Hey guess what I did on Monday....

THIS WILL BE A LONG POST, SO BE WARNED….

Ok, so it has been two days since I ran the 113th Boston Marathon and things are starting to get back to normal. My quads and knee joints are still considering litigation against me for excessive abuse….

So let’s take a look back at the event starting with Friday the 17th.

Friday the 17th:

I took this day as a vacation day to go into my son’s Kindergarten class and for him and my wife and me to go into the Expo at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. I had a lot of fun at my son’s school and his whole class made me a giant card wishing me well and to enjoy the race. It was a great way to start the weekend.

After attending the class the family headed to the Riverside MBTA Station to take the Green line into the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. It only took me about 1 minute to find someone else riding the train in for the same purpose and we had a great conversation on the way in. Once we got off the subway we made our way to the Expo and since it was day one of the Expo and we got there at 2:30 I had no idea of what to expect. The crowds were big but not over crowded and I was like a kid in a candy store. My goals for the Expo were the following:

* Buy my finishers Jacket.
* Buy a SPIbelt (http://www.spibelt.com/) to wear during the race to hold my bib number and my cell phone.
* Buy a pair of orange (that is my color) MOEBEN arm sleeves (http://www.moeben.com/).
* Pick up the official poster from Adidas that has all of the runner’s names on it.

So we went off to go shopping and we were able to get the jacket and find a line that wasn’t wrapped around the block. The SPIbelt that I got was great, I hadn’t seen those in the store only online and I didn’t want to pay shipping for it. It works as described and didn’t move or shake during the run. It cost me $22 but it is a nice gadget to have.

My next “had to have” was my arm sleeves. I had gone online and looked at the MOEBEN product and checked out there website. I liked the style and the UV protection so I emailed the owner to see if they came in orange and she said they did and she would have them at the Expo. So when I came upon the booth I enquired about them and spoke to the owner Shannon and she remembered my email. It turns out she made the orange just for me and was having them shipped to the Expo. I did a little more shopping and then came back to the booth just as they were arriving. The orange was great and they would match my orange Craft running shirt so I would be “color coordinated” and highly visible to friends and family in the sea of runners. Since these were a new color Shannon has offered to name the color after me so the orange will now be known as “Derv Orange” and it turns out that she sold out of that color within minutes of putting them out at the Expo. I wore them during the race and they were amazing. It was nice to be able to roll them up at the start of the race when it was cool and then as I warmed up roll them down. Also with the headwind we had coming into Boston they saved my life since it went from cold to hot real fast.

If you check out this clip (about 20 seconds in) you can see me wearing them as I do a shout out to my wife and son (http://wbztv.com/video/?id=75681@wbz.dayport.com).

So, if you are in search of the versatile gear for those in between runs take a look at Shannon’s website (http://www.moeben.com/) and just think how “styling” you would be wearing a pair of the “Derv Orange” arm sleeves. I know I was, and at mile 13 when all these college girls at Wellesley wanted to kiss just me it was because of the Moeben arm sleeves.

After leaving the Expo with 6 bags and the great feeling of personally having stimulated the economy the family headed out for Faneuil Hall in Boston for dinner. We had a great dinner and then ventured back to Riverside after a very long day. My only complaint with the Expo was that the concrete floors killed my back but that is to be expected.

Saturday the 18th:

Well Saturday was a day of last minute errands, t-ball practice, Respite Center Runners Picnic and my Carbo Loading dinner with family and friends. It was great to get together with all of the families that depend on the Respite Center to get motivated for the run on Monday. The Carbo loading dinner was a great time with good wine and friends.

