2011 Boston Marathon Recap and Various Other Observations

I’ll get to my Boston recap in mere moments (finally!), but first: apparently, I’m more of an idiot than I’d originally thought. I’d signed up for the 2011 New York City Marathon the very first day allowed (many moons ago), not realizing that the inaugural Rock ‘n Roll Savannah Marathon would be taking place the same weekend (the first in November), though I don’t believe Savannah had yet been picked as a host city for the run (therein this is not the idiotic part). The New York City Marathon—one of the world’s largest, with something like 45-50,000 runners per year—uses a lottery system to fill much of its ranks, with a small percentage of the field being comprised of automatic qualifiers (those people that have failed to win a spot in three consecutive years, members of the New York Road Runners, and those that meet certain demanding time requirements). Though I desperately wanted to run both races (and still do), I recognized that I could only run one this year, and would have to wait and see what the fates (and a few thousand tiny, colorless balls adorned with numbers--at least, that's how the lottery process plays out in my mind) determined before signing up for the Rock ‘n Roll run. Lottery day came and went, and alas, I received no “congratulations!” email. Funny enough, I was pretty relieved--New York City was going to be an expensive trip, especially considering my going to school and pittance earned by working a part-time job (not to mention the costs incurred by two other major races in the same calendar year: Boston and Burning River). So I happily signed up for the hometown race. And then I received an email the following day, from the New York Road Runners (who put on the NYC Marathon every year), congratulating me on my accepted entry into the marathon. As one might expect, I was addled by this development. I jumped on to the NYC Marathon website and perused the admission rules/regulations, and found that I am evidently a very poor reader for someone professing to hold an undergraduate degree in English; my previous marathon times guaranteed my acceptance, therefore I had been waiting on something for nearly half a year for which I should have had the answer from day 1…and had also paid for two races, only one of which I could complete. I ended up deciding that, though NYC is quite high on my bucket list, it will have to wait—despite my inability to recoup the $170 I spent on it—as I’d gotten myself pretty psyched about the Rock ‘n Roll and will still end up saving buku dollars staying in town.

Boston recap (I’ll try and get some pictures uploaded soon, I promise!): As expected, it was a blast. I met/exceeded all my goals (finished in 557th place, in a time of 2:49:41—or 6:29 per-mile pace, a full 4 minutes faster than my next best marathon time), despite my need to walk a 1-minute portion of Heartbreak Hill (I swear I didn’t even know I was on the hill, and simply assumed I was too gassed to keep going). Heck, I even beat my half-marathon PR in accomplishing the feat (which would explain why I slowly started to break down shortly after that point), and despite/because of my walking fiasco, I was somehow rejuvenated and laid down some solid, fast-paced miles towards the very end of my racing endeavor. I am obviously getting faster and stronger (perhaps more so than I’ve ever been before), which makes me happy because it means I’m still on-pace to reach my over-arching goal for the year: making it my fastest year of running to date. Burning River, here I come!

Ok, on to other stuff—observations and the like:

1.) You might have seen the commercial: in a current Verizon Wireless ad, a young girl named Susie (who is perhaps 10 years old) is given her father’s smartphone in order to use its calculator function. Within a single afternoon, Susie’s use of said smartphone allows her to become a mogul within the lemonade industry; Susie, dressed in a power suit, turns the world of lemonade on its head. It’s a smart, clever commercial. Whatever. My question: do they already make these tiny, business-oriented suits for adolescents, or did they have to make it specifically for the commercial? Yes, that’s what I got out of the commercial—not a wish to own the phone they are peddling, rather a need to know if tiny power suits are readily available on today’s market.

2.) I’m saddened to report that horsefly attacks are in full effect.

3.) On a run last weekend, I was stunned (and made to stifle an uproarious laugh) by what appeared to be a normal-heighted, middle-aged woman who had the upper half of her body entirely inside a paper lawn bag, which included her outstretched arms being held above her head. I shudder to think how much of her body would have still been visible if not for her outstretched arms, and question what part of her decision making process has been omitted to have allowed her to believe that this was the best option available to her in order that she might fully open the bag.

4.) April monthly mileage total: 166.24 miles. I’m already over 130 this month, so it’s looking like May will be another 200+ miles month (3-hour run tomorrow, 2-hour run on Sunday—should tally around 35 miles). C’mon legs, you can do it!

5.) Three classes down, three As in the book. Gotta like that. Let’s just hope it continues.

6.) My previously mentioned, newly acquired part-time job: Fleet Feet Sports lackey.

7.) I am now a member of USA Track & Field (USATF), for which Burning River is the 100 Mile Trail Ultra Championship. I will be aiming for a top-10 finish (and trying my darndest to finish in the top 5, and therein “in the money”), which will open up other racing opportunities to me and put me in the “big dog” category, as my coach puts it.

8.) I’m churning through 500-1,000 page books with a quickness. How’s come I can find the time to wrap-up a behemoth of a book like that within a week, but make my bated-breath audience wait a full month between blog entries? Pure selfishness, I’d wager.