To backtrack a little, I'll start with my journey from UAE to USA and that long weekend... (uh oh, here we go, right? hehe)
1st off, SLEEP! I made sure to get good quality sleep that whole week before, even (mostly) packed that weekend before just to be sure I was ready to go. Sleep I realize as I get older, is soo soooo sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo incredibly important!!!!
2nd, FOOD & WAAATER! My flight left at midnight Wed night/Thurs morning, so being that I have become one of "those" people with eating, I had a nice sushi dinner before I left for the airport... and didn't eat ANY airplane food. I literally brought nuts with me, edemame (from the sushi dinner) a boiled egg, an apple, and that settled me for the 14 hour flight. Granted I doubled up on NyQuil and melatonin, so was knocked out for a good 8ish hours, so oddly wasn't that hungry. Had a 2 hour connection and then a 2 hour flight to Chicago after the long 14 hour haul to Dulles, yet stayed plenty hydrated which was good 2-fold, one, it got me up and walking and two, it is well known that hydration is the best way to help with jet lag.
3rd, DRESS! Can I just say I.Heart.Compression socks? BEST thing EVER for traveling! And also layers. I prepped with everything from a shall to a face mask if any sneezers around me to the mandatory eye mask and ear plugs to small toiletries to keep me not like smelling like airplane funk.
Anyhoo, needless to say, arrived in Chicago on the Thursday before the marathon feeling pretty good! Showered, had my mom's famous borscht soup (yesss) some berries (yesssssss x2) relaxed on this awesome massage chair my parents have, took a snooze, and even made it to my mom's office to get my eyes checked, which just happens to be next to the hair dresser, so also got my hair cut! Purposely didn't tell anyone I was coming to QT with my parents. Overall, was relaxed and just wanted to enjoy being HOME!
On Friday before I jetted off to Boston, went to a hot bikram yoga (HBY) class, which was awesome and I felt super relaxed and... loose! Nice to do a wee bit of stretching after such a long journey! Arrived in Boston and my friend Jody picked me up and we went grocery shopping and got ourselves some sushi (a bit risky, but hey, we thought enough time to recover if any stomach issues) and got situated in our AirBnb apartment, which was literally a block away from Boston Commons and seemed right in the heart of the action (especially when it came time for finish area for the marathon!). Also a super nice spacious and well kept apartment. Here is us hanging out in it:
Jody particularly enjoyed this peace and quiet and "rest," especially being a working mom of 2 kids! We heart the Golden Girls TV show!
The weekend began on Saturday with carbo loading, so that was kind of fun because both of us have been more or less not eating so much of it during this training. However, we were still abiding by gluten free foods. We did a 5km run around the Park, which happened to be hustling and bustling with run, but vibe was great and the excitement was growing for the run. We basically lounged until her friend Danny and Amelia came and then when my friend Ed came, we then took off for the Expo. The city was just alive with runners and athletes and had such a great vibe!
Lucky we were walking distance to everything, but because everything prior took so long (waiting for our friends), we basically got to the Expo 5:20pm and it closed at 6pm! So we all ran through it and I got the coveted Boston jacket and a few other things. It was super rushed, and oddly, the Expo seemed smaller than what I thought it was. BUT silly us, later that night we discovered that we literally just saw a 1/3rd of it because there was this whole other section that we TOTALLY missed. D'oh! But did manage to get the coveted Boston jacket, which I proudly wore the next day.... uh, week :-)
After dinner, they all did their own thing, and Jody and I went back to the apt to get some good kip (most important night!). Sunday rolls around and it is yet the same weather, sunny yet slightly brisk and cool (in the 60's), just beautiful! We were still carb'ing up (just funny eating bread just like that!) and because we missed so much of the Expo, Ed and I ran (okay, walked) back and, as below, stopped to take a few snaps, so we were a bit slower!! As you see, proudly wearing my jacket (which I really didn't take off my whole USA trip!).
But at least we saw the 2nd half of the Expo! I did then start to feel a bit nervous, especially when they showed this video of the race course, eek! Bought some more stuff and then rushed back (mind you, this is 1.5 miles each way, so much for NOT being on your feet!), and my friend Allison came from NY to come visit for the day! Super awesome of her! We chatted a bit, had some more pasta, then met George and Noelle at Boston Commons and then did a mini part of the Freedom Trail! The temps suddenly dropped and I admit I was a bit cold, but still enjoyed it, lots of interesting history in that area!
Only interesting for me, but got Huka shoes at the Expo! Was excited to break them in!
The weekend of the marathon is Patriot's weekend (or actually, the day of the marathon is Patriot's Day, when only MA gets the day off). But that whole weekend we saw people dressed up in historic garb :-)
It was amazing how supportive Boston is of the marathon, signs and encouragement were everywhere!
Darn it, this isn't the original, but cool to see. Will have to come back to see the original bar from the TV show. The weekend was just too busy!!!
