The big five-oh!

Towards the end of last year my running was going really well.  Nothing spectacular, just good consistent running with the odd PB thrown in for good measure.  I was looking forward to 2023 and, although I had relatively few races in the calendar, I was hoping for good things.

Then, on the first day of the Christmas holiday, I finally succumbed to Covid-19.  Despite being triple vaccinated, I was rough for ages.  I felt worse than I did when I had pneumonia 7 years ago.  I spent two and a half weeks in bed and 'recovering' just in time to go back to work in the new year.  But I wasn't really better.  My sense of smell didn't return until mid March, I was constantly tired and my running was shockingly bad.  I still went out and did my long training runs at the weekends, when I wasn't busy doing stuff for school, but there were a real chore and unbearably slow.  I consoled myself by saying that a) at least I was out there doing something and b) it was time on my feet that counted and I was doing plenty of that! 

We set off to Boston with friends, stopping for a few days in New York on our way.  We went from a cold, grey April in Hampshire to a heat wave!  It is a bit of shock to realise that it is 32 celsius at 6.30pm in the evening - at that temperature the only reasonable thing to do is drink an ice cold beer! While we were in New York I got to achieve one of the items on my wish list; to run in Central Park.  I've been to New York many times, but not for years and in those days I wasn't a runner.  It was amazing to run up from our hotel then all the way through Central Park and around the running track.  And, for the first time in ages, I was running fairly well.  On our second morning Husbando commented that it must be good for my confidence - and it was!  We also had plans to run over Brooklyn Bridge - but had to settle for walking as it was hugely crowded and so hot in the middle of the morning.  We had a busy time in New York, it is an amazing place, but I always breath a sigh of relief when I leave as it is just too busy for someone who spent her formative years in a much smaller city (London).  

We travelled to Boston by train.  Easier than a taxi to JFK and an extra encounter with airport security, but sitting down for 4 hrs exacerbated an old back injury.  It hurt to put my foot on the floor - but there was plenty of time before Marathon Monday.  It was great to be back in Boston.  We changed our hotel after an indifferent experience last year, so were staying near Faneuil Hall rather than in Back Bay.  Boston is a small city - everywhere is an easy walk away  - and we thought that, if we weren't right next to the expo, we might spend less on merch!  After collecting our bibs (Husbando was running this year too) we did go to the expo - and were underwhelmed!  Rumour has it that Adidas locked out their competitors - so unless you were in the market for pet insurance or guttering there was very little on offer.  Luckily of us (but not for our bank balances) Marathon Sports had set up a 'brand house' pop up store in addition to their regular store on Boylston.  And all the other local sports retailers had significantly upped their game.  This year I took all my Boston Marathon jackets with me - wearing a different one each day.  It really is wonderful to see all the jackets from previous years.  There has been some controversy about the quality of this year's jacket - but I bought one anyway!  

On Saturday I made my way to Danehy Park parkrun in Cambridge where I had volunteered to act as tail walker.  This was a lovely newish parkrun, much smaller than Jamaica Pond with only 118 runners even on marathon weekend.  I walked with two first timers who were great company.  I hope I didn't put them off by extolling the virtues of parkrun.  We were so busy talking that I couldn't tell you where each of the three laps started and stopped!  The walk was just what I needed to give me the confidence that, back issues not withstanding, I would be able to at least walk Boston and, with a tiny bit of running, be able to make the cut off. 

The rest of Saturday and Sunday passed uneventfully, we visited Democracy Brewing at least once - because once you've found somewhere that good why wouldn't you?  We all headed off for an early night, although to be fair we'd hardly been burning the midnight oil.  I was diligently flossing my teeth when I managed to ping out a filling.  I stared at it in disbelief and then poked my tongue in the gap to confirm that it was in fact a filling.  Thank goodness for Google - a quick search revealed that there was a pharmacy still open at 9.30pm on a Sunday, and it was only a 5 minute walk away.  I bought some stuff to fill the gap and then discovered how hard it is to manipulate a tiny bit of filler into your own back tooth.  

Monday morning dawned, cold and damp. We'd been promised 'light drizzle' with showers 'later in the afternoon.'  What we got was persistent drizzle from the outset with occasional deluges throughout the morning.  But that was ok, I had a hat, I'm not made of sugar and running in the rain means you don't get overheated! What was important was that I had made it to the start of another Boston Marathon.  I even accepted the fact that this could be a very slow one.  Sub five hours was what I had in my mind.  

I started too fast.  As always.  Very hard not to as it is so downhill for the first 10k. I'd taken a selection of painkillers which seemed to take the edge off the tooth and back pain.  I told myself I would get to 10k and see how I felt, then to half way etc. fully expecting the wheels to come off big time at some point, but also knowing that I had time to get from Hopkinton to Boston.  Despite the awful weather, the crowds were out in force to support us.  The girls at Wellesley were even louder than last year - you could hear them for ages before you could see them.  There was lots of support on the infamous Heartbreak Hill - far more than last year, which is probably why I ran up it faster than last year.  Nutrition was a bit of a nightmare.  I'd taken six mini malt loaves with me so I could have one every four miles, and a packet of six shot blocs in case I fancied something extra.  It soon became clear that my amateur dental work couldn't cope with the stickiness of either.  I had five malt loaves and five shot blocs left at the end of the race!  I didn't want to risk experimenting with the gels that were on offer on the course - I've never got on well with them anyway.

I enjoyed the race so much more this year.  There was no crying in toilets, in fact there was no crying and no toilet stops at all.  I ran fairly consistently until the last couple of miles, it was my first reasonable run of the year.  Because I wasn't pushing for a time (although at halfway I set myself a revised target of 4hrs10 rather than 5hrs) I could look around, take note of the Citgo sign at a mile to go, really enjoy turning left on Hereford and right on Boylston in a way that isn't possible when every second counts, and enjoy that last few hundred metres up to and over the finish line.  

4hrs 7mins and 24seconds - I didn't think it was possible for me to be thrilled a time over four hours, and 12 minutes off a qualifying time for Boston next year, but I am!  It gives me hope that I might be able to qualify again for next year, if I work hard and lose a bit of weight.  

Unlike last year, we didn't dash home the same day - which meant that we had a relaxed evening trying to replace some of the calories we'd expended during the day, before indulging in a bit of retail therapy on Tuesday.

We were looking forward to getting home.  We'd been away for a week, which is longer than we usually take for a race, and were happily ensconced in the airport lounge when, 40 minutes before it was due to leave, our flight was cancelled.  The chaos that ensued was compounded by the fact that the flight on Monday had also been cancelled.  An A380 full of passengers were all looking to rebook flights!  We were assigned a flight via Barcelona that would leave on Wednesday evening, rather than queueing to sort everything out (4 members of staff would take ages to work through the queues) we phoned the hotel and booked rooms for the night and headed back in to Boston, a bonus day in Boston saw a short run in the morning, a fabulous breakfast (best of the whole trip) and a movie - because it was cold in the afternoon, we had checked out of the hotel and just wanted to sit down!  We lucked out on the way home.  We spoke nicely to the lady at the check in desk and she booked us on a direct flight with another airline - and upgraded us to first class - quite a satisfactory outcome!

All I need to do now is qualify for next year.....