks here and there kept things under control physically, and the mirage-like Citgo sign kept my mind focused on finishing! Like most Bostonians, I've alway associated the Citgo sign with the Red Sox and Fenway Park, but not any more! From this point on, whenever I see it I will think of the Boston Marathon.

Coming out of Kenmore Square and heading down under the Mass Ave overpass I slowed down to a walk for just a few seconds, but it just didn't feel right. I was too close. I had to run! I picked it right back up and slipped into the smoothest stride I could manage for the last phase of the race. Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston!

As I turned onto Boylston I heard someone screaming for me. I turned to see who it was, but didn't recognize anyone in the crowd. I found out later that my family had made it back on the train in time to get a spot on Hereford!

The home stretch to the finish line on Boylston Street is much farther than it looks! The finish line banner is huge, so even as you make the turn from Hereford, you can see it very clearly. But it's still awfully far away.

As I came down the finishing stretch though, I stopped noticing all of the aches and pains and was able to take it all in. Part of me wanted to just coast and take it nice and easy to the finish, but the competitive part of me said step it up and push across the line! I might never be here again! So I pushed as hard as I could for the last few hundred yards and finished with my arms in the air!

It's kind of funny, but I'm just realizing now that from the time i crossed the finish line until about 20 minutes later when I picked up my bag from the bus, I had absolutely no idea what my time was because of my timing screw up earlier in the race. I never even thought about it! That is VERY unlike me.

When I pulled my phone out of my bag, it was buzzing and beeping like crazy! A facebook post from my father informed me that I had broken 4 hours with a time of 3:59:27! I was humbled by how many people were tracking my progress throughout the race. Dozens of messages of congratulations came pouring in!

The scene in the Boylston/Copley area after finishing the marathon.

After hobbling around the Copley area for another 15 minutes or so, I found my family waiting for me in front of the Westin Hotel. After scoffing down nearly every bit of food in my runner's bag and drinking everything I could get me hands on, I relaxed for a bit with my family and fellow Run for the Memory runners. Then a short walk back to the subway and to the car to head home.

My family and I after finishing the 2011 Boston Marathon!

The day was finished off at The British Beer company for a little "Vitamin G" and as many calories as I could get my hands on!