RACE HIGHLIGHTS
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
Date: 18 April 2016
Time: 3:38:31
Rank: 2,146th Place in Women 18-39, 2,902nd Overall Female, and 10,310th Overall
The Boston Marathon.
How does one even describe the experience that is the Boston Marathon? It’s unlike any other race. It’s rich history, the excitement of the running community, the support of family and friends and the cheering from the sidelines of the 26.2 mile long course are enough to make this race an experience of a lifetime. But, even this picture-perfect race came with it’s trials.
Boston was supposed to be where I laid it all out on the line. This was the race I had worked so hard to get into. Qualifying for Boston in and of itself was a feat. Before training even began I set a high goal for myself: PR at Boston. I knew it was lofty but it was a goal I was fully determined to achieve. As training days turned into weeks and weeks turned into months, my goal was becoming less and less realistic. Life got in the way, the weather was a roller coaster that I couldn’t keep up with, and I made some foolish training mistakes; I wasn’t listening to my body and it cost me.
A month before Boston I started feeling a severe pain in my left hip/quadricep. For those of you that have followed my training this may sound slightly familiar as I battled a quadricep tear last August – but that was in my right leg. As soon as I felt the pain I did everything I could to remedy it – yoga, stretching, foam rolling, ice, mineral oil, KT tape. I tried it all, but it wasn’t until I took a step back and looked at the big picture of my training plan that I realized what the issue was. After qualifying for Boston at the Buffalo Marathon I did something out of character, I CHANGED the way I trained. Hindsight is 20/20. To this day I can’t recall what it was that made me think this was a good idea. My motto has always been “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” and here I was changing something that had clearly worked; all for an unknown. And that unknown was the painful reality that I had sabotaged my own training. Two weeks after my injury began and I recognized the problem, I went back to my old ways; the ways that brought me to qualifying and slowly but surely I felt my strength coming back. Unfortunately though, that strength didn’t come back quickly enough to PR at Boston but I believe I learned far more from this experience than I ever expected.
Monday, April 18th I woke excited but nervous as I looked out over the sun rising on the Boston skyline. Everything about the hours leading up to the race was perfect, from the kindness of strangers in the hotel lobby willing to share a taxi to Boston Common, the inspirational stories of fellow runners and motivational speech from our bus driver on our way to the Athlete’s Village, the pleasure of meeting a new friend and sister in Christ from near my hometown who was running her first Boston, to the long walk down to the starting line and hearing the gun go off.
I spent the entire first half of the race working through kinks in my legs but excited to give every little kid on the right side of the course a high-five. Seeing their faces light up reminded me of the feelings I had as a kid watching my mentor crush her times on the RH track. I just kept thinking to myself, “If years from now they look back on this race and were influenced to run it themselves, this will all have been worth it.” Running down the descent of the start I was well below my goal pace and I kept it up for longer than I thought I would. I did the math in my head at one point and it was obvious that if I kept up my pace I’d not only re-qualify for Boston at Boston but I’d also smash my PR. And then the dehydration that I had felt earlier in the morning set in. It was too late to reverse the symptoms, the sun was beating hot and the rolling hills killed any momentum I had as the muscles in my calves and quads started to seize up. I told myself, “don’t worry about your time, as long as you don’t stop running, you’ll still be fine” but then I got to a point in the race where I had to walk. The cramping went all the way down into my feet and heels; something I had never experienced before. I was nervous about what all of this pressure would do to my already weak quads and if I ever wanted to run another race again, I had to alleviate the pain and quickly. And so it began, walk, run. Walk, run. Drink water. Walk, run. Walk, run. I did that for the last few miles. I finished with a time of 3:38:31; still a decent time considering everything that happened but I was ashamed. Here I was an experienced runner, with more than enough races under my belt, having to walk/run the last few miles of the BOSTON MARATHON. I couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t in the plan; this wasn’t in MY plan.
It took me a few days to decompress, to realize that MY plan isn’t what’s best for me but rather the LORD’s plan. I wrestled with negative thoughts. I beat myself up over the fact that I didn’t take training as seriously as I should have. That I didn’t fear the course enough. That I lacked the mental strength or the physical strength that I needed. And after much prayer, encouragement from loved ones and training partners and time reflecting this is what I’ve come to realize… I may not have trained hard enough but I didn’t sacrifice time with my daughter, friends and family in order to do it. I may not have feared the course enough but I learned from my mistakes and I’ll be better equipped in future races. And it’s possible I wasn’t strong enough mentally or physically but I’m human and to rely on my own strength isn’t what I’m called to do as a Christian. I’m called to rely on the LORD.
So, the question is, what’s next? I always thought of Boston as being the ultimate. As a non-elite there’s not much more to achieve in terms of the marathon. I thought the 3 1/2+ hours during the marathon would give me enough time to think up my next challenge and I walked away more confused than ever. I considered training harder, getting a quick qualifier in, testing my speed and showing Boston who’s boss next year but then I took time to go through old notes and journals I had made in years past. I realized that running Boston was something I wanted to achieve, not perfect and I have nothing to prove to anyone but my Creator. That being said, my next goal is to finish running a marathon on every continent. It’s what I initially set out to do in 2014 when I ran my first marathon in the Alps of Germany. So, keep an eye out.. big things are happening and I can guarantee you they won’t go as planned but they will be an adventure.
“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every weight and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that lay before Him endured a cross and despised the shame and has sat down at the right hand of God’s throne.”
Hebrews 12:1-3
