My Boston Monday, April 21st, 2014

It's  not often you get to see a city rise to the occasion in the wake of a tragedy like Boston has this past year. Today's marathon was a grande conclusion to this chapter in the cities history. I'm so grateful and humbled to have been part of Boston 2014. I shivered multiple times as the crowd cheered continuously from Hopkington to Boston. The people of Boston were #strong and proud, and showed the world the passion they have for their city. 

My run went well. Coming to Boston for the third time, I felt comfortable in aiming for a 2:55. I settled into a nice pace to begin and honed into the atmosphere. The sun was shining and the runners were focused. It was tough to navigate through the many racers ahead of me. That's the disadvantage of a big race like Boston. It's very hard to get ahead for the first 10km.

 Thick crowd of runners, people peeing on the side of the course fr the first 5K, water stations on both sides of the roads, amazing fans, the smell of beer.

This is Boston...

I hit 20KM, feeling confident. This is where my decision making went to crap. I decided I'd bump up my pacing to 3:45/km, and that ended quickly. By 25KM I was hurtin and fell back on the pace. The fight begins...

Hard part about a marathon is that at some point you're going to hurt, mentally and physically. When that is, is up

to you. It's "the fight" or the "holding on" portion of a marathon. At 25KM I started my fight and by 35KM I was toast. My calf was giving out and my mental attitude was done.

Good attitude: "feeling great. I may be able to do better than I thought. I can hold on. Maybe I can catch that person"

Bad attitude:"I just want this to be over. I don't care about pace or time. I just want it to end."

After the fun of Wellesly College girls (screaming, funny signs) the cheering of Boston College and too many amazing crowds to mention. The Citgo sign appeared and the last few tough KMS came to an end.

Tough race, but very glad to come in under 3:00 with 2:53. I would do things differently next time, and there's still a lot of room for improvement. But I'm really so grateful to be part of today.

Best signs:

"Free beer, and cigarettes"

"Help me get to 100 kisses-tally chart"

"Slap this sign for power"

"Hurry up, the Kenyans are drinking your beer"

Maybe they weren't the best, but they were the only ones I can remember!

Here's to you and the city of Boston! #Boston Strong

D