Boston 2012 - Incredible Marathon!!

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Boston Marathon 2012
"The Hot One" 
26.2 for AUTISM


Sunday night...April 15th....after all the extreme heat warnings and a final email from the Boston Athletic Association that almost begged people to defer their entry into the marathon because of the extreme heat....I was kind of thinking that maybe it was gonna get ugly out there on the marathon course for me....but then a reassuring email and numerous facebook posts from the Charity Teams leader, Susan Hurley, made me realize that I was going to be fine. I'm a California girl afterall....love the sun....love the surf....and I have raced in hotter heat before. 


I was in bed by 8:30pm on Sunday night and slept pretty well considering all the excitement coming the next morning. 

Marci and I at the parking garage
race morning before I got on the
Charity Teams bus to the start

Marci and I were up and out the door by 4:30am and headed to downtown Boston so that I could catch our Charity Team's VIP bus to the start at 100 Clarendon Lane. We parked in the garage and I placed all my race essentials in my race bag and we walked to the curb where the buses were.

Mary James and Caitlyn Egan

I saw all the Charity Team peeps and my OOT Sister Caitlyn was there, nervous as ever, but with a good type of nervous that made her sparkle from the inside out. Everyone was excited to get on the buses and get to the start. The amazing Charity Teams director, Susan Hurley was looking excited, nervous and very organized with all the runners she was keeping track of going through her mind...making sure that she had everyone on the buses. She was in the first wave so we had to get on the road on time for her to make it to her wave start....we had plenty of time. 

Charity Teams Hop Start Bus

We had time to hear the following (see video below) an encouraging speech from Bill "The Devil" Pennington and then we put on the party bus music!!!

We had time to get custom Sharpee tattoos and I got to draw a few custom ones for several peeps myself....which is some kind of talent on a slow moving, shaking bus on the way to Hopkinton. 

We also had an incredible group on our bus with laughter, dancing in the aisles (mostly by Caitlyn) and spontaneous, "YEAHs" yelled out to keep everyone happy and cool. 
The bus reached Hopkinton and everyone went to their separate locations....my charity team - the Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism had arranged for us to have a house on the corner a block from the start line. 

Entrance to Athletes Village
Boston Marathon 2012

The most amazing thing was the Athlete's village about 4 blocks from the start - there were thousands of people all over the place, people lined up for porta potties, sitting in the shade against some of the buildings at the Hopkinton High School and there were people that were eating pre-race foods that were on tables by the large white tents that were providing shade for the athletes. The place was full of runners in different size and shapes, stretching, 
talking, listening to music, meditating and freaking out about the heat. Everyone was already sweating in the hot sun that had pushed the thermometer up to 78 before the first wave even started at 10am. I took a video of the village just because I was so in awe of the masses of people all over the place....and although I knew there were over 22,000 runners that were going to line up and run....it was stunning to see them all in the village and around the corrals for the waves along the street.

Lisa, Sarah, Mary, Chris, Allie & Julia

Runners everywhere!!

It was incredibly awesome and also a little anxiety provoking. It was around 8am when I headed for the Manor house to hang out with Dougie's team until the race started. At the Manor house, I saw how close the starting line was and I was thankful again for the Charity Teams and the unbelievable support that they give to the runners that are running for others. The house had breakfast foods, coffee, and there was a big front lawn with chairs set up under a popup tent that we could hang out under. Lisa Borges, the Executive Director of the Flutie foundation was there as well as Chris Chirco, the Director of Programming for the Flutie foundation....I was amazed at how close the house was to the starting line. 

Allie!!

Allie and Mary corralled in #5

The team started showing up, from Julia, Sarah and Allie, to others that were getting ready to run and trying to relax knowing that the waves were starting....the first wave went off and we took group photos and had fun trying to keep our nerves at rest. 

