It wasn’t my best, it wasn’t my worst. But I’m satisfied. And happy.

I knew going into this, the weather was out of my control and I was pretty chill and relaxed about it all for the most part. It had been changing so much for weeks and days and hours leading up to the race. I ate pizza the night before, prepped all my gear, ate more carbs before I went to bed. I hydrated all Sunday and drank fluids during the morning before the race. I felt good.

My new friend Amira from the UK and me on the bus to Hopkinton

Marathon Monday morning – It’s always an interesting way of doing things when the race doesn’t start til almost 11am. I have to eat twice. I had hot oatmeal with like 18g of protein and a scrambled egg when I got up. Then brought my kind bars, banana, pretzels and electrolytes with me for the wait time on the bus and at the start. It was thundering, lightening and pouring so hard. I had throw away layers and extra shoes and socks that I could could wear until I was ready to run. I wanted to stay as dry as possible.

After using the porta potties a couple times I was ready to go. Our wave was set for 10:50am and I could feel the humidity. The first few miles I felt amazing and was trying not to go super fast (although I saw that maybe I was going a little faster than I should have for this course). I felt good. I drank both Gatorade and water at every aid station to stay hydrated. By mile 8 I knew things were going to change. Mile 11, I took a selfie and sent it to Katy. I really wanted to send her a poop face as I was starting to feel the humidity and knew this was getting harder. That’s also when I saw it was 75% humidity. Oh boy!

I knew I didn’t care about my time necessarily but this became a challenge for sure. I walked a lot. That almost never happens. But I couldn’t help it. I was hot and sweaty and wet. My body already runs warm when I run so this wasn’t good for me. I’ve never found a way (yet) to get past this mentally. It wasn’t as bad as my race in Trinidad & Tobago but it was surely not easy.

Spectators had bags of ice and were handing out cups of ice cubes or you could just grab into their bags. The spectators were also giving extra water cups than what was being given at the aid stations. They had wet paper towels for us to wipe our faces and necks. Of course people were also handing out beer and that was tempting. I grabbed Swedish Fish from a guy that had a large Costco size bag and I told him thank you and that “it’s my favorite candy”! I grabbed a small package of Haribos, but after I finally opened them and popped them in my mouth I spit them out. Just didn’t taste good at the moment. A fireman had a hydrant open spraying water for us…that felt cold and amazing. I hit several signs for “power” and fist bumped the Hulk. I also stopped for a few seconds to pet an adorable dog in a cute older ladies sweatshirt that she was wearing. I think the pup was named Chantel.

Most of the time I was trying to high five as many kids as I could along the route. They really are what keep you going. The spectators along this entire course cheer so loud and really push you to stay motivated with their energy. Even if they are drunk and wild, they know the importance of this race and it means so much to everyone. I know for a while my face probably didn’t look so happy. But I was just trying to stay focused and get to the finish. It was tough out there for most people. I saw several EMTs bring out stretchers to carry runners out. And know of some people who collapsed with heat stroke.

In the last miles while it was still sunny and warm I moved to the right to be in the shade. The temp seemed to be pretty hot then. Somewhere between mile 23 and 24 I noticed my watch lost GPS signal and it never came back. At that point I didn’t really care or want to know what my awful time was. The crowds were getting louder and louder and as I saw the Citgo sign I knew we were close.

Then it started pouring!! Some runners put on their ponchos. That seemed like too much effort to me. The rain felt so good. It cooled things down a bit. And I just wanted to get this over with and run to the finish.

I remember thinking about the bombing as we were almost finished. Wondering if it could happen again. I think that was when I saw the overpass that we go under and it’s painted blue with the words Boston Strong on it. You have a lot of time to think about many things during a marathon. And then I saw a girl wavering while she was walking in the middle of everyone. I asked if she was ok and she said no, so I yelled to the policeman on the side to get her medical attention. And then I just kept running. I was feeling excited and happy that I was about to turn on Hereford…and then the left on Boylston. And there it was. The finish line ahead. Oh man, I got pumped up and started sprinting. The crowds were so loud! I had the biggest smile on my face. I looked over and somehow spotted Katy on the side! Literally looked over and spotted her in the yellow Marathon Tours freebie poncho we got at the expo. That was awesome! And I just ran it in.

As I crossed the finish line, I was so relieved. A gal named Jennifer came up to me as we were walking to get our blankets and said she was right with me a good portion of the race and had a terrible time also. Turns out she’s going to London as well! We got our medals, pics, gear bags and I found a relatively dry spot on a store front on Newbury to stay dry and change.

Something I thought about during the race was this type of unfavorable circumstance would have been better run if with a buddy. I think having someone you know and runs the same pace (or maybe not the same pace, but close?) would help with motivation and the push during a hard race. When you are solo, you have to stay strong and focused and not let the bad thoughts enter your brain and take over. I think its even harder mentally. At least a buddy is right there with you and you can talk to each other and keep motivating each other when times get rough.That’s why I had to listen to the crowds and let them drown out my music so I could let them carry me to the finish.

Katy and I then wandered to get food and found a Japanese place and I got a lovely bowl of udon and some sushi. It was delicious! And of course, we continued to celebrate the rest of the night as every Boston Marathoner should.

Celebration!

I know I should never say never, but I went into this race knowing that it’s probably my last Boston. I don’t need to go back. I don’t need to do this race several times. 3 is more than I ever dreamed of and I am ecstatic that I’ve been able to achieve this 3 times! The standards are getting harder and harder and I don’t have that determination to keep trying to BQ all the time or PR at all my races. It doesn’t mean I’ll give up and run slow races, it just means I don’t want the pressure anymore. So many people want to go to Boston, so I hope they can qualify and I’m glad to give up my spot for them. It’s the best race, hands down, and I feel so lucky that I have 3 magical unicorns in my home!

I listen to a special playlist for every 26.2 I run. I put the music together carefully so I have songs that pump me up during different parts of the race, especially the end. During this race, I don’t remember most of the songs I listened to because I was concentrating on the heat and the cheering and other things around me. Only one song do I remember and I am going to leave the lyrics here for you. I remember hearing the words coming through and getting choked up.

** “Rise Up” – Andra Day **

2019 Boston Marathon