Boston; part two.
all-girls school is well-known for its enthusiastic supporters. And they didn't disappoint.
The noise was deafening. Practically ear-piercing - it truly hurt my ears for a few moments. I can't imagine what it must have been like for the leaders, especially the women's leader.
On through to Newton Hills I felt good. Even though my old nemesis, a side stitch, came back briefly to taunt me, I was running comfortably and on a decent pace. Pundits, however, will look back on my 1:11 half-marathon knowingly.
"He ran it like a first-timer," I heard Bob relate later. "He said the first half felt so easy. But he paid for it the second half."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. What's worse is I knew it was happening, I knew I was making a mistake. I knew you couldn't cheat a marathon, especially Boston.
Any doubt about it was removed on Heartbreak Hill at 21 miles. That's where my training wore out. Just not enough miles under my belt. Then it really became a matter of "Just get me to the finish line!"
On I trudged, inside whining like a small child "How much faaaarther?" The infamous Citgo sign loomed large - three miles to go. Then I passed Fenway where the Sox were losing again - who cares? Who cares about anything with a mile to go in a marathon?
Then I heard Bob's voice out of the thousands. But I was already well in my death march and no amount of encourage-ment could pull me out of it completely. I trudged on, though, thankful for even this small sign of hope.
A couple of turns once in Boston and there it was - the finish line! Hallelujah! But whoa, the crowds were even bigger! A quarter mile to go and there I was with no legs.
But the end did come - I really did make it to the finish. What a relief! My time of 2:30:43 wasn't quite what I'd hoped for and my place (103rd) was just out of the top-100. In a couple weeks, I'll kick myself for that, but for now I'm happy that I finished.
Unfortunately, the logistical nightmare wasn't over. I had to walk, er, shuffle, nearly a mile to get my sweats, by which time I was absolutely freezing. Get me a hot cup of coffee and a shower, quick. Then I had to shuffle the mile plus back to find Bob at our pre-arranged meeting place. Unfortunately, there was no short-cutting the system and I was over an hour late. But we did make our rendezvous and we did manage to get
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