Mary and Colleen

The start was a sea of runners of all shapes and sizes wearing everything from Superman costumes to just plain old running clothes, most in this third wave had a charity that they were running for...one of my favorites was the Alzheimers shirt that said, "Running for the Memories" on the back. I was lined up in corral 5 with my Dougie's Team running buddies...we were all eager to get started as it was hot and with all those bodies around, it was only getting hotter standing around in the corral waiting for the gun to go off. We finally heard the starting gun go off and we were then waiting for the thousands of people in front of us to get going.....down the street past the start sign and the people cheering and the cameras....it was all so congested!

Allison and Mary

Mary and Julia

I watched as Colleen and Allie took off running together and saw the hordes of people alongside the road watching the 3rd wave leave the starting corrals and waving and yelling at various runners....it was like a sea of people slowly moving down the road and toward the downhill and boy was it downhill....the first mile went by way to fast and I slowed to my pace of 11 min miles....one of the most frustrating things was those that were walking intervals and they would just stop and walk without any warning....just BAM! they were right there, I almost ran right into them and so the first several miles were a moving and suddenly stopping obstacle course of runners with their own goals and their own mantras for the race. I heard one guy say....geeezz, if they're walking now, how do they expect to finish which was interesting since I was thinking the same thing...but everyone had their own plan and more than likely those same people who were walking within the first 3 miles probably finished before me:)

And then the Boston marathon start....can you say Mooooooo!!

The first several miles were nice, a little breeze, a downhill run, a bunch of people cheering, it felt like a critical mass scene, everyone trying to establish a pace but also wanting to take advantage of the downhill. I just ran a slow pace and relaxed, taking it all in....around mile 7 I ran into Julia who was struggling with nausea and stomach issues...she looked a little green and hot! I convinced her to take one of my salt tablets and splash some water on her back as well as get her hat wet and put ice under her cap. She did all those things and by the time we got to mile 8 she was feeling better. 

At the 5k mile marker, the sun was already
beating down on the runners and the spectators 

We ran across a younger girl who had collapsed at the side of the road and her friends were trying to keep her in a sitting position as well as convince her that she was NOT alright and that something was wrong, she was being very stubborn and wouldn't lay down and wouldn't do anything....she was about ready to pass out when I got to her side and didn't have a pulse in her wrist, just a thready one at her neck. She finally laid down and I had her friends lift up her legs to increase the shock position benefit. She was young and therefore, right away her pulse came back and she immediately started to feel better. I told her to stay in the shock position. "Do not get up for 5-10 minutes." She said she would and then she told me that she would remember me because my bib number and her bib number were exactly 100 points apart. She was bib #22261 and I was #22161. 
When I looked up the results online, I was shocked to see that she had beaten me by 3 seconds.....oh well, at least she finished even if it was slow!

Interval walkers at 8km

That was around mile 8....then the heat came on and it felt like it was 120 degrees on the asphalt in between the aid stations, people were at the side of the road cramping up and bending over vomiting and then there were those like me, just trudging along sometimes running, sometimes walking the course.....flashing signs warning runners to slow their pace and walk, dangerous heat conditions, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate....it was surreal that I was on the Boston marathon course and I was being told by a flashing construction sign to "walk slow!"
Julia and I had a good time walking and running the course to get her stomach feeling better and then when I had to go to the bathroom and she wanted to keep going, I told her to get going, I would do my best to catch up or just make my way to the finish. By this time, I had resolved to finishing the marathon within 7 hours....I wasn't going to injure myself or end up in the medical tent....I was just going to finish. As I was starting to run again I noticed a guy weaving back and forth on the asphalt in front of me and flashbacks to working the Ironman Hawaii run course in the medical van came back to me....this guy was in need of sugar or salt or something....he was going to pass out and it was going to be bad because if he fell, he was going to drop fast and he must have been 6 foot 5 inches or more.....he was really out of it. He said his name was Mike and he just hadn't thought it was going to be this hard or hot. I gave him some jelly beans that a young girl at the side of the road was handing out and told him to chew them up and let the sugary stuff get all under his tongue and in his mouth before he swallowed....this is because the mucous membranes under your tongue will take up the sugar faster than your stomach at this point in a race....you stomach is all screwed up and you might just throw up so the longer you can hold that sugary syrup from chewed up jelly beans in your mouth, the more sugar will get into your system. Mike was feeling much better after about 5-10 minutes of slow walking and chewing jelly beans. I had him take another handful from me for later if he started feeling woozie again and he thanked me and I was on my way - headed for the Wellesley scream tunnel and hoping that Heartbreak wasn't as bad as I had heard. 

