Hello faithful readers,
I DID IT!!!! Somehow I got up yesterday morning, took a bus to Hopkinton and ran back 26.2 miles to Boston. I have so many thoughts, but first let me state my final reason to run: for all of YOU! Over the course of the last five months, I trained in the Polar Vortex through ice and snow and somehow managed not to injure or maim myself. I also took on a $7,000 fundraising goal, which has now been completely blown out of the water with all of your donations; as of the time of this post, we have raised $8764 together for pediatric hematology/oncology at Mass General, helping countless kids with cancer. I can’t explain how grateful I am for everyone’s support, both monetary and emotional, over the last few months. I am so very lucky to have so many people in my life who love me – know that I love every single one of you back, even harder! :)
Now, for a few thoughts on the race yesterday. They’re a bit jumbled, so I think the best way to share them is in bullet form, in (roughly) chronological order. These are the lessons I learned, the random thoughts I had, and the things I will never forget:
Final thoughts: I have the best friends and family in the world. I’m sure I missed some key folks who cheered for me along the way, and know that it’s just a reflection of my brain not fully functioning today, but it meant the world to see you at the time. Running my first marathon was incredibly difficult, but I think I had it pretty easy this year of all years; the crowds were absolutely insane. It was like being cheered by a crazed Red Sox World Series victory crowd for the entire 26.2 miles; I can say that definitively because I went to Game 6 last year! Thank you all for supporting me and indulging in this little blog. I think I’m done with marathons at least for a while, if only because it would be hard to top this experience. In the meantime, April 21, 2014 will be filed away as one of the best days of my life. I love you all!
I DID IT!!!! Somehow I got up yesterday morning, took a bus to Hopkinton and ran back 26.2 miles to Boston. I have so many thoughts, but first let me state my final reason to run: for all of YOU! Over the course of the last five months, I trained in the Polar Vortex through ice and snow and somehow managed not to injure or maim myself. I also took on a $7,000 fundraising goal, which has now been completely blown out of the water with all of your donations; as of the time of this post, we have raised $8764 together for pediatric hematology/oncology at Mass General, helping countless kids with cancer. I can’t explain how grateful I am for everyone’s support, both monetary and emotional, over the last few months. I am so very lucky to have so many people in my life who love me – know that I love every single one of you back, even harder! :)
Now, for a few thoughts on the race yesterday. They’re a bit jumbled, so I think the best way to share them is in bullet form, in (roughly) chronological order. These are the lessons I learned, the random thoughts I had, and the things I will never forget:
- 4:30 am is a very early time to get up.
- Thank goodness for heated tents and good music; we had an amazing DJ in the MGH tent and it really helped the time fly by!
- Warning: sunblock will remove sharpie marks from skin.
- There were people cheering for us in Hopkinton before we even made it to the start line, handing out free bananas, water and Gatorade as we walked through town.
- Chatting with a couple next to me without looking at them and then realizing they were friends from high school – hi Dan and Katie!
- One of my favorite parts of the day was passing by each of the “Town of …” signs; it was a nice boost to feel like I was making some actual geographic progress!
- Seeing Lisa and Christine at Mile 6 helped give me the strength to keep on running for 20 miles.
- Running behind an amputee for about 10 miles made me realize how lucky I am, and how easy I have it.
- Seeing my Aunt Sue in Natick with an adorable “MEGHAN B” sign made my day!
- Wellesley College girls are THE BEST. I blew kisses at so many of them with their creative signs – “Kiss me because I’m Irish” “Kiss me because I’m pre-med” “Kiss me because I’m 6’ tall” – they really made that mile go by quickly!
- The rest of Wellesley is LONG. I’ve never been more happy to see Mrs. Sandman, the mom of one of my best friends, with her great hugs and camera to snap a few pictures!
- It was also great to see my Dad and Rebecca a few miles up the road, with their huge sign.
- My coworker Fabia lives on the worst hill in the entire course (in my opinion), at the beginning of Comm. Ave. in Newton; seeing her happy face at the top made it worth it!
- Seeing SO MANY people at the MGH cheering section at Mile 20 – Krista, Heather, Laura, Shawn, Sally and countless others, not to mention my mom, sister Sarah, brother Stephen and Uncle Kevin and Aunt Cheri up the block. I was really starting to fade right around then, and seeing everyone gave me the strength for Heartbreak Hill.
- The best decision I ever made was to train on the Newton Hills after work all winter. I made Heartbreak Hill my b*tch, and it couldn’t defeat me yesterday no matter how tired I was.
- It was a huge help to see my coworker Ashley at the top of Heartbreak, with a bottle of water just for me!!
- I’ve never been prouder to be a Boston College alumna than I was when I hit Mile 21. I suddenly got a HUGE burst of energy and pointed to my BC temporary tattoos on my arms, which got lots of great cheers and high fives from the students. I started raising the roof and whooping as I ran, which I realized at the time was probably a big waste of energy, but I have no regrets!!
- The Haunted Mile in between BC and Cleveland Circle wasn’t as bad as I’d heard; it gave me a chance to catch my breath after seeing all those Eagles.
- Cleveland Circle was where things started to get tough; it was also great to see my former coworker Colleen with a bottle of Gatorade just for me! I swear I wouldn’t have been able to finish without it.
- Running into my friend and fellow runner Gretchen gave me some strength through Washington Square; we were both hurting but as we crossed the 23 mile marker I told her we needed to think of it like we were just starting to run a 5k. It worked for me, although Gretchen needed to walk for a bit, so we separated – she did end up beating me though, so hats off to her!!
- Brookline, my old stomping grounds, nearly finished me. I prayed for help from Nancy at Mile 24, which helped for a little while, but I now know what it’s like to hit the wall. Every muscle in my body from my rib cage down hurt like hell, and I just didn’t have any calories left to burn. The only reason I kept running was because walking hurt almost as much as running, but it was slower. Running won! It also helped to see my pal Caroline along the race, although I was fairly delirious at that point!
- The hill after St. Mary’s leading into Kenmore should be bulldozed to the ground.
- Kenmore Square was largely a blur until I saw my friend Erin towards the end of Comm. Ave – a huge help!
- The signs saying “One Mile to Go” and “1K to Go” are actually not at all helpful.
- Right before the turn onto Hereford, the cheering got deafeningly loud and I stopped listening to my music. I turned to my right and saw a handsome guy standing on the corner surrounded by friends and whooping his head off for all of us runners. I then looked down and saw that he was wearing running sneakers… and a prosthetic on his left leg. I cheered “GO EAGLES!” at Pat Downes and then immediately burst into tears, and kept running. I knew if he was strong enough to stand there and cheer for us, I owed it to him to finish strong.
- I started videoing the race starting at the turn onto Boylston. Seeing the Winstons girls Kelly, Theresa, Christine and Bridget at the corner was a huge help – they thought I was facetiming with someone (LOL) but it was all for the video, ladies!
- Sidenote: only one video actually came out, but it was worth it!
- The final run down Boylston was longer than it seemed, but shorter at the same time. The cheers were DEAFENING – literally my ears were ringing at the end. I saw a bunch of my friends at Back Bay Social Club – one of the high points of the day – and then said a prayer at Forum for Martin Richard and all the others lost at last year’s Marathon. I was crying but trying to smile for the cameras as I crossed the finish line.
- The silver spaceman cape really is super warm.
- You know what else was warm? THE TEMPERATURE. It was apparently 75 degrees yesterday, a big difference from the 63 degrees that was predicted. I ended up being slower than I would like, but I still came in under 5 hours. I’ll call it a win.
- After running that far in the heat, I was much more dehydrated than I would like, and it took me a while to walk to Laura’s and drink and eat enough to feel better. However, I persevered and was so grateful for the friends who made it to her house to congratulate me.
- OH MY GOD I AM SO SORE THE NEXT DAY, MY ENTIRE BODY FEELS LIKE IT WAS PUT THROUGH A MEAT TENDERIZER.
Final thoughts: I have the best friends and family in the world. I’m sure I missed some key folks who cheered for me along the way, and know that it’s just a reflection of my brain not fully functioning today, but it meant the world to see you at the time. Running my first marathon was incredibly difficult, but I think I had it pretty easy this year of all years; the crowds were absolutely insane. It was like being cheered by a crazed Red Sox World Series victory crowd for the entire 26.2 miles; I can say that definitively because I went to Game 6 last year! Thank you all for supporting me and indulging in this little blog. I think I’m done with marathons at least for a while, if only because it would be hard to top this experience. In the meantime, April 21, 2014 will be filed away as one of the best days of my life. I love you all!