Boston Marathon Recap

For most of my life, I have heard about the Boston Marathon. Both of my parents were marathon runners and my mom found out she was pregnant with me after running the Boston marathon (she lovingly says she cried for weeks after finding out about me because she was in the best shape of her life. Ha! I took all her mojo. Sorry boucha!). Our local paper did a pretty cool story about it that you can read here. In 2012 a little a year after having my daughter, Isabelle, I decided to do it. I BQ'd in Nashville (3:19) and set my sights on Boston. I showed up to Boston ready to run. Boston had other ideas. It was a record setting 87 degrees and after 24 miles of fighting hard, I was pulled off the course due to heat exhaustion. Super bummed. I spend about 4 hours in the ER and then finally finished the course in a sad 7.5 hours. That was my first Boston. But I knew it wouldn't be my last. 

After the 2013 bombing, I knew I had to go back. So in 2014 I set my sights on qualifying again! This time I did it in my home town race, The Route 66 Marathon. I set a new P.R. (3:10) and won! Read more about it here. 

I promise Tulsa is beautiful. This is the ugliest part of it. It's also hilly. So don't listen to people when they call us flat. That's rude. 

 So, so sick while crossing this finish line. Thank goodness, the photographer is a friend so he photo shopped me and gave me a little color. I was grey. Grey skin is not a good look for me. 

Winning a marathon was always on my "bucket list", but I wanted to break 3 hours much more. I was trained to break 3 for the Tulsa Marathon, but life happened and I got the stomach bug the night of the marathon. It was BY FAR one of the hardest things I have ever done, but I was so glad that I did it and happy with a 3:10. 
After recovering for about a month. I started my Boston training. I will post about what sort of training I did to execute this, but it was my favorite way to train. #Lamecliffhanger

My sister, Mom, and Myself. 

 Oh, Hopkinton. How I love thee

Before the race even started, I was feeling all sorts of Deja Vu. In 2012, all anyone could talk about was the weather. This year, I woke up in Boston and all anyone was talking about was the weather. The cold. The rain. The wind. How could we run up heartbreak hill with a headwind gust of 30 mph? That wouldn't be possible. Once again, I felt the sub 3 hours slipping from my fingers. Then I got pissed and said "Screw it. I am trained. I am not scared of failure. I am an Okie, so there is NO WAY I am scared of wind. Plus, I love running in the cold." So, I started the race with a calm confidence. I planned to take out slower than originally planned, but to pick it up when I got half way at the Wellesley girls. 

My first mile was by far my slowest. 

Here are my splits: 

Mile 1: 7:25- I wanted to take out conservative...but not that conservative. There was nothing I could do about it. I was stuck in the crowds. There was no way around it. 

Mile 2: 6:57- Better, but I still wanted to be at a 6:50 pace. Still fighting crowds

Mile 3: 6:45

Mile 4: 6:48

Mile 5: 6:50

Mile 6: 6:40

Mile 7: 6:46

Mile 8: 6:51

Mile 9: 6:37

Mile 10: 6:51

Mile 11: 6:49

Mile 12: 6:47

Mile 13: 6:47

Mile 14: 6:42

Mile 15: 6:47

Mile 16: 6:46

Mile 17: 7:02 -Hey there Newton Hills 

Mile 18: 6:52

Mile 19: 6:39

Mile 20: 6:57

Mile 21: 7:06. -Damn you Heartbreak hill

Mile 22: 6:37

Mile 23: 6:44

Mile 24: 6:42

Mile 25: 6:36 - I started to get a little nervous that I wasn't going to break it. I felt great. Better than I've ever felt in a marathon, but I could NOT get around people. I was fighting the good fight, but I was stuck. 

Mile 26: 6:38

The last .43: 5:46

Over all time: 2:59:29. I did it! I broke 3 hours. Not by much, but I wasn't complaining. Boston made me earn it that day and I was praising God that it had finally happened! 

"Today was a good day" - Ice Cube

I'm going to be honest....A large part of the reasons I do marathons is because beer tastes better after a long run. Plus, I can drink lots of beer and not get fat. #carboloading

For this trip, we kept my daughters at home. They don't appreciate watching people run for hours and hours. In the words of Isabelle, "Watching people workout is not fun." I agree. But I pray that I will one day run the marathon with both of my daughters. Because that's just bad ass.