"We own the finish line" - Boston Marathon, April 21, 2014

 

I heard him before I saw him.  He was singing that song, the one that will get stuck in your head for the rest of the day after you read this.

"Clap along if you feel like a room without a roof.   Because I'm happy... Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth. Because I'm happy..."

This was at about mile 7 of the 2014 Boston Marathon.  It's supposed to be A Serious Race.  Most of us had to qualify by running a fast time at a previous marathon to be allowed to run Boston.  Other runners had to raise a lot of money for charity, or be invited to run the world's most prestigious marathon due to special circumstances.  But on April 21, 2014 around mile 7, those of us running next to the singing runner were anything but serious.  We couldn't help ourselves. We were happy, all of us, and showed our fellow singing runner that we were by slowing our pace, and  singing and clapping along with him, to Pharrell Williams' mega hit song.

 

It was that kind of day.  It was sunny and warm, not a typical Boston spring day.  But the 2014 Boston Marathon was anything but typical.  It was much more than a race. This year, it wasn't personal - it was political.  It was about showing the terrorists of the world that in the end -  we win and they lose.  Good will always triumph over evil.

After the horrific events at the 2013 Boston Marathon, when 4 innocent people - a restaurant manager, a Chinese graduate student, a university policeman, and an 8 year old boy - lost their lives, and more than 260 others were injured - runners from around the world knew that we had no choice but to return to Boston and show the terrorists that we will run again.  Just days after the tragedy, President Obama spoke to a nation in mourning.  "Next year," he told us, "We will finish the race."

And a few days before the 2014 marathon, at an event commemorating the lives lost and people injured at last year's race, Vice President Biden set the tone for the upcoming race:  ""Next Monday, on Patriot's Day, when 36,000 people line up to start the marathon, you will send a resounding message around the world.  Not to just the rest of the world, but to the terrorists, that we will never yield.  We will never cower.  America will never, ever, ever stand down.  We are Boston.  We are America.  We respond.  We endure.  We overcome... and we own the finish line."

When I arrived in Boston a few days before the marathon, everywhere I looked I saw signs of support for the marathon. Just about every store, hotel, restaurant, bar, house of worship, street corner - everywhere were signs welcoming us, and showing the city's and the nation's support.

And where there weren't signs, there were yellow daffodils wrapped in blue foil lining every mile of the course - Boston Marathon's new symbol of rebirth.

The Old South Church handed out scarfs made by people from all over the US in Boston Marathon yellow and blue, to show support for the runners.  My friend Sue was one of the lucky recipients of the 7,000 scarfs handed out Easter Sunday, the day before the marathon.

Even at the Expo, where runners go to pick up their numbers

 and browse tables where vendors sold all things related to running, there was a sense of excitement in the air.  There were long lines to meet some of the rock stars of our sport.

Dean Karnazes, uber ultra marathon runner, (he's that guy who ran 50 marathons in 50 states in 50 days, among other accomplishments) was a super nice man who was happy to talk to me about tips on running when I met him at the expo.  For the record, Dean eats Greek yogurt and a banana before a marathon - something I will try. He also likes to run 26.2 miles from his hotel room to the start, then runs another 26.2 miles once the marathon begins - something I will not try!

Then I met Dick Hoyt.  Dick and his son Rick, have competed in races of all distances together, including marathons and triathalons.  Dick has raced and pushed Rick, who is in a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy, to the finish line of over 1,000 races.  This Boston would be their last marathon, and I was honored to be racing Boston with this inspirational father/son team who show the world that with love and determination anything is possible.

I noticed the local Boston TV news station filming a story at the expo.  I chatted a bit with the cameraman, and before I knew what was happening, I became the "Veteran Boston Marathoner" telling the world why she was running the 2014 Boston Marathon. 

After a pasta dinner and a good night's sleep, I was ready to run the greatest marathon in the world.

The next morning, bright sun and perfect temperatures greeted us at Boston Commons as we loaded the buses for the 26.2 mile ride to Hopkinton. 

All of us - from the elite runners to the age group qualifiers to the charity runners and invited guests - waited in the Athlete's Village at Hopkinton for the start.  We all had the typical pre marathon nerves, as well as the unspoken prayers hoping for no repeat tragedy at this year's race.

The largest security force ever assembled for a marathon awaited us.  Over 3500 police and military members - that's what was reported, but I bet there were more than that - were on duty to protect us all.  I noticed military men in camouflage holding machine guns on tops of buildings.

