4:18:11
608/1112 in 60-64 21528/31805 finishers
The 118th running of the
Boston Marathon was going to be extra emotional on many levels because of last
year’s bombing and the many heroic stories that followed it as the nation
rallied around Boston. Boston Strong became the theme of
the country echoing all the way from Fresno putting on a support-for-Boston run
the week after the tragedy to the many tributes to the victims in the weeks
leading up to this year’s race. –The
information below follows the slide-show pictures posted on Shutterfly. –
The Fresno area contingent started
their journey to Boston with the Wednesday 5AM Uncle Harry’s run. Brad
Castillo’s group joined us and we were spotlighted on Channel 30. My former
catcher from Sanger High baseball coaching days, Phillip Gonzales, was making
his second trip to Boston. (Who says “catchers can’t run”!) I was privileged to
be interviewed for this sendoff. Also I was contacted by Joey Horta at Channel
47 who came by my house and filmed an inside look at my running history, medals
and posters. The Fresno Bee listed
the 40 Valley runners heading back and I picked up a special piece of jewelry
for a special event I was planningJ. Jodi’s dog, Charlotte, helped her
pack.
This Boston Marathon was also
special because 20 years ago I stayed with my cousin, Paul Koopmans and his
family, who lived in Hopkinton then. His 8 year old daughter, Linnea, ran in
their driveway with me then. Now she was back at 28 to run the Boston Marathon
as an adult. Fast one that she is now, she ran a wonderful 3:24:14!
Friday night Jodi and I landed in
Providence, RI and checked in with my cousins, John and Linda Duncan, who live
in CT, and had our traditional tapioca and strawberries. The next day we headed
into Boston by way of Hopkinton where we checked out the starting line
activities. We saw the monument to the Hoyts and checked out the Boston Strong memorabilia.
Jodi also tried out a treadmill that had programs for various race courses. I
told her to try the one for “Heartbreak Hill” of the Boston Marathon. I took
photos, but Jodi had no idea at the time of why I wanted her to run that
section of the course. On road leading out of Hopkinton, it was touching to see
the pyramid of running shoes.
When we got to Boston we checked out
the finish line. As we were taking pictures, Jodi was distracted by a man
proposing to his girl friend. Jodi wasn’t aware of it then, but I was certainly
thinking that that was a very auspicious omen for what I was planningJ We were able to
meet up with Paul and also my great running buddy, Shawn Young (who ran 2:52 on
Monday!). After finishing at the expo, Jodi, Paul, and I walked to the Boston
Common where I wanted to show them the monument to the ducks from the picture
book, Make Way for Ducklings, by Robert McCloskey which won the
Caldecott Medal in 1942. Mom read this book to Bill and me growing up, and I
had read it to Jodi while we fed the ducks at Woodward Park a few weeks ago.
Mark and Jill also brought me a print (which hangs in my living room) of the
monument the first year Mark ran Boston.
Saturday was lobster at Legal
Seafood for Jodi and me. Then for Easter Sunday we went to church with John and
Linda at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Marlborough, MA. Interestingly,
Marlborough is where Rich MacIver was raised to be a Red Sox and Patriot fan.
Linda prepared a delicious ham dinner for us which was topped off by the
cross-shaped sugar cookies and ice cream. We were joined by John and Linda’s
daughter, Bethany’s family and we got to watch their 2 boys hunt for Easter
eggs.
So now it’s race morning and John
and Jodi drop me off in Hopkinton where I go to the Athletes’ Village from
whence we walk to the starting corrals on Main St. and start promptly at 11AM. Just
before the first mile I hear “Rocky” playing as it always is, and shortly
thereafter I see a sign for “Boston Strong” that also says “Dork Strong”. I had
to get my picture with that one as Jodi has a lot of fun with that wordJ Today was a day
for taking pictures and enjoying the celebration so I ran comfortably with the
miles around 9:20 (even with all the picture taking) through 16. Jodi and John
met me at 6.5 in Framingham. They got to see the lead men so the picture you
see of Meb is one that Jodi took there! Also in Framingham is where there is a
plate glass window with a sign to “Check your form”. I always enjoy doing that
and this year I took a picture of it.
Between miles 11 and 12 it was fun
to see the women of Wellesley and their clever signs, but there was no kissing
PR this year as I had a bigger goal in mind at the top of Heartbreak Hill. I
went through 13.1 at 2:06 and cruised past the Hoyts who were struggling up a
hill. Dick is now 74 and he had said this was his last Boston Marathon. He did
34 of them pushing Rick everyone! The Newton Hills also slowed my pace for the
next 4 miles to around 10 min average, but mile 20 was my slowest at 13:15.
Something must have happened there…J
Well, you all know about that (see
videos), but I still had 6 miles to go and the hills of Boston as well as the
hills of Knoxville Marathon 3 weeks previously were making my quads and calves
scream as loud as the crowd did at the top of Heartbreak! I did pass the Colbys
from Fresno who were also struggling; no easy trick to push a chair up those
hills, but they made it. Leaving them behind, I was carried by the crowds who
had been out here over 5 hours and were still cheering for all of us; so
amazing how they do their own marathon of crowd support! Mile 25 brought me to
the Citgo sign and Fenway Park. And then I rounded Hereford onto Boylston and I
was finished! My 84 year old “Boston mom” (whose husband passed away last year)
put my medal around my neck and I headed toward the Park Plaza Hotel to find
Jodi and John.
We got a picture showing Jodi with
her “metal” and my medal. And then I found out that Meb had won; the first
American to win in 31 years. I whooped and hollered when I heard that; such a
perfect day. For me, the ice bath back at the hotel cooled the aching muscles,
but not the excitement of an amazing day!
Jodi had seen “Peeps” donuts at
Dunkin Donuts so we got some for fun on Tuesday morning. We also saw that the Bee featured our engagement in the
Boston Marathon write-up. And even their Wednesday lead editorial included us. Joey
Horta on channel 47 had Jodi and me on his show Friday morning to recap the
Boston events. As I was putting my jacket up, CIM decided to nap on it so we
have a picture of CIM and Boston (patches) to wrap things up.
This was Marathon #137;18 states on 2d go round; 8
provinces.
5AM Uncle Harry’s Sendoff run:
16th Boston Marathon Preparation:
The link below is from the news reporter, Kate (the one
in orange in the attached pic) who broadcast in the live feed of the Boston
Marathon.
Scroll down to the 2nd video (the one with the
ring) and you can click on the one of us.
Here’s the youtube link to the video that John Duncan (my
cousin who had the ring and got Jodi to Heartbreak Hill) captured on my phone:
My runner/friend, Jason Hurst, interviewed me on 93.7.
Here’s the link to the 1 min interview: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152153620428090
Friday 4/25 follow-up that ch. 47 did:
