Pre-race letter to the Disney Deads
Dear fellow Disneys, It's thanks to people on this great list for the wonderful help and support that my entry to the 106th Boston Marathon on April 15th actually went through. Here's a report on the completion of preparations for anyone who may be interested, now that the event is only a few weeks away.
Training was resumed a good month ago with a 20 miler twice weekly, during the seasonal transition from wintry snow, cold wind and icy rain, through to springtime, with blossoming trees, violet carpets in the woodland undergrowth, warm sun and longer days. I appreciate the seasonal change more intensely during the training time, compared to "normal" everyday life. My training route was modified away from the flat river bank towards hillier terrain in preparation for those famous hills of the Boston route. Training is hard, but I'm hoping for some payoff on the actual day. I believe it was the Kenyan champion Elijah Lagat once said: "Train hard, fight easy".
Travel arrangements have been made for arrival in Boston on Thursday April 11th for 5 nights. There was no luck with a room share, despite the best efforts of Kris Kouzuch, who very kindly asked around the local runners. (Thanks again Kris!) A single room in one of the downtown hotels is expensive, and the cheaper rooms are far away from town. So it'll be the international hostel at $29 per night, which happens to be ideally located only 800 yards from the finishing area.
I'm especially looking forward to the fun at the encounters organised by the
local Deads (e.g.: Saturday evening encounter organised by Robin Cain, whom we
had the pleasure of recently welcoming to this list). There is also a short
pre-race morning warm-up run on Sunday followed by Val Burgos's Bagel Brunch.The official number & t-shirt pick-up card arrived a few days back. My number is 8529, which is the 8th starting corral out of a total of around 16. The card arrived along with a 32 page colour booklet detailing in big array of events, services and merchandising. There are just so many events taking place, and all participants are free to join in. The Saturday and Sunday are devoted to the number pick-up and the Expo with talks by stars like Jonney Kelley.
The BAA Freedom Run 2.8 miles is early Sunday morning (getting up early - no sweat for jet lagged Europeans), and open to all runners and friends, including 3500 free Patriot's Day Adidas t-shirts, as well as a complimentary breakfast for all participants. Wow!
On Sunday evening there is the pre-race pasta buffet dinner and party at the City Hall Plaza. On Monday evening, straight after the awards ceremony, there is a post-race dance party up to 1am at the Tremont House Hotel.
On Monday, the race day, the bus to the athlete's village in Hopkinton leaves Boston at 7am. The race starts at noon with lemon/lime Gatorade and Belmont Springs water approximately every mile. PowerGel is at mile 17.
There is a BAA tracking program on www.bostonmarathon.org, for those who wish to check progress live (my number 8529). They even have teams of volunteers armed with wireless PDAs stationed along the route wearing shirts labelled "Ask Me About Your Runner", for spectators to obtain live information.
Best of all though is the Nextel Athlete Alert Program, which allows each runner to register up to 6 cellular phones, pagers or email addresses of friends. As the athlete passes the 10k, 21k, 30k and finishing marks, recipients automatically receive text messages, as well as the overall winner at 3pm. So expect live progress updates on this list! Just for the fun of it, send me your number if you want get live updates on your cell phone.
Race photos are available on www.marathonfoto.com. National broadcast coverage is on ESPN2.
At the finishing area, the Copley area of Boylston Street including the subway station is closed, and Mylar blankets, water and Gatorade are on offer. Not forgetting the ironmongery, a n d t h e m a s s a g e ... yes!... looking forward to that (hope the queues are short!) Apart from the usual medical tent, the paediatricians at the Newton-Wellesley Hospital are offering complimentary outpatient evaluation and treatment to all runners on the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday after the race.
Race report
1) Official Pre-Race Pasta Dinner The very long lines moved fast towards the food marquee and free beer. There was entertainment and they didn't mind us going back for more food and drink. My room at the hostel where I was staying was full of marathon runners, and we all shared a table and had a little party. One of the entertainers saw my Dead Runner's t-shirt and made me a balloon hat in the shape of a skeleton. For dessert we were moved on to ice cream, apples and yoghurt the main building. The rest rooms were closed, and there were portapotties outside of the exit, but with no return, so some people ate their dessert outside on the street.
2) Hopkinton Race Start It was cold and wet in the morning as we made our way to
Boston Park for police escort transportation in school busses to the Runner
Hospitality Area in Hopkinton. The fog and light drizzle persisted throughout
the morning as the runners gathered in large tents with food, drink and TV
entertainment provided. At 11:30 we put on our running gear, wrote our names on
our arms with marker pens, deposited our bags through the numbered windows of
the school buses, and walked the ten minutes to our respective starting corrals.
1000 runners for each of the 16 corrals. Standing along the roadside in
Hopkinton I could see other runners with no bib, probably some of the 3000
"bandit" runners that seem to be a permanent feature of the event.
During his talk at the running club on Thursday evening Dave McGillivray the BAA
race director had mentioned that the organisers are happy to provide medical
attention and refreshments to these unofficial participants. I was in the 8th
corral, and it took around 5 minutes to pass the starting line after the gun
went off.
3) I was interviewed by WCVB-TV! The local TV station was broadcasting live from
the Hospitality Area. The balloon skeleton on my head from the previous evening
had attracted the reporter, and he gave me a short interview live in the 8am
news slot. "Well here's a runner with a balloon hat. What you're name and
where are you from?" "I'm Jerry from Austria" "Ok Jerry,
what's that on your head?" "It's a skeleton because I'm part of the
Dead Runner's Society!"
4) The Marathon The crowd participation has the air of an annual carnival with
families barbecuing on the front lawn, kids handing out water, oranges and high
fives. The entire route was lined with spectators enthusiastically shouting
encouragement. In some places the crowds filled the whole sidewalk and the
police were busy keeping the lines back. People were holding up lots of fun
signs along the way, like "Boston is 103 miles this way, certified by
Arthur D.A.". My balloon head must have been prominent because there was a
constant barrage of people yelling encouragement throughout the entire course. I
must have heard "HEY SKELETON HEAD, I SAW YOU ON THE NEWS!", "HEY
JERRY, LIKE THE HAT" at least 300 times. The ideal overcast, cool weather
at the noon start gradually "improved" throughout the race, and by 3
pm we had bright sunshine with a light refreshing breeze. The downhill stretches
at the beginning had soft grass verges which were ideal for some energy saving
overtaking. I ran strong throughout most of the course and the famous hills were
ok for me, although I was glad when Heartbreak Hill was over because I could
feel myself getting gradually slower all the time (as usual). I drank slow at
each water stop provided every mile along the way, but towards the end it was
getting difficult keeping the mixture of gels and water down. I think the final
2 miles were a tough struggle, but it was hard to tell: The volume of crowds
yelling encouragement was reaching a crescendo that obliviated my groaning
gasping for breath, and the pain from my aching quads. Finally the tall
Prudential Building loomed up and I had made it at last with the clock showing
3:27. The hills had played havoc with my quads and my legs were shot, but the
increased salt and water intake had helped prevent the uncontrollable shivering
that had plagued me in the finishing area on previous occasions. The line for
the free massage was long, and there was an hour's wait in the cold wind with
chicken soup provided every 15 minutes.... but it was well worth the 20 minutes
of heaven... aaahhhh ;-bBack to Jeremy's running news.