 Military and police forces not only lined the course but ran different legs of the race with us.  And the homeless people sitting on the sidelines?  A closer look at some of those people revealed not only clothes too new and clean to be homeless people's clothes, but earpieces in their ears.  So there were undercover security forces out as well. 

Once we hit the start mat, we were comforted by all the security.  We let them do their job and we did ours - running.

 We ran through Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton, Brookline, then Boston.  And we ran past a crowd estimated about 1 million strong.  They didn't have to be there, but they were, screaming for us until our ears were ringing.  I have run 10 marathons and have never seen or heard a crowd like this.  Screams of "USA, USA" and "Boston Strong" were heard the entire 26.2 miles.

Kids on trampolines cheered for us and they jumped up and down. 

As the sun rose high in the sky and temperatures got warmer than expected, families brought glasses of water from their homes as well as popsicles and ice and offered them to the runners. 

And then there were the Boston specific spectators.  At least once every mile, there were radios tuned to the Boston Red Sox game.  Fans would yell out the score from Fenway Park, which was waiting for us at mile 25.

At around the half way point, we approached the college coeds from Wellesley were standing on the sidelines doing what they have done for over 100 years - the Wellesley scream, a sound you can hear about a 1/2 mile away.  I passed a blind runner running with her guide, who was describing the course for her. 

"We are close to Wellesley,"  I said to the runner.  "Any minute now we will hear the girls screaming". The runner and her guide both smiled at me as we approached the college.  The Wellesley girls, each with signs begging the runners to come over and kiss them (Kiss me, I'm from California; Kiss me, I have been out here since 4:00 AM; Kiss me, I won't tell your wife) began to scream and cheer for us.

The girls' screams helped us through the remaining down hills of the race course, and gave us strength as we began climbing the hills of Newton. 

It was also the volunteers - 10,000 strong at the 118th running of the Boston Marathon - who kept us going as they cheered for us, called us out by name "go Cindy, you can do this!" and gave us much needed water and Gatorade at every mile of the race.

 Many of the volunteers were injured during last year's bombings, but they put their fear of another possible tragedy at this year's race out of their minds as they stood on the sunny streets for hours, supporting us runners.

It was about the time we crested Heartbreak Hill, the last and greatest of Boston's uphill stretches,

that I heard one runner call out:  "An American man won Boston"!  We all cheered as we heard this news.  At the finish line, I found out the American was Meb Keflezighi.  Meb, 2 weeks shy of his 39th birthday, was the first American to win Boston since 1983.  He was not only Boston's champion but a hero:  he ran Boston for a higher purpose, wearing the names Sean Collier, Krystle Campbell, Lu Lingzi, and Martin Richard on his runner's bib, remembering and honoring the innocent victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.

As I passed mile 25 and Boston's iconic CITGO sign,  I heard Larry call out my name.  I smiled at him and he caught the moment on his camera. 

And for that second, the world melted away.  In my mind, it was about 15 years ago, when I decided to start exercising.  I asked Larry to walk with me outside after dinner.  But Larry, a foot taller than me with a fast walking pace, was a hard person to keep up with, so I started to jog alongside him.  He noticed me jogging, and then started running.  I couldn't let him get away from me - this was my idea! - so I starting running too.  When we finished - we couldn't have gone more than a mile from our house then a mile back - I was so exhausted I couldn't even feel how every muscle in my body was screaming at me to never do that again.  But I couldn't let Larry know that, so we began running together.  Thousands of miles later,  I wound up at the Boston Marathon on April 21, 2014, smiling at the guy at mile 25 who tricked me into becoming a runner.

The last mile of any marathon is physically challenging but mentally uplifting - the runner is almost there, about to complete a 26.2 mile journey that most people in the world never accomplish.  But this Boston Marathon's last mile was special.  Not only were the crowd's screams so loud that our ears were ringing, but it was a very emotional moment.   Last year, the bombs were placed on Boylston Street, not far from the finish line.  These spectators could have been injured again this year, but they placed their fear aside to support the runners, the marathon, and the idea of showing the world that Boston, that the United States of America, are strong.  Instead of sprinting towards the finish line, we slowed our pace and remembered Sean, Krystle, Lu, and Martin as we passed their memorials on Boylston Street.

