My Running History part 3 (Boston Marathon 2004)

My first marathon had me on my back with double pneumonia for a week, followed by about a month or so of no running. By mid-December 2003, my doctor said my lungs were OK to start running again. Meanwhile, I was crestfallen in thinking I had missed Boston by 18 seconds. Someone in the club mentioned that the Boston time qualifiers were not just in 5 year increments (i.e. at age 35, the time needed is 3:15, at age 40 the time is 3:20) but that each year gets an additional minute (i.e., at age 36, the time needed is 3:16) and thus I had run a qualifying time. I wasn’t sure if this was quite correct but figured had nothing to lose by submitting my application. I still don’t know if that was correct, but a couple of weeks later I received my postcard from the B.A.A. saying that I had qualified for the 2004 Boston Marathon with a 3:16:17. So in January I began training for Boston. My goal was to run a 3:15 and prove to myself that I could run a qualifying time.

As Boston approached, I kept checking and rechecking the weather channel. Saturday and Sunday and Tuesday were forecast to be relatively cool. Monday, race day, heat wave — highs in the upper 80s. Crap. That week I spent frantically trying to acclimate to warmer temperatures by running in full sweats. I was in Houston filing a case for work to shut down a fraudulent telemarketing boiler room and was running in the afternoon Texas heat in sweat pants and sweat shirt. Chugging liter after liter of Gatorade. I got to Boston a few days early to visit a law school friend and her husband. My wife would call every hour or so reminding me of the heat and saying to not do anything stupid. The BAA had issued several heat advisory warnings. Maybe Monday would be cool.



Monday dawned bright and sunny. Boston still had a noon start then. We boarded the buses to Hopkinton and prepared to sweat it out. A bit of background on Boston. Boston is a point-to-point race – many marathons and shorter races are loops with the start and finish at or near the same place. Boston starts in Hopkinton, MA and proceeds 26.2 miles to the finish line in downtown Boston. It’s run on the same day every year — 3rd Monday of April, Patriots Day, which is state holiday. Because it’s a holiday, there is no school. The runners all congregate in Boston Public Garden and get bussed in every available school bus to Hopkinton.

We arrived in Hopkinton around 9 or 10 and found places in the shade under a huge tent erected on the Hopkinton High School athletic field. I lay there thinking cool thoughts and chugging gatorade. Around 11:30, we made our way to the start. Despite my wife’s warnings, I was preparing to run a 3:15 marathon pace – I had to prove I could.

The temperature was around 85 at noon as the gun fired, and off I went. I thought Marine Corps had a lot of fans, but that paled to the crowds here. Both sides of the street were lined with folks cheering us on. I think I ran doing a steady “high five” to the kids for the first 1 or 2 miles! Probably because I was so well hydrated and because the first half is net downhill, I was on pace just fine for the first several miles. At around mile 10, we passed a runner vomiting on the side of the road. I overheard another runner say that if you’re puking at mile 10, give it up. I started realizing that maybe running a 7:26 pace might not be wise and slowed it down.

Of course at the half-way point, I sped up again. At around mile 13, the course takes you through Wellesley College and the famous “Wellesley Tunnel.” The tunnel occurs as you run through the college grounds and the thousands of Wellesley women lining the course are screaming and cheering. You cannot hear yourself think, it’s so loud. It’s pretty awesome. Of course, every one (or at least all the male runners) start running faster. One benefit of the upper 80s was that the college kids were mostly attired in bathing suits (or shorts and bikini tops). So it was a very enjoyable 1/4 mile or so. As we left the college, I overheard one runner announce that we could all let out our guts. Another male runner made a U-turn and stated that he was going to run that part again! A few laughs, then continued slogging through the heat.

Shortly after Wellesley, you hit the Newton Hills — a series of climbs followed by plateaus culminating in Heartbreak Hill (the longest and steepest of the climbs) at around mile 20-21. By now, I was exhausted and nearing glycogen depletion (i.e. I was hitting the wall or bonking). Inexperience was mostly to blame. All of my long runs (both for Boston and Marine Corps) as well as Marine Corps were run in the early morning. I’d eat my PBJ and banana and then run. Problem was I did the same thing, woke up and ate my PBJ and banana. But Boston doesn’t start until noon and I did not eat anything before the race other than a GU packet just before race start. Also, I was only taking GU’s every 6-7 miles and was only drinking water on the course. So by mile 15 or so, glycogen depletion, dehydration, and fatigue were setting in. My quads were starting to burn with pain so I started walking through the water stops (recognizing the adverse weather conditions, the BAA officials supplemented water stations to about every mile or so in the last half). By about mile 17, my quads were starting to spasm with pain. Still I slogged on — the 30 seconds or so of walking every mile seemed to be enough to stop the spasms and pain. I’d start running again and after a half mile be in pain, and the cycle would repeat. By now, I was seeing many runners on the side of the course flat on their backs. By Heartbreak Hill (up which I was shuffling), many of the runners were sporting IVs in their arms. Thoughts of running a 3:15 were long gone. I just wanted to finish.

Mercifully, the course is mostly downhill after Heartbreak Hill. So I slogged through the pain for the remaining 6 miles. Through Boston University, where the fans were 10 deep. Finally reaching the “Mile to Go” sign and the Citgo Sign. I would soon be out of my misery. As I turned down Boylston Street for the final finish, I couldn’t believe I was actually finishing the Boston Marathon. I crossed the tape in 3:43:02, finishing 3,627 out of 16,743 finishers (out of 18,003 starters – BAA reports a record number of runners treated for heat-related illness). Tears of joy flowing down my face, I grabbed a food bag, some water, and collapsed alongside several other runners. My legs were rubber. I think I sat there about 15 or 20 minutes, then ambled to retrieve my bag, call my wife and tell her I was OK. I met up with my law school friend and went to one of her friend’s apartment to take a cold shower and wash off the salt and sweat. They drove me to the airport and I returned home. On Wednesday, I was back in Houston for more court hearings. Oh yeah, no pneumonia.