Army volunteers in full fatigues
in the hot sun pose for a photo

As I went across the half way point, the crowds were incredible....yelling and screaming soaking everyone that wanted it, with water from hoses....there was a ton of ice that was being handed out on along the course and the residents along the course were amazing, like none I had ever seen before.....tons of fruit and ice water and ice as well as iced sponges and iced towels - it was even better support than the Ironman in Hawaii....amazing every mile all the way to the finish was covered in people cheering you on, holding up signs, playing music....it was incredible. 

Having my name on my
shirt caused all the
spectators to yell it out
what a rush to hear your
name yelled...made me feel
like a VIP runner and all the little
kids with their hands out
wanting high fives....it was
incredible!!

My running was becoming more of a death shuffle up the hills, down the hills...trying to pick up my pace when I came upon another runner on their side, with no one else around, no concerned friend, I had just passed the biggest carnage scene ever at mile 17 where 5 or 6 ambulances were loading people and assessing people who looked pretty bad, either vomiting or passed out on the EMS gurneys.....so when I saw this runner, I knew they were not going to get any medical attention soon since everyone was back about a half mile away.....I ran over and grabbed his wrist....no pulse in his wrist...not a good sign....lips were ashen color...thank God he was breathing, the very last thing I wanted to do was mouth to mouth on a sweaty runner...so thank God!!...I put his legs in shock position and rolled him onto his back and shouted at him, "What's your name?" He opened his eyes and didn't really even try to talk....just looked at me.

Running on the hot asphalt caused
my shoes to melt in the strike
zone at my heel and on the ball of
my foot where I would push off

It was then that a medic came over that was riding his bike to the ambulance scene and asked me if he was okay...I said, "No" - he needs an IV and an ambulance. I felt bad thinking of myself, but I knew that the guy was breathing, had a weak pulse again at his wrist and was going to get an ambulance ride to the hospital, so I said to the medic...."do you think I can go finish the marathon?" - He looked at me and said, "Oh my gosh, yes, get going....he will be okay and I will make sure he gets to the hospital." Funny how I actually felt bad for leaving when there wasn't an ambulance there yet....but the medic wasn't running the marathon and the BAA had done a great job getting a ton of medical personnel on the route for just his scenario so I stopped feeling bad for leaving and started running which hurt like frickin' hell because I had been kneeling down for over 15 minutes and now my legs were on fire and my muscles were screaming at me....what the heck are you doing!!!???!!! I'm running the Boston marathon was all I could think as I ran through the pain at a tragically slow pace. 
Would I make it? I had what seemed like a ton of time to get to the finish but a few more resuscitations and I would have to really consider whether to stop and help or just keep going because the stopping and helping was slowly making the time run out and now I had time but I also knew that the closer I got to the finish the more worse off people were going to be that hadn't really trained for this event. The emails that the BAA had sent out begging people to not run the race if they had not trained enough or had other health issues were now coming back to me and I knew why they had sounded so concerned...this was the hardest run I had ever done...walking the Ironman Coeur d'Alene was not as bad as this....and it was actually hotter than day way back in 2006 and I was 40 pounds lighter!! 
The hills are in the wrong place on the Boston marathon course....you are treated to so much downhill at the beginning that the hills at the end although they are not really that big or steep, they are simply in the wrong place and your legs just feel like lead with each step....I was so focused on moving forward that I didn't notice the pain on the bottom of my feet until about mile 20 and then as I was trudging through the slosh and pulp of thousands of crushed paper cups by the aid station, I felt the stinging pain of blisters!!! No frickin way that I deserve blisters on a day like today.....I stopped and looked at the bottom of my papercup pulp covered shoes and saw that the soles had melted right at the strike zone of the ball of my foot and guess where my blisters were? Both feet had blisters behind the great toe and second toe at the ball of my foot....OUCH!! I only figured they were blisters because I have had them before on a hot Buffalo Springs Half Ironman run course and the pain was the same. (Later that night in my ice bath....the blisters were not pretty and definitely should have taken a photo but was too tired to remember to do that).

