After a huge PR in 2008, I found myself back at the Poconos Marathon in 2009 gunning for Boston. I knew the course, and with good weather, I was confident I could run a sub 3:10 and finally qualify for the Boston Marathon. I'd tried to qualify in fall of 2008 to qualify in Chicago, but the heat caused me to blow-up at mile 19.
Throughout most of my training, I wasn't feeling like I was hitting the pace I needed to qualify, but my last few long runs felt really good. The weather on race morning was much like the previous year, except that it was quite windy. I wasn't too sure how this was going to affect my race. I went out for a warm-up jog and tried to get myself focused. After checking in my bag, I chatted with Chris Solarz while we waited on the race to begin.
I had my strategy for the race that Coach Cane had briefed me on--come through the half between 1:34 and 1:35, then pick up the pace if I felt good. With my ultimate goal being to qualify for Boston, a 3:10 did the same thing as a 3:05, so there was no reason to risk blowing up trying to run a 3:05. The gun fired and I set out through the rolling hills with Solarz right beside me. As the wind blew stiffly in our faces, Solarz pointed to a tall guy who was running roughly my pace and said, "tuck behind him."
I jumped in behind the tall guy and drafted off of him until the course turned and I caught a tailwind. I felt like I was flying with several splits coming in under 7 minutes, including one in the low 6s (nice downhill mile). When I reached the halfway mark, I hit it at 1:32:26 and some change. I was faster than the plan, but I was feeling great. I first got the feeling that I was going to easily qualify for Boston, however, I kept reminding myself that I felt great in Chicago through 19 miles and still fell apart.
The miles continued to come easy through mile 19, but I kept reminding myself that the wheels could come off at any time. I fought through the rolling hills to mile 24, at which point, I knew I had a BQ time. I was still pushing it out of my mind and just trying to get through the race. I didn't want to celebrate too early. As I entered the high school track for the final .2 miles, a smile crept across my face. I rounded the second turn and looked across the stadium at the finish line.
I was about to qualify for Boston by well over 5 minutes. All the emotion and hard work flooded in, and the realization of achieving my goal overtook me. I started hyper-ventilating. I panicked. There was no way I was going to pass out that close to my goal. I concentrated and steadied my breathing on the back stretch before rounding the last turn and finished strong.
My official time was 3:05:13. I'd qualified for Boston and run both halves of the marathon within 13 seconds of each other.
1 comment:
Great story!!!
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