But a Dubai Creek Strider whom I was in touch with but had never met, came along to our pasta dinner/poster making (which unfortunately were never used because of the rain!), so he was quite entertaining and we had a nice evening in!
The sign for me (sorry it is sideways!) made by George!!
My race outfit! But too bad the DCS shirt was covered by my "other team, " OPRC! That 'throw away' shirt ended being my shirt for the whole race!
I was probably a bit more distracted thinking about Race Day!! Da da dumm.....
RACE DAY!!!!
Besides Ed's snoring the whole weekend, had some pow wow ear plugs and managed to sleep a little bit, but then kept on waking up in paranoia that I wouldn't hear the alarm, which is silly because I'm sure Jody (or her friends) would wake me up. Well, as predicted it was a COLD day, started in the mid 30's and had 100% chance of rain with winds. D'oh! Well, to make a long story short, Jody and Danny are a part of this Fleet Feet racing team that get 'special privileges.' Luckily I was able to be a part of it and a BIG BIG perk (besides of course the free t-shirt) is that we got to take buses (that had toilets) to the start, and hang out there! Versus the "other" buses took you there and you had to sit out in the cold and wait for the 3ish hours until your Wave was called. So the buses were AWESOME because of course then it started raining and we were nice and warm inside the bus and were just having fun talking and chatting to other fellow runners. The 3ish hours went by fairly quickly! Jody was on this total caffeine high and was talking a mile a minute, her other friends were there, also chatty, and everyone seemed fairly relaxed. It was just cool being with so many super dooper runners. I planned and timed and had my breakfast concoction of oatmeal with almond butter, chia seeds, raisins and cranberries and a banana before then... and again water, but not too much! Also did a few obligatory toilet runs, he he.
The Ohio Fleet Feet group. They actually FB'd this and it got on the news! They were probably like "who's that random girl that is NOT a part of the Fleet Feet Ohio team?" haha. As you can see, we are all relaxed!
No joke, my prep for the run. I actually did start with all this random gear (hellooo 80's and random ski gear I found in Chicago!)
Jody using some of her caffeine buzz to pose for pictures
Jody just about to head off and me in what ended up being my whole race outfit, had my DSC tank underneath, but it was too cold to wear it! And bless you compression sleeves (I bought the day before at the expo!)
Feeling a bit nervous! Eek!!!
Before the run!
So let me count the ways that I the race was NOT in my favor:
1. COLD. Okay, cool. When I left Dubai it was in the mid-90's. Chicago and Boston were in the 60's, and race day it was in the 40's. Buuuur.
2. RAIN. I can honestly say it's been more than 1/2 year that I've seen rain (it was in Portugal!). I haven't run or trained in rain.
3. WIND. That was come and go, sporadic bouts of more wind than not, but still something I'm not used to.
4. HILLS. Well, as in previous blog, did the best I could given the circumstances, but not something I trained on regularly. When I did that little jog with Jody on Sat she gave me some downhill tips, which I wish she told me earlier!
BUT, I think because my training had gone so well, I was fairly confident going into it and did positive thinking to use Mother Nature to my advantage, of NOT being scared of it, but thinking about it as something NEW and DIFFERENT :-).
The race went by SUPER fast and I can honestly say I rather enjoyed it! I'm serious! Can't think of any other marathon (this was my 7th) I can say that. It was just REALLY cool running in these 'waves' where pretty much EVERYONE around you is running your same speed (they coral you based on your qualifying time). It was a fairly busy course, meaning people around you at all times, BUT because they were more or less running your same pace, was fine! And mind you, this is a perspective based on someone that has run out here in Dubai when there are NO spectators and max a couple of thousand for races.
Here is a pic Ed took (just waking up) of the TV
Then a video of the actual woman elite in person!
Thanks to Ed for running to keep up with me to take this video!!!
Some still shots from the video (freeze frame)
Then of course there were the spectators, wow wow WOW!!! I don't know about you, but if I had a public day off (only Massachusetts has that Monday as a state holiday) and it was ugly outside, grey, windy, and wet, I would be in bed watching a movie. But alas, no, pretty much the whole route had spectators! We ran through several college campuses and those kids may have been a bit drunk, but hey, quite loud and fun support! I felt I really had to concentrate on the "short steps" for the ample downhill at the beginning, felt I slowed down with this, but would have rather slowed down than beat up my legs, but felt strong at the uphills. Sorry Jody, kind of forgot about the leaning forward part, but wasn't leaning backwards at least! And thought the short steps was going to be more in my favor. As far as the uphill, even when the infamous "heartbreak hill," I didn't even realize it! It was nothing! I guess because it comes at mile 19/20, it gets that bad rap. Awesome enough, George and Noelle and Ed were just at mile 22 and G spotted me! I was unfortunately on the left side and it was so cute because they were cheering and yelling running along with me and while I tried to maneuver to the right, Ed got a short video, which I'll try to post. It definitely uplifted me!