Last year, my friends Abi and Rose and Patti were stopped by the bombs between miles 25.5 and mile 26.  This year they were back to complete the race. 

Abi, Rose, and Patti crossed the finish line this year.  We all did:  31,931 runners from all 50 states and 80 different countries.  We owned the finish line.  It was the triumph of good over evil.  It was exhilarating.  It was emotional.  It made me happy.

 

 

A woman walks into the bar...

Argentina. Even the name sounds exotic, foreign, slightly dangerous. For over a year Larry had been planning our first trip to this new country. Visions of tango dances, Buenos Aires cultural sights, fine dining and shopping, and wildlife encounters in rural La Pampa enticed me. I couldn't wait until late March, 2011 for this trip of a lifetime.

Enjoying a lunch tango with Jamie, Ann, and Larry in Buenos Aires, Argentina

Then I ran a 32 minute PR at the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon on 10/10/10. My 3:59:12 time more than qualified me for the ultimate runner's dream, the Boston Marathon, which will be held April 18th, 2011.

I did the math and realized I'd be gone 13 days, 2 -3 weeks before the marathon I trained so hard for. I needed to continue my training not only if I wanted to do well in Boston, but tackle Heartbreak Hill? No way would I give up my Argentinian vacation with Larry, but I was bummed about the timing of our trip.

So - I decided I would run. Wherever and whenever I could, through the streets of Buenos Aires, and then, as I told Larry after our outfitter told us there was nowhere to run at the ranch in La Pampa, no one else had ever done it, too many wild animals, armadillo holes so large a semi truck could sink into them (OK, he might not have described the holes as that big but that's what I was hearing...) "If I have to run circles around the ranch all day, I will".


My runs in Buenos Aires were like several other big city runs. It's fun to run around city streets while everyone else is going to and from work, you really feel like you are part of the city life. And then I found Buenos Aires' version of Central Park - actually several long green leafy parks with lakes and hundreds of other like minded people running, walking, and biking. My people, only in Spanish!

I was glad to check off the miles on my marathon mileage chart in this pretty city in South America. The only problem was, after running all around the parks, I, being directionally challenged even back home with English languages street signs, got horribly lost and arrived back at the hotel over an hour late. I used as a landmark that guy on the horse statue I noted at the entrance to one of the parks. After a spectacular run, waving to my people, saying "Buenos Dias" to everyone like a real local, I kept running into that guy on the horse statue but the streets looked very different from where I had been before.


Soon, I figured out that on almost every street corner the Argentinians have erected a guy on a horse statue. Bad landmark to follow, I figured out too late! Finally, the ninth or tenth statue I passed almost seemed to have the guy quickly point the way to me to find my way back to the hotel. To this day I believe that guy came back to life and did that for me to help me out! Otherwise, I'd still be running around the parks and the statues. Anyway, once I arrived back at the hotel and Larry was happy to see I hadn't been kidnapped, I began planning my runs in La Pampa. This time there'd be no guys on horse statues to keep me company, only wild animals to keep me company. I was dreading these solitary runs, scared of the wild animals. And at that point I didn't even know about the electric fence I'd have to crawl under...

Fast forward a few days to Estancia Poitahue in La Pampa. Larry and I are sitting in the ranch's bar, along with the other American guests, enjoying our pre-dinner (dinner starts between 9:30 - 10:00 PM) drinks. The door opens, and a woman walks into the bar, followed by her husband. They introduce themselves (Sue and Dave) to the rest of the gang, hometowns are exchanged, and then Sue turns to her husband and starts talking. "So I ran in Buenos Aires," she said, a slightly tense edge to her voice. Her slim, athletic build seemed poised for action, as if she could take off on a run any minute. "Tomorrow I'll start running around the ranch."

Her words. Her intense talking about running just minutes after entering the bar. Why is she not relaxing on this vacation like everyone else (except for me)?

Looking at Sue was like looking into a mirror. Was it possible? "Sue," I asked, "is there something that you are training for?"

"Yes," she said, smiling. Her face lit up and she said, "The Boston Marathon!"

"Me too!" I said. And, to not sound like a poser, I let her know I knew the date. "21 more days!"

The other guests looked at us and thought either, wow, what a coincidence, two Boston Qualifiers at this ranch in the middle of Argentina, or wow, two Boston Qualifiers at this ranch in the middle of Argentina, must not be that hard to qualify since 20% of the guests here qualified for Boston!

