Boston continued....

Why is it when you go away for a few days, everything else sort of stacks up on ya???

So here is the shortened version so can get it down before it gets skipped altogether.

Sunday, we awoke to watch the trials! They were oh-so-inspiring. I really was impressed with Maggie running in front for the majority of the race with such a commanding league. Yet on the last loop we watched, it was obvious Deana was closing in and in the end caught her! It was fun to cheer on the girls and every now and then, get a smile like one from the chick in the Running Fun outfit!

E and I headed over to meet blogger Kurt and his wife for lunch (very nice to meet both of you!). My butt waas dragging after my late night Saturday and then we made it back to the hotel with about an hour of downtime before heading out to our final run. After a shower, the ladies headed over to to our friend's house for a nice dinner and some awesome music with our Southeast Running Club peeps. It was the perfect relaxing evening before the big show!

After a rough night of sleep, I woke up ready to run my first Boston! For a 10:30 AM start, it is still amazing how early you got to get up to start the day. We were up at 5:25 and even though I was stoked about the day, I felt so tired that I was still in zombie mode until I started running.

Luckily as Katy and I headed to the drop, the sun poked out and the temps warmed up. I made the wise choice to not wear the arm warmers and sport some shades.

By the time we weaved through a million people on our way to the 15th corral, I had did an awful lot of walking and made it there with only 2 minutes to spare. Before I knew it we were off.

I was so excited as I watched the sea of people heading down the first hill.

The plan was to run a comfortable pace the whole way. Regardless of how I felt, I did not want to feel like I was pushing too hard as I really want to run Cleveland Marathon as my A race. I planned to run around 4 hours or 9 minute miles which I thought was feasibble taking in considerastion that I wanted to be careful to avoid injury and not leave too much at Boston that I should be saving for Cleveland.

Splits-

Mile 1- 8:45
Mile 2- 8:25
Mile 3- 8:33
Mile 4- 8:36
Mile 5- 8:52
Mile 6- 8:49
Mile 7 - 8:54 Already thinking my feet hurt and there is a long way to go! Gel #1
Mile 8- 9:05
Mile 9- 8:56
Mile 10-9:07
Mile 11-9:23
Mile 12-9:55 Cherry Flavor ice popsicle munching ensued!
Mile 13 9:31 Gel #2
Mile 14-9:54
Mile 15-10:02
Mile 16- 15:03 POP stop #1, lubed up
Mile 17- 10:38-Gel #3
Mile 18- 13:20 POP stop #2
Mile 19- 9:54
Mile 20- 11:04- Strawberry Flavor ice popsicle munching ensued!
Mile 21- 10:23
Mile 22- 9:49- Gel #4
Mile 23- 9:30
Mile 24- 9:58
Mile 25-9:48
Mile 26+.2- 11:05

Total time 4:17:44

In short, I felt great all day. After I got off pace at the POP stops, I decided I was not going to try to get back on pace but to keep runnning consistent race. I know the latter half of the race my pace seemed pretty even but I was definitely spending more time than nescessary walking through water stops. I was thirsty and really was not too worried about my time!

The worst part of the day were my bruised feet. I have been plagued for some time now with some random foot issue and I knew this would be my trouble spot. I really need to get in to see a podiatrist. Pain reliever around mile 11 seemed to help. It is like I have little pinhead bumps under my skin that start down under my pointer toe on both feet. No real issues with sore quads that most Boston runners get, perhaps it was just that I was running slower???

The best part of my day was definitely eating the flavor ices (THOSE PEOPLE GIVING THOSE OUT RULED--wink, wink to Cleveland watchers!!).