Here are some of their pics they took while waiting for me:
Warming up with coffee
The famous "Citgo" sign, which supposedly tells runners you are "almost there." How did I TOTALLY miss that?!?
Although Boston is known more as a "serious" run, still get these random costumes!
I was checking my splits every km and felt was more or less keeping the same pace. Later looking at my splits, realized I did slow down the last 10km, but not super drastically (like in this last Dubai marathon), prob because it was generally more hilly and also because, da da dum, for the FIRST time in my running career, and I am NOT kidding when I say this, my shoe lace came untied! TWICE! At mile 23!!! That has NEVER happened AT ALL during ANY training run or even race. I really couldn't believe it. Was close enough to think to run with it untied, but because my shoes were so squishy and wet from the rain, thought it might come off. I knew if I bent over to squat to tie it, I might cramp, so did the next best thing and stuck my foot in front of a spectator and said "please tie my shoe!" So I didn't plan that well and got this older lady and the poor thing's hands were so cold she was taking awhile and I didn't want to be rude and say "hurry up" but was kind of bouncing around a little to hint hint to hurry up! Finally I was off... for about 1/3 of a mile before it got untied again! GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! So then went to another spectator for the same thing, this one a wee bit younger, and although still a bit slow, she tied it well. Then I was off, my next km was about a min slower (daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaamn it), BUT felt I had enough gas that I thought I was picking up the pace, but not so according to my splits! But alas, and this can be an excuse for the whole race, my legs were so cold (and wet, really, occasionally looked down to make sure my shorts were still on because it almost felt like I was bottomless, ha haha ha haha), I really couldn't feel them so really couldn't tell how tired they were, but was also afraid to go too hard and then poop out. Mind you, I also wore my "throw away" gloves and 2010 Oak Park Runners Club shirt the whole time and thank gawd got compression sleeves because that kept me warm. Glad I represented both of my fave running groups, OPRC on top and my singlet DCS (Dubai Creek Striders) underneath. So only the last .1 to the finish, whipped off my shirt for glory pics at the finish. The last 2 miles went by soooo quickly because of the adrenaline of almost finishing AND again, the crowds were just soooooooooooo soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo amazing!!!!!
So overall time: 3:41:06, my 2nd best!!!!
My splits/times:
5km: 8:23
10km: 8:18
15km: 8:11
20km: 8:12
1/2 marathon: 1:48:14 at 8:11
25km: 8:20
30km: 8:37
35km: 8:37
40 km: 8:42
42km: 8:28
I felt almost overcome with emotion when I finished, what an experience! I did it! And I really didn't know how I would do going into it but being that had all those adverse conditions and still managed my 2nd best time, am pretty proud!! But when I finished, of course the temps dropped some more, winds and rain picked up, and I was literally freezing (obviously not running anymore). They gave us these mylar wraps, which saved me! People were soo soo nice and the volunteers were even opening up bottles of water and wraps of protein bars, sooooooooo soooooooooooo nice! Barely managed what ended up being a 2 mile walk to the hotel where the VIP Fleet Feet people were, was SOAKING wet and miserable (from the cold, not from the run). Changed into something dry and then was able to celebrate with Jody (who ran a whopping 3:23!!), Danny (a 3:07) and some of their friends. I wasn't that hungry, but managed to eat a bit. Because traffic and weather was so bad, we decided to walk back to our apt, another 2 miles (seriously), which again was miserable, but hey, felt it helped with my recovery.
I was happy, yet the only reason for my fake smile was I was still sooooo cold from the looong walk to get there!
Me, Jody (3:23!), Danny (3:07!), and their friend (whom Jody beat by a mere second or two)
The shower and warm clothes back at the apartment was HEAVEN!!!!! We then relaxed and hung out and it was soo awesome to get all these wonderful messages from people from all over the world that were following me, soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo special!!!! I felt soooo incredibly happy!!!!! Thank you all!!!!!
That night we had a nice night out at Legal Seafoods by the Harbour, with a nice group, Danny and Amelia, Jody, George and Noelle, Ed, my Dubai friend Caterina who happens to live there, Malcolm, the Dubai runner, and another one of the Jody's friends (Jean, but pronounced Jan). Really fun!
So George and I could do our not funny joke of having Malcolm in the Middle :-)
So there you have it! Dedication, commitment and perseverance pays off! It was truly one of the best races I've done and feel really honored to have been a part of it. People ask me if I qualified again if I would do it and I don't know, I want to keep this on a high note and it will never be as special as this time was. I accomplished a runners dream and now can rest peacefully to move on :-)
Up on my wall (above) - As it really was.
And below, my bling (Boston medal)
Next up, brief New Hampshire visit, Vermont and Chicago visit!!!!
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