My Boston Experience

Here's the article I wrote for the company newsletter

The Super Bowl of Running…

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to play quarterback in the Super Bowl? On April 21, 2008 I had my chance to do something similar by running in the 112th installment of The Boston Marathon.

For those of you unfamiliar with the race, or a marathon in general, the Boston Marathon is a 26.2 mile road race starting in Hopkinton, Massachusetts finishing in downtown Boston. It’s been called the Super Bowl of running largely because it is the oldest continual marathon in the world as well as it is the only non-Olympic race which requires a qualifying time to gain entry. Fortunately they also have a small allotment of charity “invitational” runners, or about 2-3% of the 25,000 person field. Because my fastest of the previous eleven marathons I’d done wouldn’t have even come close to a qualifying time, I was fortunate enough to have been selected by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute’s Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) as one of their fundraisers.

The process for entering the race actually started in September when I applied for entry with the DFMC. Their application consisted of many questions which surprisingly had less to do with running and more about why you wanted to run for them. After filling it out, I waited for several weeks before I was told I had been put on their waiting list. Finally, in mid-November (at about 5am as I recall) I received notification I had been accepted by DFMC!! I immediately put together a training program as well as a plan of attack to achieve the $5,500 in fundraising I had promised them. I also tried to find a time to visit Boston and Dana-Farber.

During the course of the months from November until the actual marathon, I learned quite a bit more about DFMC and was able to attend two team meetings in Boston. I was amazed at how passionate everyone was about the charity and absolutely blown away by the support we were given. Our coach, Jack Fultz, was a former winner of the race and was extremely interested in each and every one of us and our attempt to accomplish running, walking or crawling twenty-six point two miles! Simply, he and the entire staff and team were remarkable! They made me feel like part of their family and were very open about their fundraising, training. In fact, many of them invited me to come for a weekend and train with the group. It made training much easier knowing I had a new group of friends putting themselves through the marathon training process just like me.

After countless miles of training and travel, it was finally race weekend. 25,000 of the fittest, fastest marathoners on the planet (and me) converged on Boston. The weekend started with a visit to the race expo where we picked up our race number and visited the 600 or so different vendors who were peddling their running, nutrition and race items. Sunday was the 2008 U.S. women’s marathon trials won by Deena Kastor. Watching 160 women run 26.2 miles at sub 3 hour pace (or about 7 minute or less pace per mile) was amazing. Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic Champion, ran her final race and set an American record for anyone over 50 by running a sub 2 hour and 50 minute race. The crowd was lined up many deep to see it all and the energy was similar to any big sporting event you’ve seen (Daytona 500, Indy 500, Super Bowl, NCAA Final Four, etc…).

Finally it was race day. It started with a bus ride from downtown Boston to Hopkinton where I chatted for a few hours with complete strangers about running and the race. When we arrived at the start line, I was sent to the DFMC staging area which was a church used exclusively by us. There I saw many familiar faces and was treated to a spread of bagels and other pre-marathon treats as well as any medical items (aspirin, Vaseline, band-aids, etc..) you could imagine. At 10:15 we went to the start line. What started as a dreary, overcast day turned into a gorgeous 60 or so degree morning with the sun popping out of the clouds. The buzz was amazing with the second wave of about 12,000 runners getting the command at 10:30am to “GO.” I realized very early I had overdressed just a little and the sun was a little warmer than I had anticipated. I pushed on and marveled at how awesome it was to see the runners both in front and behind me in a mass running up and down the rolling hills of the first five or so miles in a collective push to the finish line. The crowds were simply amazing. I saw people from start to finish cheering “Go Dana-Fahbah” and “Go Troy” surprisingly exactly when I needed it.

Unfortunately my day which started as a little overdressed turned to a clunker of a running day around the 10 kilometer mark (6.2 miles). I started feeling generally lousy and while my plan was to run the first 14 -16 miles before I took a walking break, I found myself walking by the 7th mile marker. I couldn’t get comfortable running but was still pushed on by the countless fans cheering us to the finish. By mile twelve I was miserable but was greeted by the girls of Wellesley College in their famed “Scream Tunnel.” The Wellesley girls, probably 200 or so of them, all had signs, cowbells and were yelling like crazy for all of us to go! It was really funny to see the signs saying “kiss me, I’m single” Had I been having a better day, I may have just stopped for an hour or so there but I knew I needed to keep going. By mile 17 I entered the town of Newton and the famed Newton Hills. This is where my hamstrings were so tight I didn’t know if I could even get up the second of the four hills but somehow I managed to get through it. By the fourth hill, the famed “Heartbreak Hill” my body was somehow recovering a little and while my pace was very tortoise-like, I was still moving forward with some semblance of a running stride. Mile 21 was the trip through Boston College where the fans were still out in great numbers cheering us on. The cheers for both me and DFMC were about every 100 yards and it made me forget about every muscle in my legs being on fire! Finally, in just about six hours I made the final turn on Boylston Street. I stopped and took a moment thinking about everyone who supported me and realizing my dream of crossing the finish line of the Boston Marathon had finally come true. It was definitely one of the coolest moments in my life seeing the people on both sides of the street cheering for seemingly just me as I limped to the finish line. I took in absolutely all of it and I think I heard every person as they cheered. As I crossed the finish line, my legs finally cramped up enough so I almost fell, something which has never happened to me in any of the 100+ races I’ve done but something which seemed pretty fitting due to the day I had just had. Despite the physical feeling, I had probably the largest smile I’ve ever had on my face. I had just COMPLETED the Boston Marathon!! I had also raised well over $7,000 for innovative cancer research through Dana-Farber. Never have I felt so fulfilled!

Thanks to all of you who supported me with your contributions, thoughts and well wishes. All of you helped me and were with me to complete this journey and I can’t thank you enough!