Boston!!! My Story (if you can call it that, haha)
>> Sunday, April 24, 2011
Boston. Aaaah, Boston! The closest I got to qualifying was at the San Diego Rock'n'Roll marathon during summer 2008. I was 16 seconds away from qualifying. That race was so, so tough that I was surprised that I came that close. I remember at one point, I was walking because my hips hurt. A lady who ran past me saw me rubbing my hips and suggested a solution to my problem: I needed to lift my knees higher, according to her, and then my hips wouldn't hurt. I'm sure she had the best intentions, but that was the shittiest piece of advice to give someone at the 23 mile mark, haha! It's like saying - RUN FASTER!!!! I really wanted to bark something back about how - believe you me - if I could lift them higher, I so would... not to mention that it was hard for me to lift my knees high precisely because my hips hurt, not the other way around. But I kept my mouth shut. After all, I wouldn't have been able to stand up for myself in a fight at that point.
At the end of it all, I, of course, was wondering - what if I didn't walk then? What if I lifted my knees "higher"??? Maybe I would have a qualifier under my belt. Well, I do know I did my best. It was the best run marathon of all the ones I did, that's for sure.
Now, after surgery, with stricter qualifying times, and a tougher chance for everyone to get a spot, Boston is probably out of the picture. Right now, I say - it is 100% out of the picture. But who knows... maybe in 4 years, I'll be 100% healed.
Honestly, right now, I can't even remotely imagine running a marathon. Forget about running it fast.
So, after surgery, with my new leg and a new life, I decided to go to Boston as soon as I could start walking normally. If I couldn't run it before, heck, I was gonna walk around it now, even if I had to limp. Going to Boston has been a dream of mine for so long (I would purposely avoid visiting that city... As a real nerd, I told myself that the first time I'd go there would be if I were to run it). Now it was time to get it out of my system. So, in December 2010, my hubby and I went to Boston.
We were very lucky to come there with the first snow:
I got to ice skate! Just a little bit:
And then we walked and walked and walked:
Going to Boston was a little victory for me at the time. What better place to test your new leg as a runner, right?
I'm still reeling from reading all the wonderful race reports from Boston. How exciting! Congrats to everyone!!! And those of you who didn't hit your goals - heck, YOU GOT TO GO TO BOSTON! There is so much tradition, so much history, that even if you crawled it backwards, you freaking did it!!!!!
Have a great week!
PS. Check out my best friend's blog. IT IS SO FUN! She is doing such a great job describing her new life in Germany (Bavaria). She and her husband just finished their science degrees here and moved to Germany. It's a great read filled with fantastic photos.
At the end of it all, I, of course, was wondering - what if I didn't walk then? What if I lifted my knees "higher"??? Maybe I would have a qualifier under my belt. Well, I do know I did my best. It was the best run marathon of all the ones I did, that's for sure.
Now, after surgery, with stricter qualifying times, and a tougher chance for everyone to get a spot, Boston is probably out of the picture. Right now, I say - it is 100% out of the picture. But who knows... maybe in 4 years, I'll be 100% healed.
Honestly, right now, I can't even remotely imagine running a marathon. Forget about running it fast.
So, after surgery, with my new leg and a new life, I decided to go to Boston as soon as I could start walking normally. If I couldn't run it before, heck, I was gonna walk around it now, even if I had to limp. Going to Boston has been a dream of mine for so long (I would purposely avoid visiting that city... As a real nerd, I told myself that the first time I'd go there would be if I were to run it). Now it was time to get it out of my system. So, in December 2010, my hubby and I went to Boston.
We were very lucky to come there with the first snow:
I got to ice skate! Just a little bit:
And then we walked and walked and walked:
Going to Boston was a little victory for me at the time. What better place to test your new leg as a runner, right?
I'm still reeling from reading all the wonderful race reports from Boston. How exciting! Congrats to everyone!!! And those of you who didn't hit your goals - heck, YOU GOT TO GO TO BOSTON! There is so much tradition, so much history, that even if you crawled it backwards, you freaking did it!!!!!
Have a great week!
PS. Check out my best friend's blog. IT IS SO FUN! She is doing such a great job describing her new life in Germany (Bavaria). She and her husband just finished their science degrees here and moved to Germany. It's a great read filled with fantastic photos.
Posts
10 comments:
That had ro be SO hard to come so close and have it slip away. My. Heart goes out to you. I'd be doing that same thing: questioning everything, wondering what if. Wh knows why things happen the way they do?
I'm so glad you went though and enjoyed Boston in all its glory.
Who knows? Crazy things happen. Never rule anything out.
Boston is a great place to visit…even when (or maybe especially if) you get to 'just' wander around :) Glad you were able to enjoy a nice time there. And thanks for directing us to Tatyana's cool blog!
That is so cool you went to Boston - what a great idea!! Such a neat town, I had never been before I ran the marathon but I had more fun walking around the little side streets and looking at the life there. I am so glad you got out there and enjoyed it so much!
A guy I work with missed BQing by 9 seconds a few years ago...and then he tried again and got a stress fracture in his foot and was out for 6 months. Took him awhile but he BQ'd last fall and ran his first Boston last week (on his bday!!) - so never say never, girl!!
Dude, my roomates once ran the last two miles of a marathon with me and cheered me on to go faster. I wanted to sock them in the face!
Thanks for the plug Ulyana, you are the best!!!
You now we have not ran a race in a while together, it would be fun to do it again sometimes :)
Boston is one of the coolest places to visit- regardless of the season! And you captured some great photos!
Your version of Boston is actually more fun and relaxing I think! I will never qualify for Boston, but I could totally go there and ice skate!
That's so cool that you almost got a BQ even WITH walking included!!
Never say never, especially when you're young. I missed a time goal by six seconds in 2007 and tried and tried and tried to get it and I thought I wouldn't, but I did, finally, in Boston last week. It'll happen when the time is right ... you're far from peaking!
I grew up in Massachusetts, so I am biased - Boston Rocks!
Well when I ran Boston I was feeling yucky so I didn't enjoy any of the sights. Going like you did in Dec is a much better option :) plus, you can actually walk around downtown instead of in a huge congestion of runners/families and blocked roads :)
Post a Comment