Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Multiple Marathon Race Report

Yeah, you heard that right - here's Rick and Jan's Boston race report with an addendum of the Big Sur Marathon that Jan ran about a week later!

Rick and I ran Boston for the first time on 4/19. He started in the first wave at 10:00, had a great run at 3:28, and went immediately from the finish line to the airport for a flight to Oregon. He thinks he finished in the top half of his AG. I started in the second wave at 10:30. I had high hopes, but felt bad/queasy from the get go-- maybe the mid-morning start combined with not enough food. Anyway, I hung in there for a 4:07 finish. Not what I had hoped for at all, but that's what happened. Still in the top half of my AG. Rick said to me "Thank goodness for the charity runners". Ha ha.

But Boston is an INCREDIBLE event, as the whole city LOVES THE MARATHON. There were 500,000 spectators along the course cheering for you, including Red Sox fans spilling out after the game. (The paper said the next day "All runners scored except at Fenway"). The fabled Wellesley Scream Tunnel was in force-- SSR runners for next year, be forewarned--college women screaming and leaning over the barricades with signs tempting the guys, such as "Kiss me, you Fool", "I Majored in Kissing", and my favorite, the one that really got to the point, "Let's Make Out". Heartbreak Hill is only a 120' elevation gain. Not a big deal, but it comes about mile 20 so it is tiring. The last 6 miles were packed 10 deep with people yelling for you-- incredible. The Boston winner set a new record, Ryan Hall set an American Boston record-- in fact, his time would have won 8 out of the last 10 Bostons, but for last Monday, he had to settle for fourth. And Meb got 5th. But Boston treats everyone like a VIP. The race is run impeccably, runners ride free on the subway, and they clapped for us on Southwest on the flight home.

But that is only half the story.

If Boston is the king of American marathons, the awe-inspiring, breathless beauty of Big Sur must make it the queen. April 25th was the 25th anniversary of Big Sur and this year they had the inaugural "Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge"-- 2 marathons, 2 coasts, 6 days. I decided to do it along with 400 others. Basically, they made a big hoopla for these runners. I had a feeling of "uh-oh" the day before the run, but stuffed myself with pasta while overlooking sailboats and seals on the Pacific, and tried to stay positive. 6:45 am dawned, the anthem was sung, the white doves were released, and we were off running once again through the redwoods. I started waaaay back in the pack, and ran a very conservative first two miles and then realized "Holy cow, I FEEL GOOD". To shorten this report, I picked it up, beat my time from last year at Big Sur, and finished 8/134 in AG. [Eph's note: This means an impressive 3:59!] Closer to the podium.

And for those on the fence, I understand they will be doing B 2 BS again next year.
Jan and Rick

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