Sunday the 19th:

This was my day of rest and the only thing I did besides riding the couch was take a ride to the starting line in Hopkinton. I live two towns over (20 minute car ride) from the starting line. So my wife, son (Alex) and my brother-in-law Barry drove over to check things out and get some pictures. I just thought that on race day it might be hard to get some pictures of me on the starting line. After we checked that out I went home to put my feet up and relax for the day. Since this was the day before the race my diet for the day was limited to a big breakfast and then real bland food for the remainder of the day and no solids after 7 PM. My goal was to avoid my common pitfall of having pizza or something else before going to bed the night before the race and thus having “issues” once I get into the run. I have had problems in the past were 4-6 miles into the run my body thinks it needs to visit the bathroom and I really wanted to avoid that at all cost for Monday. So I stuck to my fueling plan and limited my solids and it worked. I went to bed at 9:00 PM and set the alarm for 3:30 AM and it did take me awhile to fall asleep, go figure.

RACE DAY:

Morning routine:

3:30 AM wakeup and quality time eating 3 ½ cups of unsweetened applesauce while watching infomercials in my Snuggie. The rest of the family awoke at 5:00 AM and we dropped my son off at his friend’s house for the day at 6:30 AM and then off to Hopkinton.

6:50 AM we arrived and parked in Hopkinton and I jumped on the runner’s bus and my wife and Barry took the spectator’s bus. The spectators went right to downtown and I headed to the athlete’s village to drop off my bag. The athlete’s village was cool and it looked like a “squatter’s town” and it took me about an hour to drop off my bag.

8:00 AM I had dropped off my bag and walked to the Respite Center to hang out till it was time to get into my corral.

Starting Time:

Well I went to the corrals and lined up in the 25th corral with my friend Aimee and the start was very smooth and it took me 8 minutes to get to the starting line.

Once we crossed the starting line it got a little pushy and the flow of people pushed the crowd into a 9:50 pace. I just tried to not get run over and not run to fast. It was very funny to see the rush of people to the woods on the left to “water the plants”, I myself waited till mile 3 to do the same. My pace through the first 5 miles was MP minus 10 seconds. I overall felt great through the first 15 with an average pace of around 10:20, it was about then that I ran into issues with cramping in my legs. It felt like I was about to get a “Charlie horse” so it forced me to stop and walk it out. This run, stop right before the cramp hit, walk and then repeat followed me through to the finish line.

Here are some of disappointments of the day:

Didn’t maintain my target MP pace. I wanted a 10 minute pace and my prior runs on the route were MP+10 for 16 and MP+15 for 21. The difference in those runs from race day was weather, nerves, and my race time had breaks excluded from the time.

The cramping. I drank water at each stop so I thought my hydration was good but I should have kept track of “how much” I consumed. I am also the type that once things start to happen I tend to let it get the best of me. I need to work on the mental part of this sport.

Having to WALK the hills, I didn’t have to do this in my run in the rain.

Now, don’t read into this that I don’t appreciate what I was able accomplish in my short running history and for my first marathon. I am very proud of myself and the fact that I FINISHED MY FIRST MARATHON, I am just my biggest critic on what I need to do to improve on this for my next race.

What went well and what memories will I always cherish:

Having the pleasure to run the 113th running of the Boston Marathon and share this experience with friends and family.

Raising over $6000 for the Michael Carter Lisnow Respite Center in this tough economy.

Being part of the wave of 26,385 registered runners leaving Hopkinton with the same goal and love of this sport.

Meeting up with my wife and brother-in-law at mile 17.

Meeting up with Mary McManus and her daughter at mile 19 and being inspired that if she can run with Post Polio then what do I have to complain about.

Getting kissed by the Wellesley college girls.

Seeing the CITGO sign as I approached Kenmore Square.

Turning left on to Boylston and running for the finish line with the crowd cheering.

Righting my name on the front of my shirt and having strangers yell “Run Derv Run” for 26.2 miles.

Finishing in 4:57:23 miles with the resolve to do this again.

The respect for the distance, the jump from 21 to 26.2 miles was huge…

Over the next couple of weeks I will further dissect parts of the race and things I did well at and things that I know I need to do differently at such as cross training and yoga for flexibility. At this time my quads are still very mad at me but once they forgive I will get back out for a short 3 mile run. I want to start working on my goal to get to 198 pounds and prepare for some 5k and 4 mile road races in June and July.

So thank you for all of you who followed my progress it meant a lot to me.

Cheers,
Tim