First of all, the thing that makes this event so cool and the reason we keep going back… and in fact the reason any of us keep doing any of this stuff… we had a great group, about 15 runners and about 15 ‘athletic supporters’… a fun group! We’ve all been going down to Boston for years, some of us for longer than others… Alex was doing his 17th consecutive Boston Marathon… I’m the newbie, having only done it 3 times… and most everyone else was somewhere in between.
- Eileen, Rick, Scott, Ron, Brian, Brett, Lambrina, Alex, Joanne, Eileen, Hugh, Peter, David
This was a different year for me, going as a spectator. I generally don’t do spectating very well. I mean I’m enthusiastic and love to cheer people on… but it pretty much always kills me not to participate! Whatever the event, I hate riding pine… I’d always rather be in the game… whatever the game… but especially the Boston Marathon.
This year I was fine with it though. I’ve only run once this year… and that was the 5k beer run we did in February! So even when Scott suggested that I grab Hugh’s bib, as he had to bail because his pnumonia had made it impossible for him to run more than about a block, I had no interest. Turns out Hugh made a great decision… as they allowed people to defer their entry until next year if they decided they didn’t want to run… because of the HEAT!
In the 116 years of the Boston Marathon, this was the hottest ever! It got to about 90F / 32C!!! The BAA sent out several emails prior to the race telling people to either not run or run slow… that’s a weird bit of ‘pre-race’ advice when you think about it.
About 4,000 of the 27,000 people elected not to run and took the deferral for next year. Then it started. Mark, Jackie, Janice, Angela and myself took the train out to the spot that Mark scouts out every year… on top of a slight hill at mile 17. It was Janice’s first year and she asked the rookie question “so is this Heart-break Hill”? We laughed and said “no, this is barely a speed bump”! It was about then that Mark noticed that he usually never sees anyone walking up this hill… and Janice had a good point… there were tons of people walking already!
People knew where Mark usually was, to look for us… I had my Bruins jersey on to help find us in the massive crowd too. We saw Brett first… he was running hard… and feeling it… he was still trying to race it. He still put in a great time (all the times this year have the asterisk of: *considering the conditions!) at 3:17… but positive split the race by 15 minutes.
Then we saw Ron, running pretty hard, but smart. He decided to run with no watch today so he wouldn’t get caught up trying to run a specific pace… he just ran by feel… a smart way to run on a day like that!
We saw Alex and Rick… Alex was nursing an injury and so was Rick, so they ran together. The speed was taking a bit more out of Rick than Alex, so with about 6 miles left, Alex dropped it into gear and came within a few seconds of even splitting the race. They both felt the heat but finished well.
Lambrina had probably the best race of the day! She ran pretty hard, but miraculously (or due to her hot-blooded Greek heritage) wasn’t crushed by the heat… and finished well under 4:00 hours!… and qualified for Boston again next year! Eileen L. had a great run too and came by stopped for a hug from her husband and a quit chat… just enjoying the day… and she ran fast. A special note to my buddy, Steve Sevsek, who ran a 3:06 last year… and a 3:09 this year… amazing!… and like Lambrina was one of the few to get their qualifying time for next year!
Brian went by… he looked okay… but wasn’t. Brian always suffers in the heat and he knows that. So he pulled himself off the course a few miles later and ended up in the medical tent! And got an I.V.! Then, and I question the sanity of this… after an hour in the medical tent… he rolled out on the course and finished the race! Walking it in at 6:30 hours! Frankly I can’t believe the officials let him do it… I was under the impression that if you took medical treatment you were disqualified… but what do I know. It was even more crazy when we read about another case in the paper when they took someone to the hospital for treatment… and then let him come back and finish the race in 7:00 hours!
Shortly after that I got a call from Joanne! She, like Brian, doesn’t do well in the heat. She switched positions with Brian and how they finished at Ironman Canada last summer when the temperature was 39C… there Brian made the tough decision to pull himself from the race… and Joanne finished… but was a total mess, throwing up and feinting. On this day, Joanne was the sane one and when she couldn’t keep anything down and had bonked by half way, she pulled the plug! Never an easy decision, but the right one.
Unfortunately we missed a few people like David, Eileen M, Scott and Peter… they all had stories, but Peter wins the prize for the best story! He raced it pretty hard, finishing in 3:21… over 35 minutes off his best time… and not in great shape. Crossing the line he was staggering all over the place… they grabbed him and took his vitals… including his temperature… and found he had a temp of 103F!!! They threw him in an ice bath and when he pleaded to get out after a few minutes, the ol’ rectal thermometer showed 105F!!! To use their words “he was cooking inside!”. Let’s just say he didn’t get out of the ice bath for quite some time.
Of course we all went out after the race to the usual pub for post-race libations… but I think it’s safe to say the crowd was a little more subdued than usual. No dancing on the tables and tequila shots this year!
It was a crazy Boston Marathon, but always an adventure!… and for what it’s worth here are the results:
- Steve S. 3:09 only 3 minutes over his time last year
- Peter 3:18 slow for him, but was still pushing it
- Ron 3:48 very slow for him, but finished smilin’!
- Alex 3:46 caught Ron right at the finish
- Brian 6:30 now that’s determination
- Joanne DNF
- Hugh DNS
- David 4:25 a smart race too… especially after 2 achilles surgeries this year!
- Scott 3:54 a slow but smart race too
- Eileen L. 4:19 a slow but smart race too
- Eileen M. 5:08 a slow but smart race too
- Lambrina 3:56 a fast and smart race!
- Brett 3:16 a pretty fast and pretty smart race! 😉
- Rick 4:03 a solid run too
A special cheer to some other friends who were down there that I never ran into:
- Mary St. James 4:10 amazing return after a major battle with Breast Cancer!!!
- Julie Geng 4:03 her first Boston… she missed last year with a broken leg!
- Anna Parker 3:51 doing the Oakville Masters proud!
- Mike Bermingham 3:47 we saw you out there Mike, but I don’t think you heard us!
Cheers,
Rob