Blister grin....ouch!

As I shuffled through mile 21, I came across another runner who was being held by her friend at the side of the road....she looked dead. I asked if they needed help or if they had someone on the way and all that her friend could say is "she was feeling really weak and dizzy so she wanted to lie down but now she isn't talking to me anymore." I asked if he had a cell phone and he said that he did, I told him to call 911 and ask for an ambulance at mile 21 of the Boston marathon course. I checked her wrist and she had a weak pulse and was able to open her eyes and respond with, "I just want to go to sleep....really tired and sick to my stomach." I figured that the medics would be there soon and told him to keep her head lower than her knees if he still wanted to hold her and that would work until the ambulance showed up...I had the people standing around provide shade for her and had them get some ice on her neck and then I told them I was going to finish the marathon and took off running toward the finish, as I got farther down the course, I heard the sound of sirens and knew that help was on the way for her....even so my nursing brain felt bad for leaving the scene so that I could finish the marathon. 
At mile 22 I heard my name and Jackie, one of the Charity Team runners who I had tattooed earlier that morning on the bus, was sitting on the side of the road yelling at me...she was overheated and had some stomach issues....I yelled back at her and said, "come on, let's finish this thing!" which got me great applause from the college aged kids that were completely drunk watching the race from their front lawns or hanging out of their windows....Jackie ran to catch up to me and when she did I stopped and walked with her for a while....we still had an hour to finish the last 4.2 miles and she was having the "hardest Boston ever" - she had done the race twice before (if I remember right) as a charity runner....she was bummed about this race and not feeling good after training so hard on the same route with the Charity teams. She told me to look for the Citgo sign because once we saw that the race was pretty much done....so we walked and ran and walked and ran and then I introduced her to Sue who I had ran and walked with earlier and they started talking and were walking slower than me and since I didn't want to walk the last miles of the race and figured that I wouldn't run across any suffering runner this close to the finish line....I started running and kept it up until the pain from my blisters was killing me and then I would walk the aid stations and drink a little bit of gatorade and try not to think about it tasting like warm green sugary slime and then I would run again. 

I was so late getting to the finish that I ran the last several
hundred yards without anyone else around me.....it was
 really a weird feeling and as the shadows were getting
longer from the afternoon sun I finished the Boston Marathon

I would like to say that even though this was the slowest marathon that I have ever run at 6 hours 44 minutes and 31 seconds. I am proud of my finish, I am happy that I was able to help others along the course and still finish, I am glad to have been a part of such an amazing team of charity runners and experienced Boston this way rather than through qualifying. What an amazing thing to qualify for this race and then run it faster or slower to enjoy it but knowing that you qualified.....I don't feel ashamed that I didn't qualify, there are runners that would say that the race should only be run by those that qualified but I would disagree since everyone that was there that day and finished this 2012 Boston race was qualified and through finishing they showed that they had not only the tenacity to run 26.2 miles but they had something else.....they had staying power and the ability to slow down so they could finish on this very hot day in April. 

Chip time 6:44:31
Clock time 6:48:27
DONE!

Every mile was amazing for my first Boston. I would like to do it again and run for a marathon PR since it would be nice to know what I could finish the Boston marathon in without having to stop and rescue runners. I think I may be back next year and I have been promised by a very important person within the BAA that it will be snowing next year:)


Thanks for reading this long post - please comment since I would love to know if I spoke of you or if you too, think I'm crazy...otherwise I won't know how crazy you all think I am. 


Cheers, 


Mary