Twitter
Facebook
Reddit
Digg
Tell us what you think!Send a letter to the editor about this or any other article in The Maine Campus.
Just seconds after crossing the finish line of the 114th Boston Marathon on Monday in a personal-best time of 2:54.32, I struggled to compose myself for an interview with Portland Press Herald writer Jenn Menendez.
“It was my second Boston. Last year was a disaster,” was the most comprehensible combination of words I could form, and the quote Menendez used in her story.
In 2009, I made my Boston debut and learned to respect the historic route from Hopkinton to Boston. Overwhelmed by ambitious goals for my second marathon overall and the aura of the event, I got an extra-long look at the last eight miles to the finish line on Boylston Street, and shuffled across in 3:12 after a 1:26 opening half.
It ended so badly that when I told my parents I planned to run the Sugarloaf Marathon the following month to rebound mentally from the experience, I was informed indirectly that my dad would not attend because he couldn’t watch his son suffer like that again so immediately.
Before stopping to speak with Menendez on Monday, I waited for Crow Athletics teammate Gary Allen of Great Cranberry Island to finish about a minute behind me. I passed Gary shortly after making the final left turn off Hereford Street onto Boylston. Gary, 53, is one of a select few runners in the world to have run a sub-three-hour marathon in five consecutive decades. He helped me bounce back after the Boston nightmare last year to crack the three-hour barrier for the first of three times.
Each of the more than 25,000 registered runners who take on the Boston Marathon each year have a different motivation for doing it. Some run for charity, some in remembrance, some to triumph over the seemingly impossible challenge. And some for the fact that the race is not open to everyone, only to those who meet the strict qualifying standards.
I departed from the University of Maine on Saturday afternoon in a van with a group of five experienced marathoners from Nova Scotia. After doing most of my winter training in solitude, only I knew what type of shape I was in, but didn’t stress myself out with a specific time goal for my first marathon as a 23-year-old and 5th overall. I just wanted to cross the finish line with no regrets.
A long phone call from my best friend Sunday night helped calm the inevitable anxiety, and her words are something I credit to carrying me through the Newton hills leading up to mile 21, and giving me the inspiration to hang on and not let all that progress slip away.
Before the race, another Crow Athletics teammate, Amanda LaBelle of Rockland, was a familiar face to wait with in the second corral of 1,000 runners. Another 30 feet to our left, the elite field of runners walked by on their way to the head of the pack and gave high-fives as they passed. Top Americans Ryan Hall and Meb Keflezighi were greeted with “USA” chants. The clear, cool day with a calm wind helped Hall run the fastest Boston Marathon ever by an American and place fourth overall.
I ran entirely on feeling and instinct, and passed the halfway point in a nearly identical time as last year. Staying conservative is a necessary strategy in the early downhill miles through Hopkinton, Ashland and Natick. I bided my time instead of darting aimlessly around packs of runners. During the race, the memory of 2009 did not enter my mind until I started surging past faltering runners on “Heartbreak Hill,” the last of the Newton hills.
All 26.2 miles of the course were lined with spectators. Most of their cheers were aimed at the mass of runners rather than individuals, but each one was appreciated. One girl’s cheer of, “Good job No. 2275!” didn’t phase me until I lifted up my shirt to look at the number pinned to my singlet. Through the deafening Wellesley College “Scream Tunnel,” just before the halfway point of the race, runners forget their fatigue for a few moments.
A minor accomplishment in the early stages of the race was losing a Japanese man dressed as Minnie Mouse. Evidently the man appears as a different Disney character for each marathon he runs. The costume lost its amusing nature as my own exhaustion developed.
It would be unreasonable to expect an 18-minute improvement annually, but the Boston Marathon is only minutely about the time on the clock. For those who are able to experience it, Boston is an event that draws out every emotion. Complete strangers band together to endure the test of one of the most physically and mentally demanding courses in the world.
Based on my 2:57:10 seed time, I was not expected to finish among the first 2,000 runners on Monday. I placed 774th and improved my Boston qualifying time for 2011 in the process.
Bangor Daily News