Boston Jitters

Eleven days from today we’ll be flying [not shipping despite the great song] up to Boston (who takes ships anywhere anyways, they would probably miss the race!) In thirteen days we will be enjoying celebratory beverages right now. Sometime in between now and the celebratory beverages there are seven more days of work, two workouts, one medium distance long run, a birthday celebration(?), a flight, a baseball game, and the running of the 115th Boston Marathon.

This training cycle has been a disaster. We had great years least year and were coming into this year off great marathon performances. I (Dee) hit my lifetime goal of breaking 3 hours in the marathon and Chad ran a huge negative split and 10 minute PR in Chicago. The year started off well, with both of us steadily increasing the miles in January, but things got off track early in February. A nagging injury took a turn for the worse and knocked me out of running for nearly five weeks. I did sneak in three slower long runs during this time, but that was the only running I could do and that might have done more harm than good. Chad was in great shape and running some of his highest mileage ever (high 70’s). But in February his back became very painful and made running impossible. The back problems have abated but he has also been dealing with reoccurring problems with his right Achilles and calf. In spite of it all, we’re now two weeks out and each have three 18 mile runs. I have run 20 miles twice and Chad has run 20 or more four times with some tempo miles mixed in.  It is just the rest of the running volume that has missing and leaving us both a little nervous.


Doesn't leisurely look like fun?

Could we be fitter? Sure, but right now Chad is still in shape to lower his PR (2:53:38) while I plan to enjoy my first Boston Marathon stress free, a la Joan Benoit Samuelson. She reflects on the Athens Classic Marathon: “I ran the marathon at a leisurely pace with a fanny pack and a camera and finished in 3:03. It was the first time I ran a marathon for fun and not for competition. Although it was the slowest one of my career, it was one of the most memorable.” LOL she is like 53 years old and 3:03 is literally leisurely. She is my hero! I don’t plan to bring a camera or a fanny pack (or run a 3:03), but I do plan to thoroughly enjoy this experience.

We’re really looking forward to catching up with Megan Hovis, Mike Beigay, Mike Kahn and Bill Shires after the race and, of course, to eating as much delicious food as we can. This is shaping up to be a great trip.