Sue and I started talking and never stopped. We ran together almost every day on that ranch. (We took one day off to go shopping in the big metropolis of Santa Rosa).


Short runs, middle distance, long runs - we stayed on our schedules and had epic runs. Hills, sand, ruts in the road - none of that mattered. We talked and laughed on every run. Our 12 miler went by so fast it seemed like only 12 minutes had elapsed. Not only did wild animals cross our paths (red stag, blackbuck) but we ran by scary looking cows (to me anyway, Sue is a Hoosier and wild cows don't scare Indiana girls like they do Jersey girls)and even had to crawl under an electric fence!

Don't fry for me, Argentina!


In addition to being running nerds, we had so much else in common we were almost like twin sisters. Same profession, both of us avid readers, mothers of two kids (boy first, then the girl), and Sue even worked for and is friends with one of my law school friends! I've visited her high school in Indiana and our son is now a student at her alma mater, Indiana U. We were meant to be friends - and Boston brought us together!

Sue and I are texting and emailing daily, planning our weekend in Boston. Larry and Dave, both former military guys with wicked senses of humor and similar life of the party personalities, will hang out together and be our cheering section during the marathon. We plan to move the party that was Argentina up to Massachusetts. The roar of the red stag (Rooooaaarrrr!!!) will become the roar of the crowd. As Sue would say, "the adventure continues!"

The Times They Are A Changin'

On Wednesday the organizers of the Boston Marathon announced not only new qualifying times for each age group but a new method for registration. The new qualifying times are 5 minutes and 59 seconds faster for each age group. And registration will take place in waves, with the runners who qualified 20 minutes or faster earlier than their qualifying time on day 1, then on day 3 runners who qualified 10 minutes or faster, then on day 5 runners who met the standard can register, and registration will continue until the race fills up.

Well, something had to be done. This year, as described one of my earlier posts, the Boston Marathon filled up on day 1 in 8 hours and 3 minutes (sounds almost like a qualifying time, one that certainly wouldn't qualify a runner for Boston!) Last year it had closed out in 2 and a half months. So a runner had to not only qualify by speed to get to run Boston but had to register on day 1 in eight hours and 3 minutes and have run a qualifying race prior to October 18, 2010, the day registration opened.

I wish that everyone who qualified could have gotten a spot. And my heart goes out to those who did but couldn't register in time, as well as future runners who may qualify even on these stricter standards, but not 20 or 10 minutes faster than the stricter standards. They may not be able to say they've run the Boston Marathon.

Me? I feel lucky that I qualified, and lucky that I got to register on day 1. Those 2 and 1/2 hours I spent on the computer were worth every second of my time!

I will cherish every minute while I am running Boston. I can't wait!!!

Beating Gladys

The big news in the running community is that Gladys Burrill, of Prospect, Oregon, just broke the record for the oldest woman to ever complete a marathon. At the age of 92, Gladys finished the Honolulu Marathon in 9:53:16 on Dec. 12, 2010.

Gladys ran her first marathon at age 86 (this is not a typo!), has run several marathons since then, and enjoys her new sport. But she needs another goal - and she says that would be climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

I haven't met Gladys Burrill but I am inspired by her. She is my role model. But also my competition...

I am thrilled and awed and so grateful to all the people who have gotten me here that I have qualified for the Boston Marathon. I hope that running it on April 18th will be one of the happiest days of my life.

Now I need new goals. Marathon tourism (come join me in London next year!) and getting friends and family into fitness are my new goals. But after hearing about Gladys, I realize that in a little over 41 years, I need to be the oldest woman in the world to run a marathon.

Sorry about that Gladys, but you know how it is. Records are made to be broken!

Celebrities and Bandits

One of the coolest things about running a marathon is that every runner running a marathon gets to compete on the same course at the same time with world class athletes. I don't know of any other sport where this is possible.

So in Boston on April 18 I will be running with the top 2 American women marathoners, Kara Goucher (marathon PR 2:25:53) and Desiree Davila (marathon PR 2:26:20) and America's best male marathoner, Ryan Hall (marathon PR 2:06:17). It's my second running date with Ryan - we ran the New York City Marathon together in 2009. Wonder if he'll remember me?

Another cool thing about running big city marathons is running with the celebrities who show up to run the race. Last year Valerie Bertinelli ran Boston as a charity runner in 5 hours, 14 minutes. No word yet on other non elite runner celebrities at Boston this year, but it's fun to run and look at another runner and think: wow, there goes my fave movie star/rock star - and I'm beating him!

