Mission Accomplished!

Wow, this has been one hell of a journey.  37,000 people all running from Hopkington to Boston.
Considering the challenges I've encountered along the way, I'm amazed how well today has gone.

Given my limited training I knew this was going to hurt, but I didn't want to permanently damage anything. I had been toiling with various strategies on how to run a marathon with limited training and recently healed injuries.  Surprisingly, NOTHING exists on the Internet to guide the foolish on how to run a marathon under such circumstances.  The only sites I found were recommending to not put yourself in this situation - not possible. So I came up with my own strategy: run the first half then deal with the second half when you get to it.  FYI, this is not called procrastination - it's improvising - let's be clear about that!



For the first half of the marathon I partnered up with Sean Marden, a fellow NEAQ marathon teammate. Sean is a diver for the Giant Ocean Tank at the Aquarium and conversation is always interesting with him.  We run around the same pace and made it at the 13.1mile marker after an hour and 48 minutes.  Perhaps we could have made it faster but Wellesley College was at mile 12 so a brief stop was necessary. The signs the girls show are hilarious. One said "NEVER BEEN KISSED* (*by a runner)". She had to switch signs after I passed.

The second half of the marathon is where it got interesting. Sean and I split ways. We were each entering our own pain caves and there's no place for conversation in there.  I turned down the pace a bit but kept it respectable.  I was getting a headache and had double vision.  It's not a good sign to get this at mile 15. I still had 11.2 miles and I haven't even hit the Newton hills where the famed Heartbreak Hill waits to crush your soul. Then noticed something. I was passing someone walking the course then the same person passed me. This recurred until I realized they were using a run walk strategy I had heard about but never tried.  This person was keeping up with my running even while they were taking walking breaks.  At this point a walking break sounded nice.  Without being too creepy and keeping a safe distance I shadowed this run/walker and learned their secret. I counted the seconds he walked then counted the seconds he ran. One minute walking, four minutes running was his formula.  I copied the idea but adjusted it. I broke down the run in mile increments then would walk a minute then finish the mile. But rather than walk based on exact timing I placed the walks in the steep downhill portions of the run. Running downhill destroys your quads. Destroying your quads destroys your stamina and I needed to budget that as much as I could.  Most runners who walked portions of the race would walk up the hills. This makes absolutely no sense, but I was in no condition to pontificate on this matter. The strategy was working. Having just a minute of walking gave me enough reprieve to never hit "the wall" - a running condition where your legs don't listen to what your brain is telling them to do. I was actually maintaining a respectable pace when I finally reached the top of Heartbreak Hill. It was at this point I realized that I could finish in 4 hours if I kept a 10min/mi pace. I had to get under 4 hours. It was too close not to shoot for.

At the top of Heartbreak Hill. The end is near!

As I approached Cleveland Circle the crowds got thicker and so did the energy. They always said the crowd carries you the last few miles - they sure did. I had tunnel vision but I knew they were there. All pain left my body. I reached Hereford street before I even knew it was there. The left on Boylston - the last turn of the race shows the 26 mile marker. There is 0.2 miles left and the finish line is visible. I laughed when I saw it. There wasn't anything funny about it - I was probably delirious. I didn't have double vision anymore though and although I was hurting I wasn't hurt.  I knew I didn't do irreparable damage to my knees. In a way it was a miracle. I crossed the finish line after 3 hours 58 minutes and 32 seconds of running...and some walking.

My fundraising goal has also crossed the finish line. THANKS TO YOU ALL we have raised $4,663.00 for the New England Aquarium's Children's Outreach Program - which is 117% of my goal! This could not have been accomplished without your incredible generosity and show of support. You all are amazing. THANK YOU!!!!

See you on the other side!

Loading into the corral. This is it...

Race Day

Team mates Cheri and Meg at peace on one
of the many school buses to Hopkington.

Go Fish!

On the bus, heading to Hopkington.

Where do the Fish Come From?

The R/V Coral Reef II and Me.

