My Boston Story

I ran my first marathon when I was 41 years old. It was 2001, the San Diego Marathon in Carlsbad. That was the last year it was called the San Diego Marathon. Now it is well known as the Carlsbad Marathon. I ran the marathon with my friend Laura who got me started with all this racing craziness. We trained very diligently together, and I can't remember missing a single day of training. Our goal was just to run a comfortable 10-minute/mile pace and finish. Well, we did better than that. We finished in 4:23! I thought that was my first and last marathon. However, I kept on running. My second marathon was the Catalina Marathon, 26.2 miles of trails and hills. It was tough, but so gorgeous!

Then I began to think that I could qualify for the Boston Marathon, so I set out to train on my own for the Long Beach Marathon in 2006. At 46 years old, I needed a 4-hour time to qualify. My training went well, and my race started off great until I began to get a blister at mile six. By mile 18 I could barely put my foot down. The blister was almost as long as my entire foot. I hobbled all the way to the finish in 4:12, and then I took my sock off and looked. Wow! That blister was huge! Needless to say, after I was done crying about it, my husband gave me a piggy back ride to the beer garden.

Okay. Getting more serious now. I joined West Coast Roadrunners in January of 2007 with the goal of qualifying at the San Diego Rock-n-Roll Marathon in June. My training went well. I do well with schedules and sticking to them. On race day, I once again learned from experience. I went out too fast and as I ran up the 163, I pretty much knew my day was over. By mile 23, I was teary-eyed and doing the run/walk. I finished in 4:30.

I still didn't give up. I kept on training. I figured I would try in Carlsbad once again. My training with West Coast went better than ever that season. I even moved up to a higher pace group. I was running longer distances at a pace faster than I needed to in order to qualify. January of 2008, race day. I was with the 3:50 pace group. I stuck with them until mile 22 when I hit the wall. I saw the runners who were left in the group just fade away. I started to walk and get upset, but I don't know what happened to make me hold it together. I think it was sheer determination to get to Boston, a whatever-it-takes attitude. I ran with all my heart to the finish line and fell over with exhaustion. My husband and my little boy say I passed out for a few seconds. I just remember them at my side and crying. When I realized I had run a 3:58, I was ecstatic! We were going to Boston!

My whole first Boston trip was one that I will never forget. I cried with excitement when the plane took off from San Diego, I cried when I picked up my number from the expo, and of course I cried at the start line! I took in all of the awesome sights and sounds of the marathon and the crowd and just totally enjoyed myself through Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, and I ran smack down the middle of Boylston Street crying my eyes out! My time was 4:16.

I came home and signed up again for the next year, 2009. A Boston qualification is good for 18 months. This time I wanted to take it even more serious. I wanted to qualify on the Boston course, which is very difficult to do. Also a fellow runner told me I would never be able to qualify on that course. Okay, then. Keep on running. Focus on Boston and the course. My second trip to Boston in 2009. I was just going to run how I felt, and I felt pretty good. My time was 4:02, which was a qualifying time for me because I was 49 and going to be 50 the next year I ran it. So I did it! I requalified.

I came home and signed up again for this year, 2010. After two Bostons, however, my goal had been reached, and I now have a new goal, to finish an Ironman. I joined Breakaway Training, a triathlon training group. I have now finished three half Ironman races, and I am about to compete in my first full Ironman in June in Couer D'Alene, Idaho, and my focus and training has been on that particular goal. Yes, I was worried about my time this year in Boston, not having trained specifically for that race like I had been doing. Coach Luke, however, made me feel good about running Boston just to enjoy my accomplishment of getting there, just to race within myself, and use the race as a training tool towards my goal of the Ironman in June.

So this year that's what I did. Prior to the start of the race, I had trained and completed the Oceanside Half Ironman and I had done one 16 mile training run. I went to the start line in Boston just planning to race within myself and enjoy it. And that's what I did! I had GI difficulties during the first half of the race, which I have been having quite consistently on long runs lately -- gotta do something about that -- but after the first half, I felt pretty good. I didn't even really hit a wall. I had a side ache on the left at mile 23 and then it moved over to the right at mile 24, both of which caused me to slow down. Deep down, I knew this was going to be my last Boston Marathon for a while, so I thoroughly enjoyed the sights and sounds once again. I ran down the middle of Boylstron Street and blew kisses to my husband and my little boy! I crossed the finish line in 4:17. We love Boston, but it is time to close this chapter and move on to new athletic goals and opportunities. I want to complete an Ironman. That's my focus now. I want to run the rest of the marathon majors -- Chicago, New York, London, and Berlin. I want to run for enjoyment now because I can!

Thank you to Laura, West Coast Roadrunners, Breakaway Training, and my family for accepting and supporting my hobby!