Brews and Running Shoes: The Road to Boston

On April 21^st, there will be over 35,000 runners lining up in Hopkinton, MA to run the 118^th Boston Marathon, and each will have traveled a different path to get to that starting line. Everyone has a story. Here’s mine.

My story began on June 30, 2012. At that time I had no idea how much that day would completely change and shape the direction of my life. The day started out ordinary enough – I was hanging with a couple of girlfriends at an apartment pool. We were drinking beer, soaking up some rays, and gabbing about silly stuff like boys when offhandedly one of them mentioned that she needed to remember to sign up for a Charlotte half marathon that day because the prices were going up the following day. Even though I had never run a half marathon, before I knew it, my friend had convinced me that I should sign up for the race as well.

After six months or so of little to no physical activity, I was trying to get back out running a time or two each week. And by running, I mean I would go run six miles on the greenway Saturday morning, come home, and make a huge omelet to reward myself for not walking up the hill on 3^rd street on the loop back to my apartment. Thus, I thought, running a half marathon in the fall would be perfect motivation for me to keep putting on my running shoes and getting out the door once or twice a week.

That was the plan…until I came home a few IPAs later, googled “Thunder Road Half Marathon,” and discovered there was also a full marathon. I’m quite sure I never had a desire to run a marathon before. I certainly had never talked about it or put the race on my bucket list, but maybe it was the beers, or the hours in the sun, or maybe it was a balls-to-the-wall, I-just-quit-my-job-and-my-boyfriend attitude, but I signed up for the Thunder Road Marathon then and there with only a few seconds of consideration.

I’ve done some pretty dumb things while drinking and gotten myself in to some real doo-doo, but that was the first time I’ve ever woken up on a Sunday morning and remembered that I got myself into 26.2 miles (I had to google that too because I wasn’t exactly sure how far a marathon was) of doo-doo. A 10K I knew I could wing. Even a half marathon I may have been able to gut out with a little bit of a running base, but a marathon requires training – something I had never experienced and had no idea how to do…but I was going to learn.

Over the next few months, I studied marathon training and running with the same intensity as I had while crunching for the CPA exam back in the day. At first, I got my training plan from marathonrookie.com, and a rookie I certainly was! (I still think I’m a rookie in fact.) I wanted a simple training plan that told me just how many miles to run each day, none of this 8 x 400-meters crap. I didn’t understand that stuff, and I was only concerned with completing the marathon without walking. But then I started reading Hal Higdon’s Marathon: Ultimate Training Guide, and it seemed that page-after-page was Boston this, BQ that. It seemed that everyone who runs marathons is after this coveted BQ (Boston Qualification). And of course, after reading all about BQs, I wanted one too!

My first test was to see if I could run for an hour straight without stopping before I could even begin training! I still remember running (very slowly) around Charlotte’s Dilworth neighborhood with a $5 WalMart watch strapped to my wrist as I sweated through a very long hour. But I made it, and training was on!

My hour-long conditioning test was only the first of many hard runs…Looking back on my Thunder Road training, I have several distinct memories of trying, training times – the 20-miler Labor Day weekend at the beach when I got dehydrated in the heat and it seemed there was more salt on my face then there was in the ocean, the would-be 20-miler if I hadn’t eaten rocky asphalt on an under-construction Charlotte street after tripping on a utility pole line (I was forced to limp back to my apartment bleeding and holding back tears), and a hard track workout later in the training period when it happened to be cold, raining, and dark outside and I so badly wanted to be back home in my warm apartment instead of all alone on a school track dogging through some repeats.

Utility Pole Line Left Evidence - A Black Streak Across My Brooks

Yes, I definitely learned that training can suck, but I also learned that it works miracles. And I was certainly amazed to see the idea of getting a Boston Qualification, which meant breaking a 3:35 for women my age, go from being a dream, to a crazy shot-in-hell idea, to an actual possibility, and lastly to a I’m-going-to-get-this goal.

On November 17^th, 2012, I completed my first marathon, the Thunder Road Marathon, in 3:16:11 and reached my goal of qualifying for the Boston Marathon with almost 19 minutes to spare. In less than two weeks, my once crazy dream will be realized when I lace up my racing flats to take on the historic course.

Happiness

This year, the Boston Marathon will mean so many things to so many people, and I am so grateful to be a part of the race for countless reasons. But one reason that I try not to forget – especially when I worry about what kind of race I will run – is that this race is a goal realized. And setting a goal, working damn hard for it, and then reaching it – to me, that’s a beautiful thing.

Boston Experiment Week 14 of 16: No running this week other than some sprints in Athletic Conditioning class. Cross-training included elliptical workouts, cycle classes, athletic conditioning class, ½ a Zumba class (that wasn’t a good idea), and some strengthening exercises.

I have replaced my Sunday Long Run with long over-due painting projects. Bye bye builder's beige.