Boston Marathon 2014
4/21/14 26.2 miles in
6:09:09.
Physically, Monday’s marathon was the worst I’ve run. The math was not hard to do: suboptimal training + lingering virus + poor
fuel management during race = 6 hour finish. However,
emotionally there were so many rewards, which, in the end, have far outweighed
my disappointing time. I will start with
thanks all around, from the beginning of the marathon to the end.
This
is me with Janet, another member of the NF Endurance Team. Janet was running in honor of a colleague’s
son who has NF. Janet and I met last
year at the start of the Boston Marathon when we noticed each other wearing the
same shirts!
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| With Janet before the start of the 2013 Boston Marathon |
Like
me, Janet was nearly at the finish line on Boylston Street last year when the
bombs went off. She was thankfully
unhurt, and was invited to return to the race this year, like all of us who
didn’t finish. This year, Janet made a
point to seek me out the day before the race (having to chase me all around
Back Bay as my family and I got into Boston later than expected) so that we
could take another picture together. I can’t thank her enough for being part of our
team.
Next, thanks to my friend and neighbor, Holly. Holly is a mother of four whose oldest son is
in my son’s class. She was at the Boston
Marathon running for the New England Patriots Charitable Foundation. Having Holly’s company on the walk to the
Common, the interminable bus ride to Hopkinton, the wait at the athletes’
village, and the walk to the start made the day even more special. Last year I was lonely and nervous at the
start. This year Holly made it fun!
My crazy cousins also have my everlasting gratitude! When I was little and said my prayers at
bedtime, I used to thank God for my mother and father, my sister and brother,
and my “dozens of cousins”. (My mother
was the youngest of eight children growing up in South Boston and
Dorchester.) This year my cousin Bob
ran the Boston Marathon for the Dana Farber team, and several of his sisters
and their families came out cheer for us.
His sister Marie (who ran the Boston Marathon in 2012 in honor of my
daughter Jane and the Children’s Tumor Foundation!) is a member of the Greater
Framingham Running Club, which helps to maintain the mile markers along the
race route. As a result, I had cousins
to greet me at mile markers 1, 2, and 3!
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| My cousin Marie with arms raised to welcome me! |
With all this love, I started the race on a high. However, by mile 8 I could already tell
something was wrong by the feeling in my stomach and my legs. Eight miles is a typical daily run for me—I
wouldn’t normally feel this weak or tired until at least twice that
distance. I started walking through the
water stops. I promised myself if I kept
running to the half (mile 13) I would allow myself to walk after that.
I walked from mile 13 to mile 17, but was fading quickly. Then I noticed a group of spectators with
signs reading “NF: Going the Distance”! It wasn’t a logo I recognized, but I ran over
to let them know I was running for the NF Endurance team. They asked me how I was doing and I confessed
that I didn’t think I could finish. They
sat me down, gave me something to drink, and offered to let me use their phone. This lovely group included two other NF
moms—Michelle and Melissa—who were at the race cheering on their family members
who run with Neurofibromatosis Inc. Northeast, another organization supporting
research, awareness, and advocacy for NF.
If I hadn’t bonked, I never would have met these wonderful people. Maybe some things do happen for a reason :)
I
called my husband, Todd, to let him know my state, and we puzzled about how we
could meet up if I dropped out of the race at mile 17. It seemed logistically impossible. I decided I would walk to where I knew another
of my cousins was watching the race at mile 20, the bottom of Heartbreak Hill. I could see how I felt by then, and get a
ride home with her if necessary.
At that moment two members of the NFNE team—Jeff and his
niece, Hilary—came by. They offered to
walk with me, and despite my protestations that I would hold them back, they
waited for me. I walked with this family
for many miles, and surely would not have finished without their help and
encouragement. I am so grateful to have
met them!
 |
This leads me next to thanks for Mary. My cousin Mary is also marathoner and, along
with my cousin Marie, had helped me prepare for my first Boston Marathon. When I
found her at mile 20 I felt like I had found a guardian angel. She told me that I had to decide what I
wanted to do, for me. I wanted to
finish, but was worried that by then my family had already been waiting four
hours for me. I was worried the kids
would be restless, that they needed to get home so they could get to school the
next day. My decision to carry on solidified when I talked to Todd. He
told me, “Don’t worry about us. If you
want to finish, finish. We don’t mind
waiting. And Helen wants you to finish.”
It was this thought (and maybe the flat soda Mary gave me,
too!) that buoyed me on. I ran up Heartbreak Hill and ran for most
of the rest of the race.
Enormous thanks go now to the People of Boston. Last year I had been amazed by the outpouring
of support and cheer from the spectators along the marathon route, but I was
doubly so this year. In addition to
cheers and signs and offers of water and food, so many people thanked me for
running, for making Boston Strong. Thanked me!
Because I had fallen so far behind, by the time I reached
the final few miles race volunteers were beginning to clean up the streets of
water cups and debris, but people we still cheering! The course was still packed with
spectators. Words can’t express how
heartbreakingly bittersweet it was to run the last four-tenths of a mile that I
couldn’t last year. I cried when I saw
Boylston Street and all the crowds there—still cheering for every single runner
who came by more than six hours after the race started.
Crossing
the finish line in the Boston Marathon is something I will never forget,
ever. I don’t think I even
realized how much it would mean to me to be able to finish what I started in
2013.
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| After receiving my medal |
I think part of what drove me to finish was demonstrate
to my kids how important it is to persevere.
And I couldn’t bear the thought of not crossing the finish line, after
all this time and effort, knowing I won’t likely be back in the Boston Marathon
again.
Final thanks go to my mother and her sister, Anne, for
nervously waiting so long for me while standing on aching feet; and to our good
friends Marcia and Neil—my virtual running partner, who stayed to see me finish
after running the marathon himself. The
most special thanks go to my husband, Todd, for putting up with my crazy
running habit and for carting our kids to distant cities so I can race; and to
my children for waiting like angels for so many hours to see their Mom chasing
her dreams.
~~~
This experience was a little lesson to me that one really
does have to prepare properly for a marathon!
…And that I'm
moving out of my house if anyone gets sick before the Hartford Marathon in
October ;)
PS. The photo of Jeff
and me has taken on a life of its own. A
friend of mine from CTF saw it on my Facebook page. She forwarded it to the President of the
Children’s Tumor Foundation, who forwarded it to the Director of
Neurofibromatosis Inc. Northeast! It has
been labelled “We’re All on the Same Team When It Comes to Ending NF”.
