April
17, 2017
4:53:21 23405/26411 Overall 13100/14438 Male 320/426 in 65-69
As you can see by my PW at the Boston
Marathon, this year was not so much about running the race as it was showing
Jodi and Katie the Boston area and enjoying all the great sights and history of
it. I expected to run the race slowly and just enjoy it, but it didn’t quite
work out that way as it turns out that I did it with a strained left hamstring.
I went to Barrows Physical Therapy the day after we got home and was told that
I need to rest it at least 1-2 weeks and rehab it. And I thought it was just
the 70+ degree weather that made me feel so awful running the whole race. Erghhh
It was no specific moment when I felt the pain, but an accumulation of things.
Hard to pinpoint what might be the cause: the marathons in Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan,
Mar.; the Cal Classic Half 2 weeks before; the 14 miles in the hills the week
before; the Boston 5K on Sat.; or the 38 miles Katie’s Apple Watch told us that
we’d walked the week before the marathon. Maybe a rest period would be in
order!
Many
thanks to Bill Hastrup who has been on all of our Fleet Feet teams since I
started coaching there in 2013. We ran into each other at the Runners’ Village
in Hopkinton and decided to run together most of the way. Even when I had to
walk longer at the aid stations or on the uphills, Bill waited for me. We had a
great time chatting and taking pictures. We even got one with Brad Castillo who
ran with us for a couple miles. We also got some cute pictures with one of the
Wellsley women who had a sign that said: “Kiss me for free speed”. When I told
her I was married, she said to wait a second. Not until I saw the pictures, did
I realize that she had a double-sided sign and had flipped it to: “Kiss me; I
won’t tell your wife.” Notice I have my fingers in an “X” indicating a “no-no”.
No more 20+ kisses in Wellsley for me; I’m a happily married man!
Bill
somehow got me up the Newton hills including Heartbreak and finished strong the
last 4-5 miles in which he gained 11 minutes on me. I just tried to run 2
minutes and walk 1 minute most of those last miles. And wow, was I so happy to
see Jodi and Katie a hundred yards from the finish. What a relief to see them
and the finish line. (You can see my grimace and forced smile with Jodi there.)
I can’t remember feeling as tired as I did after this marathon in a long time.
Jodi and Katie had to deal with a barely moving zombie, but got me back to the
motel. After cleaning up, resting a few minutes, and getting some dinner, I was
starting to reenter the land of the living…sorta.
Meanwhile….Here’s
Jodi’s view of race day:
After
dropping John off at the Boston Common, Katie and I started the day with a
great run along the Charles River. We stopped at Starbucks for some
chocolate milk at about the time the marathon must have been starting because
we heard the fighter jets flyover.
At the sound of the roaring jets, everything came
to a standstill. You could have heard a pin drop and I won’t forget the
fearful and nervous faces as everyone wondered what the loud noise was all
about. There was a collective sigh of relief and nervous giggles once everyone
realized it wasn’t a bomb. We changed clothes and “cleaned up” in the back of
our rental car with some baby wipes, deodorant and body spray and then shared
breakfast at an amazing little café on Charles Street.
Once
we were nourished, we made our way to the T. It was incredibly hot as we
were packed like sardines for the quick ride to Arlington station. Unfortunately,
we proceeded to the wrong side of the marathon course, only to be turned away
and told there was no access. “This is for the mayor and VIPs”. At about
this time, the elite athletes were beginning to finish but we had to watch the
results on my BAA app.
We
were directed back the way we came, which included multiple security stops to
have bags checked and tagged. Not sure the purpose of the tags because
bags had to be rechecked at about every block, coming and going. Our goal
at this point was to make it to Hereford and Boylston and by now we had already
walked about 2 hours trying to navigate the crowds and street closures.
Since we missed the elites, we decided it would be a good time to sit down and
have some sushi on Newbury Street, which was amazing! Interesting to see
vendors along the streets handing out samples to spectators. We saw apples,
Nestle protein drinks, sunscreen and sunglasses being handed out.
Once
we were nourished again, we made our way over to Boylston near the finish
line. The crowds were too heavy to see anything and it was getting really
hot. At this point, the finishing marathoners were at about the 3:00
mark. SO many were collapsing due to the heat. It’s so hard to
describe the crowds. Every time a runner was suffering from cramps or
heat exhaustion and being assisted by another runner, this sent the crowd into
a frenzy. The noise from the crowd was deafening and this continued for
hours.
Feeling
like Zacchaeus, we found a balcony outside Supercuts right at the 26 mile
mark. This is where we stayed for the next several hours in the hot
sun. We tried to walk away for a while to get a smoothie on Newbury but
the line was too long. Other struggles: finding a bathroom that
wasn’t “broken” and being careful about my cell phone battery life as I got
update after update on our Fresno runners. And speaking of updates……..so
disheartening to watch updates on John and knowing he was struggling out on the
course. My last update had been the 35K when he was running with
Bill. Worry set in when I got updates that Bill was at 40K, and then that
Bill had finished, but no John. What a relief it was when he arrived at
the 26 mile mark!! Throughout the day we got to see Stephanie Ormond,
Laura Fenster, Michael Tejada, Brad Castillo and Becky Cutler finish.