Another group of people who run are known as bandits. An article I read in "Marathon and Beyond" magazine says this is too cute of a name for them, they should be called leeches or parasites. Whatever you want to call "them", they are certainly thieves. They don't pay the three figure dollar amount the rest of us paid to run the race. Yet they run the same course as us, take up space, make us run around them, use the water and energy gels and other food that is put out for us paying customers, and use any of the other amenities, from port a potties to medical attention to massages that the rest of us paid for and the race director allotted for considering how many people he or she figured would attend. They can be spotted by the absence of the bib number that they are not wearing pinned to their runner shirt or shorts.

I know I should lighten up, but it really bothers me that these people are running this race for free when they are legally prohibited from running. It is difficult to catch them in a field of 26,000 runners, especially when many of the non elite runners are wearing jackets over their bib numbers for the first few miles, if not for the whole race, depending upon how cold it is. And in a race like the Boston Marathon, where the only people who should be running are the people who qualified for the race by running a specific time according to their age group, charity runners, and people affiliated with one of the sponsors of the race, such as the John Hancock company, it hurts to see non paying, non qualifying people running.

So what can I do? What else? If I see one of those leeches or parasites, I will pick up my speed, and run faster, until I've passed them, and make sure I stay past them until I beat them at the finish line. If I see a lot of bandits, then I'll just run that much faster. Maybe I'll even catch up to Kara, Desiree, and Ryan!

I'm running the Boston Marathon!

Me with the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon - Kathrine Switzer

I thought all I had to do to participate in the Boston Marathon was run a sanctioned marathon in under 4 hours, 5 minutes. On 10/10/10, as described in my last post, I ran the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in 3 hours, 59 minutes, and 12 seconds, over a 32 minute PR for me. That more than qualified me. Boston, here I come!
Registration for the Boston Marathon opened up on Monday, October 18, at 9:00 AM. I checked out the website, and saw that all I needed to do was complete an online registration. How hard could that be?
I remember reading that last year, registration maxed out about 2 and 1/2 months after the registration opened. In prior years the registration lasted longer, 3 months, 4 months, even right up until the race in mid April.
But I really, really wanted to run this race that I had trained so hard for. So, rather than waiting a few months, or even a few weeks, to register, I was ready at 9:00 AM that Monday morning. Ready meaning I had two computers on, with two different internet browsers going. As a baby boomer growing up in a heavily populated suburb of New York City in the 1960's and 1970's, I practically came out of the womb knowing I had to compete hard for scarce resources.
It took until 11:30 AM to get onto the site and complete the registration. I thought I had it tough, trying to get registered for 2 and 1/2 hours, until I read the Boston Athletic Association website that night. For the first time in 115 years, the Boston Marathon sold out in eight hours. Anyone who tried to register after 5 PM that Monday was out of luck, as was anyone whose qualifying marathon was scheduled for after October 18th.
But as difficult as registration was for me this year, consider what a hard time Kathrine Switzer had trying to get into the Boston Marathon in 1967. She was the first woman to officially run the all male Boston Marathon. She registered (although not online!) as K. Switzer. She began the race, in a baggy sweatsuit, but sharp eyed Jock Semple, the race director, didn't want a woman in his race, so when he spotted Kathrine running early in the race, he physically attacked Kathrine. Kathrine's All American football player boyfriend separated Jock from Kathrine, so to speak, and when Jock remained on the ground, Kathrine and her boyfriend ran away from him. Kathrine spent the rest of the race thinking about how to make something of this incident (which was heavily photographed). She finished her first marathon, then ran 35 more marathons. And then? Kathrine has been spending the the rest of her life inspiring more than 1 million women in 27 countries, through the creation of the Avon Running program, to run and achieve their dreams.
When I met Kathrine Switzer at The Running Zone, I told her what a huge inspiration she has been to me, not only in running but in working for women's equality. I brought my teenage daughter Liana to meet her too. I cherish Kathrine's book, Marathon Woman, which she inscribed for me: "Cindy and Liana! To one who paves the way and the other who has no limits. Go for it! Kathrine Switzer, 11/18/09."
When I run those 26.2 miles through Boston on April 18, 2011, I will think of Kathrine Switzer, who paved the way for me, and so many other women, all over the world.