Trekking Barris

Monday, April 15, 2013

Marathon Monday - Sad, Tragic Day, but a Great Race

We are all Boston Strong!  As everyone knows, Marathon Monday had a sad and very unexpected end.  Our hearts go out to all the victims of the tragedy.   Below is our account of the day.

Monday started early with a 5 AM wake start.  Oh and I didn't mention, we all crammed in one Queen bed at the B-and-B.  There was an additional charge for another bed and knowing our kids would end up in our bed anyway, we decided to forego the expense... 

It was an early start after a rough night of sleep.  I had coffee and breakfast at the B-and-B and at 5:45 AM Jeff woke up the girls and drove me to the T-stop.  I took the T downtown to catch the shuttle bus to Hopkington to the start of the race.  I met great people everywhere - on the T, on the bus, waiting for the race to start.  Friendly, nice and happy people. 

My wave didn't start until 10:20 AM which was tough, as I had eaten a fair amount and tried to figure out my bathroom breaks.  As soon as I started to run, I had to pull off to pee - and moon everyone!  Then at about mile 6 I had to stop again, and wait for the porta-potty to go #2.  Gross!  With 27,000 runners and only about 4-5 port-a-potties every few miles, it wasn't exactly speedy.

The weather was perfect and both sides of the street were lined with supportive fans - offering popiscles, water, oranges - and signs they had made.  It was really impressive.  The Welsely girls screams at mile 14 lived up to the stories.  They were offering kisses to runners to help give them energy!  It was fun! 

Jeff and the girls were watching and cheering at mile 17.  I didn't expect them and was on the otherside.  Jeff's loud powerful voice was strong enough to break my concentration and I zoomed over to give everyone hugs.  We passed Boston University at mile 20 and Heart Break Hill around then as well.  It wasn't that hilly or big and I had to ask fans if that was it, but what seemed worse was the downhill that immediately followed - tough on the quads. 

Mile 25 was also exciting as I saw Jeff and the girls again and gave them 'High 5's' and then everyone else next to them too!!   I finished with a great time - 3:28.50 - another Boston Qualifier. 

This is the first race I've run with my phone in my gear bag.  After the race, I changed and got my phone.  Jeff, the girls and I all connected near the Family Meet area.  I was pretty tired and ready to go back to the hotel, but Jeff said the T was really crowded and the girls were hungry.  We were looking for a lunch spot only a couple blocks from the finish when we heard the first loud boom.  It sounded like a cannon. Then about 5-8 seconds later we heard the second one, and rushed to the end of the street to see what was going on. We saw the smoke and then decided to go inside the nearest cafe to see what happened next.  We went inside and told a few people what had happened and no one seemed to believe us- it was very odd.  We waited about 30 minutes - the girls ate a sandwich and we each talked/texted our siblings. 

Then we decided to get back to the hotel and we just started walking away from downtown.  We walked a couple of miles until we finally stopped a taxi that didn't have anyone in it.  At about the same time 4 really cute college girls saw we were trying to get out of the city so they stopped to help us.  They were able to convince the cabbie to take us to Winthrop which was great. 

In the taxi, Jeff and I each received about 15-20 text messages and I had a nice call with my parents. It was all pretty crazy and surreal.  We got back to the B-and-B and Maggie and Joe, the owners were very relieved as they had been worried. The other runners staying there were safe as well.

Here are the run photos.






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