 Ever wonder how aquariums get their fish? Last week I returned from a collecting trip with the New England Aquarium and found out exactly how many of the fish got in the Giant Ocean Tank. Twice a year, the NEAQ organizes a collecting trip. Aquarium staff and some volunteers meet on a research vessel called the R/V Coral Reef II and dive the reefs of the Bahamas to collect specific specimens needed for the Aquarium in Boston. The boat has specially equipped holding tanks and filtration systems to hold the fish until they are ready to be shipped to Boston. Catching the fish is done with vinyl nets while scuba diving.

Chalk Talk: a discussion before each dive reviewing
the goals of the dive and what to expect underwater..  

The Aquarium staff and the boat's Captain work together to determine the right dive sites for the specific fish they are looking for. Before each dive, all divers are briefed on the types of fish we should find.  Different strategies are used to collect different types of fish. Individual divers can capture some species while teams of divers are required to capture others.  The group made 3-5 dives a day and 3 night dives over the course of the 8 day trip.  In total, the team collected just under 400 fish and invertebrates.  It was a very successful mission. The last day of the trip - called pack day - started at 2:00am.  The boat docked at the Miami shipyard and the team aquarists and volunteers had to have the fish packed up in special shipping containers filled with fresh sea water and sprayed with pure oxygen by 7:00am to catch the commercial plane they were scheduled to fly on.  From there, a team of Aquarium staff awaited arrival of the shipment in Boston to quickly transfer the fish to a quarantine tank in Quincy. The fish will remain in quarantine for the next month and then will be placed in the GOT for all aquarium visitors to enjoy.

Packing the fish to Boston started at 2am and took 5 hours.  
It was a race against the clock to finish in time to catch the
cargo plane's departure.  

Testing Out the Marathon Course

This morning, the Team got together for our second group long run.  This time we ran the last 9 miles of the Marathon course which includes heartbreak hill and finished at Copley Square.  I'm proud to say I was able to run all of it with not too much pain.  We took the T out to Woodland Station in Newton and gathered quickly for a photo before setting off.  It was a chilly 18 degrees when we started and the temperature actually dropped to 17 at the finish line.  Luckily, the wind was at our back the entire run.  Coach Chris brought along Charlotte - his dog - for the run and I think she set the course record amongst us.  It was definitely a cold run but it was good to be back running again.  

Freezing for a Photo

Back to Square One

Over 2 months ago I made a rookie mistake. Running too far too soon and not ramping up gradually to longer distances cost me dearly. For the past two months I have been condemned to an unusual form of torture that is disguised under the broad name of physical therapy. I also engaged in a bit of witchcraft: I swallowed a daily potion containing strange ingredients such as glucosamine, chondroitin, sharks fin, and my pride. The most difficult perhaps was not being able to run, feeling the atrophy of inactivity and realizing my goal of getting a qualifying time for this marathon is probably out of the question at this point. Well, yesterday marked a milestone. I ran 3 miles and my knee held up. So here we go, back to square one!

Running Basics 101: Ramping Up

A great majority of all running injuries are due to overtraining or ramping up too fast.  All marathon training schedules progressively increase the milage slowly to allow your body to acclimate to the new pressures you're putting on it.  But I'm special, and I don't need to do that. My enthusiasm got the best of me a while ago and I jumped from running 13 mile long runs to trying out an 18 mile run.  Big mistake.  My knee decided to get cranky on me has been refusing to cooperate lately.  My running has been sidelined for the moment.  Luckily the physical therapist said I'll still be able to still run the Marathon, but to make sure I don't ever make the same mistake he's sentenced me to the elliptical machine and multiple rounds on their electric shocking device. I'm sure there's a technical term for the shocking device, but I want as little to do with this machine as possible.  I wonder if the trainers get some sick pleasure from hooking people up to this thing?

I'm not sure if this is supposed to be physical therapy or an advanced interrogation technique.  Either way, I don't want to make this mistake again!

Don't Worry Mom, I'm OK.