Run the Boston Marathon

How I did it: When I ran my first marathon, the inagural Rock 'n Roll Marathon in San Diego in 1998, and realized I only needed to come off my time 7 minutes to qualify for Boston I knew I could do it.  I decided to go back to San Diego and run the Rock 'n Roll Marathon the following year and try and qualify to run Boston '00.  I kept my weekly mileage around 35-40 miles, and raced a few shorter distance races before I started my 3 month training for the second Rock 'n Roll which was in June 1999.  

I had some trouble with my IT band in the last couple weeks of my training, and cut back on my weekly mileage to try and improve it.  I live on the East Coast, and this being only my second trip to California I was totally pumped to make the trip and visit that gorgeous city again.  I was also more than a bit apprehensive about the IT band issue.

My training had consisted on weekly mileage of around 40-50 miles, including long runs every other weekend.  I did no speeedwork, as I had no idea at the time what that was.  

The first 13 miles of the marathon were great, and that's exactly where my IT Band pain kicked in.  That's the point where I had to make the decision to either drop out or run through the pain.  I decided that I'd trained for 3 months and traveled all the way across the country, and I told myself the worst that would happen would be I'd be very sore afterwards and need to take a couple week off from running. 

I decided I'd run through it, and run through it I did.  It was absolutely no fun, and I had to go to that place deep inside where I feel the presence of my maker and found the resolve and strength I needed to pull it off.  When I crossed the finish line with 40 seconds to spare, I truly knew for the first time in my life that NOTHING is impossible.

I was sore, and walked with a slight limp for about a week, but the soreness went away.  What did not go away was the incredible feeling of what I had just accomplished with the help of hard work, goal setting, and my  maker.   

When I ran Boston the next year, it was almost surreal.  Standing in my corral in Hopkinton and listening to the Star Spangled Banner over loud speakers, I remembered back just 4 years prior when I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day and had never even considered running even one mile.  It brough tears to my eyes and goose bumps all over my body that felt the size of grapes.  To this day, I still get teary eyed remembering it.

I believe if a person wants it they can have it, but they have to want it with everything that's inside them.  If this former overweight, heavy smoker who had no support from her family and had people look at her like she she must be on drugs when she told them about her goal, then anyone can! 

Oct 20, 06:49PM PDT | 0 comments | 3 cheers