 |
Boston Marathon Logo copyright of the Boston Athletic Association.
|
The Holy Grail of Marathons in now underway. Boston has started. So far, the big news this year has been the temperature. It's supposed to get hot. Really really hot. Inexperienced runners were recommended to defer to next year. I get that the BAA has to cover their butts and put that out there but do they
really think that anyone that makes it Boston is going to say
"Uh, well it's supposed to really hot, so maybe I'll just wait till next year." Hell no. The year I ran it, it was stinkin' hot and I had trained all winter in temperatures that hovered around the -15 mark. Was I given the option to defer to the following year? Nope. Would I have? Absolutely not. I didn't train for 20 weeks, fork out all kinds of money and take time off work to take a trip to Boston just to
watch the race. I went to run it. I went to experience all that is Boston. When race morning arrived and it was already around 15 degrees at 9:00 am, I figured it was going to be a warm one. I ran it back in the days when it started at noon so I had 3 hours to kill before the race started. That meant 3 hours for the temperature to climb as well. And climb it did. It was in the mid 20's by the time the race started. I have no clue how hot it was when I finished, all I knew was that I wanted to sit down in the shade and nurse my sunburn.
I knew going in that I wasn't going to set any PB's. During the race I tried to maintain a decent pace but realized that the heat was going to get the better of me if I didn't slow down. So I swallowed my pride and ran when I could and walked when I couldn't. Either way I was going to get to the finish line, it just wasn't going to be as fast as I had hoped it would be. Looking back, my time didn't really matter. What mattered what that I actually got the opportunity to do it. Crappy day and all, I'm really glad I did.
If you qualified for this years race, would you take the deferment or would you race?
2 comments:
I'd run it, because apart from what you say about the Boston experience, it feels really crappy to be a no-show for a race you've registered for. Last year I had to miss the TO Womens Half because my health took a nosedive and running it could have been very dangerous for me. But still, not being there took a very heavy toll on me mentally. That being said, I think it's good that the Boston organizers are offering the deferment. It at least gives runners the option.
Not a chance I'd stay on the sidelines.
I'm really glad that one of my well-trained friends is out there on the course after all, after being a bit worried about the weather himself.
Post a Comment