At
the end of the day, Katie and I walked 10.2 miles according to her Apple
watch. In addition to the morning run along the Charles. Next time
I’m in Boston I will be running the marathon. I think that’s probably
easier than spectating.
We
started our Boston vacation by flying into Logan on Monday 4/10 and driving to
the suburb of Woburn about 15 miles from downtown Boston. Part of what we
needed to do was to be sure that Jodi and Katie got in the workouts that their
coaches had for them. Jodi had found a nice lake for the distance days and the
local high school track for the speed work days. Our touring started on Tue. with
a walking tour of Harvard conducted by a member of their football team. We then
took a “Duck” tour via the land/water vehicle and ended with dinner at Quincy
Market. Wed. morning we had a great tour of Fenway Park where we saw lots of
pictures and statues of famous players; saw the view from the top of the “Green
Monster”; sat in 80 year seats; and saw where Ted Williams’ 502 foot homer is
comemorated by a red seat. Going downtown we visited the Adidas store where
Jodi pulled up a screen that showed all the Boston Marathons that Bill and I
have run. Great to see all 8 years where we both ran it. I also loved seeing
the newly remodeled Boston Library (which is located at the finish line of the
Marathon).
Thursday
we drove to Plimoth Plantation and saw what it probably looked like to the
Pilgrims and Indians 400 years ago. Really impressed with how authentic it is
and how the people are so “in-character”. We had our best “fish” meal in
Plymouth and then saw Plymouth Rock and the impressive National Monument. On
our drive back we stopped in Foxboro to see the Patriots’ Stadium and also to
see little-known “Candlepin” bowling.
On
Friday we headed to the expo first thing and saw Anita Lee by the library.
Immediately after getting my packet, we ran into Michael and Rita Baumann. And
then Becki Cutler and Joe Amendt appeared so we had a Fresno/Visalia reunion
right off the bat! I wore my new Boston Marathon jacket with the 18 Boston
patches now in order sewn on them. Going through the expo, I was stopped many
times to pose with ones who wanted a picture of the jacket and me. Included
were ones from China, Taiwan, Australia, and Missouri. Very fun! Afterwards we
went to the top of the Prudential and got some amazing views of the city.
Dinner was at Maurizio’s where we had the best gnochi I’ve ever had. We then
stood in line at Mike’s Pastry for their famous cannolis as well as a slice of
Boston Cream pie that we saved to share the next night. J
Saturday
we headed down to the Boston Common for the 5K and who should we run into but
Stephanie Ormond and Amanda Rycraft. All 3 of us ran and enjoyed seeing the
elites and going over the Marathon finish line. After the race we ran into
Shawn and Dorina Young and Michael Sanchez. I also saw Brad Castillo and
Stephanie Benchener that afternoon. Really something how we run into Fresno
friends in such a large city!
In
the afternoon we went to the Boston Common and rode the Swan boats and saw the
duck statues from the “Make Way for Ducklings” picture book. That Caldecott
Medal book from the 1940s is set in Boston and one my mom read to Bill and me
when we were youngsters. It’s also one I read to Jodi at Woodward Park when we
were dating so it has special meaning to us and we wanted to be sure Katie got
to see the statues. We also rode a bus around town that took us by the site of
the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere’s home, Bunker Hill, and the USS Constitution.
We ended the day with dinner at the original “Cheers” on which the TV show was
based.
Easter
morning started with Jodi doing a long run around the lake while I waited in
the car. She got to search for Easter eggs I’d hidden for her “cool-down”.
Katie got to do her Easter egg hunt in the motel room when she got up. We went
to Easter services in Marlboro with John and Linda Duncan and enjoyed a
wonderful lunch and time with them afterwards. We took some time to visit the
Longfellow Wayside Inn and Grist Mill in Sudbury. The original little red
school house from “Mary Had a Little Lamb” is also located there.
This was Marathon #154; 19th
Boston; 22 states on 2d go round; All 10 Canadian provinces. Next up: Fargo, ND
Marathon on 5/20/17
5K results:
BIB NAME AGE M/F CITY ST CTRY CTZ DM
2913 Volkman, Jodi 48 F Fresno CA USA
Official Finish Overall Gender Division
24:37 1758 / 8921 555 / 5154 47
/ 547
3726 Volkman, John D 66 M Fresno CA USA
Official Finish Overall Gender Division
26:34 2721 / 8921 1697 / 3767 15
/ 82
BIB NAME AGE M/F CITY ST CTRY CTZ DM
417 Nili, Katie 16 F Fresno CA USA
Official Finish Overall Gender Division
19:31 315 / 8921 66 / 5154 7
/ 117
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