Note: I wrote this as a journal entry to remember an experience in a positive light. I think that history will remember the negative and sad things about April 15th 2013 for me. I thought it was important to not remember this weekend as a terrorist attack - and the finish line as a disaster area, but rather as an amazing celebration of sport and America. Patriots Day in the Boston area truly is a sight to behold. I will always consider myself one of the lucky ones that day, and will always pray for something like this to not happen again.
My Experience of the 117th Running of the Boston Marathon
This past weekend I was out on a mission to cross another historic/famed race off of my bucket list. I did, and it went well. Everything that happened up until about 2:50 pm eastern standard time on Monday was pretty amazing and fun. Going out to the city of Boston with my family was a sort of early way of celebrating my 30th birthday - I was to enjoy a city I have never been to and run a race exactly a week before that big thirty mark.
Lots about my weekend and a quick race report
We got to Boston on Friday afternoon. At the baggage claim, I saw Ryan Hall and asked him for a picture. I have been a big fan of him since he broke through in high school. We all took a rainy cab ride to our hotel and went to Legal Seafood across the street for dinner. My mother put my son to sleep in my room while I had another drink the bar with my father. I will never take those days and conversations with my parents for granted.... Especially those ones from the hotel bar over a drink. Thanks dad!
Saturday morning I got in a nice 5+ mile treadmill run in and we went to brunch at an awesome little place about a block from where the finish line was. We went to go check out check in at the expo and number pickup. No matter how big or how small a race is, I always enjoy these expos. I get to be around people that are into what I love, and its always fun to experience whatever a specific event has to offer.
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| Watching the kids relay race |
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| My wife and I before number pickup |
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| My son at the finish line - before the expo |
The Boston Athletic Association put on a world class event from the mailings, to the expo, to race day and I am very impressed by the level of attention and care paid by the BAA towards everyone doing this race. Being fresh off of a few ironman races last year, I could sit back and say that they went over the top for a running only race... But I would be dead wrong. I look back and realize that comparing something like the Ironman World Championships in Kona to the Boston Marathon
is actually realistic. It is a qualifying race and it
is a championship event. In short, I was very impressed by the event.
We walked around a bit after the expo then went back to the hotel to put Aiden down for a nap. I hung out with my wife in my parents room while my son slept in ours. That evening we enjoyed another amazing dinner where my son witnessed everyone eating a "big bug" - this is what my father was calling lobster. Funny one dad...
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| BIG BUG! |
Watching him witness everyone eating big bugs was amusing to say the least... It has been so fun to watch him learn about the world through all of these trips and races that we go to. We are blessed as a family and I am so thankful he gets these opportunities. He has learned so much and always seems to take fun words and memories with him.
Back at the hotel, Beth and I took Aiden up to the pool and enjoyed another wine before bed while my parents took a nice walk back to enjoy a bit more of Boston.
On Sunday, my wife and I went to breakfast by ourselves and enjoyed the morning. The 5k was that am, and the mile was going on outside of the restaurant that we were at. I took it easy most of the day but we did go to the park with Aiden and my parents for a swan boat ride, a walk to get a balloon animal, and to take a marry-go-round ride. That evening, we went to yet another awesome dinner (Union Oyster House) for some seafood (again). Beth and I went back via cab and I got to sleep about 8 pm. Aiden took a walk back with Pap and Grammie to take in a bit more of Boston.
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| Swan boat ride |
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| Aiden with his balloon "kona" dog |
Race day came and I was up very early to take care of the usual business. My wife and Dad hung out with me in line for the busses to Hopkinton. We were off at about 8am and drove the 45 mins or so to the start. At the athletes village, I just walked around, ate a bagel, and thanked god again for the opportunities that I have been blessed with... I do my best to take in races like this - I think I filled another section of my brain with thousands of mental snapshots.
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| Dad and Colin before the bus ride |
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| My typical pre-race picture |
The weather was chilly but perfect for running... I dropped my sweats off about 30 minutes before the start and walked the mile or so to the start in the giant crowd of people. I kept taking all of the experience in along the way. Stopped one more time about 10 minutes to the start for a potty break and got to my start corral about 2 minutes before the start. Oops - I think I was a bit too relaxed about this race.
Energy in the crowd was awesome and happy - start lines are the absolute best places in the world to hear one liners. I have had some of the best laughs ever waiting to go. Gun went off and I crossed the start line after about 90 seconds.
Hmmm... So for a running race report? Not the best at this
I started running. I didn't know how fast or slow to really go, but I felt like I should (and could) run the first 5k under 20 minutes and go from there. My goal in high school was always to break 20 minutes in the 5k, so I wanted to impress my past "being" by doing a whole marathon at that pace. It pretty much went that way... Was at like 39:30 for the 10k and so on.
The crowds were amazing (non stop support for 26.2 miles) and this truly was the coolest running race that has ever been (bolder boulder I love you) and as usual, I don't remember the specifics as I was in a bit of tunnel vision (the zone) for almost 3 hours. I remember Welesley being fricking awesome and my pace going from 6:20 down to 5:40 or so for that stretch. I remember going through the half at 1:23 and happy with that, and I remember the newton hills being fun and not that bad.
Getting back into the city is something that I will always look back at my first Boston Marathon with fond memories - especially on this day. This was (from what many said) Boston's greatest day of the year and the experience of getting into that city was really about as cool as I could ever imagine. April 15th 2013 was a day that kicked Boston down, but I have no doubt that it will be as big if not bigger on that day next year and the year after. I heard my family yell for me about a half mile or so from the finish and gave them a wave. I crossed the line in 2:48:58, and met a goal of going under 2:50. Race was done and I was a happy guy.
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This picture means a ton to me. It kind of captures the emotion that I had towards the people out there and the event itself. You cant help but be happy about such a cool experience
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| Race specifics |
I walked back to the hotel and met my family in the lobby. It was time for Aiden to get a nap and my mom wife and I were going to head over for lunch (before Beth's flight). We walked over and I ordered a glass of wine and went to the bathroom. My iPhone let me know that someone bombed the finish line of the marathon, and the tv confirmed it was no joke.
I could sit here and write much more about all that is wrong in the world and about how I am so upset about what happened on Monday afternoon, but I'm not. All I have to say is that the bombings really hit close to home. I finally had some quiet time on Wednesday back in Boulder to reflect and realize how upset I was. I ended up crying by myself for a bit...
Someone that day took an opportunity to destroy lots of people's dreams, put a cloud over a great city on their best day of the year, traumatize many, but mostly - kill three people including a child and injure over one hundred. Thousands of people came out to watch and cheer myself and my friends on and for that, some died. I just can not understand that...
But instead of taking away and writing about all of the negative and horrific things that happened, I wrote about, and will always remember an amazing weekend that I spent in a great city on their greatest day of the year.
