Reposting the Boston Marathon

Thanks to the advice of one of my blog followers (Bill Hancock), early this morning I went through and printed all my old posts. Bill suggested printing a hard copy would help preserve my writing if this blog were to ever float off in to cyberspace never to be found again.

While reviewing the old posts, I realized the number of individual posts from the Boston Marathon. Since I was texting information to be posted back in the office, each of the pieces of information became an individual post.

So, in the interest of easy reading, I have consolidated all the information from that day in to a single blog post, which is presented below. Note that you'll have to visit the March posts to see the pictures referenced in this updated and slightly edited post.

Race Day in Boston!

My goal is to provide regular updates throughout the day (with some help back in Birmingham). The intent is to chronicle the day so you have a chance to read what marathon day is like and I have a better chance of remembering what happened.

5:00 a.m. Internal alarm goes off (30 minutes before the real alarm) so I'm up for the day.

6:15 a.m. Leave our hotel to walk to the "T" (subway) station for a ride to Boston Commons.

6:45 a.m. Arrive in Boston Commons to get in line for a bus (a school bus) ride to Hopkinton.

7:55 am: After an hour long ride on a school bus we arrived in Hopkinton. Now we will search for a spot to sir down and wait for the next couple hours. Other than standing in line for the port-a-john the goal is to sit down.

8:10 am: Staked out a spot to sit and wait. Wind is picking up. Food so far: two bananas, one chocolate chip cookie, bottle of water.

9:15 am: Still sitting and waiting...add a bagel, orange and half a power bar to the list of items consumed so far.

10:05 am: Time to start heading out...dropped gear at shuttle bus...now walking to the starting corrals!

10:25 am: Made it to starting corral...I have already walked 2 miles meaning my total for the day will be over 28 miles. The picture is while waiting in the corral for the second wave start.

10:37 am: Cloudy. Windy. 47 degrees (feels like 41!)

10:43 am: Start!

10:52 am: Mile 1: 9 minutes, 10 seconds.

11:02 am: Mile 2: 9 minutes, 5 seconds.

11:12 am: Finished 3. 3 miles=27 minutes, 45 seconds...ate orange slice....tossed extra shirt.

11:21 am: Completed 4 miles in 37:09. Took 2 sips of Gatorade...passed my friend Gene Wilkes....Heart rate= 147 bpm.

11:31 am: 5 Miles = 46:58. Passed by a running banana. (Update after the race: I never caught back up to the running banana, but I did see his brother "picture taking banana" later in the race.)

11:44 am: 10K=57:58, pace =9:19.

11:52 am: 7 miles: 1:07:12. Ate a power gel, drank water and took a pit stop. The wind is starting to pick up and blow right in our faces.

12:12 pm: 9 miles: 1:25:22. A guy dressed like Pesky's Pole (the right field foul pole at Fenway Park) is now behind me.

12:17 pm: 10 miles: 1:34:44

12:22 pm: Greg Sankey (does not) Wins The Boston Marathon! This guy did win: Merga's official time is 2:08:42. He ran 26.2 miles in the time it took me to cover just over half that distance.

12:30 pm: Elvis is alive and singing from the back of a pick-up at Natick Center! 11 miles: 1:44:04.

12:45 pm: One of the experiences along the marathon path is at Wellesley College, which is just prior to the halfway point of the race. The students of Wellesley (known as the Women of Wellesely) line up along the race course and make an incredible amount of noise, which is actually called the "Wall of Noise." The pictures give you some idea of what it all looks like. As you near the Wellesley campus you can actually hear the noise about a half mile before you actually make it to all the students. The signs in the pictures indicate one of the traditions is to kiss a Wellesley student along the way. As a trivia note, the current U.S. Secretary of State is a Wellesley graduate, class of 1969. Time at the half marathon point: 2:04:57. Per mile pace is 9:31.

1:19 pm: Mile 16, forgot to check time! Things are starting to ache, so I have plugged in to my iPod for some motivation. I ate a power gel at mile 14.5. I will be back with an update at mile 20.

2:12 pm: Mile 21. 3:28. Just reached the top of "Heartbreak Hill" and now running through Boston College. One of the things I do along the way is give "high fives" to kids (and others) along the way. Back at Wellesley College you can run down the line of students and high five everyone as you run. At Boston College, I was high fiving the students and they about tore my arm off. Clearly, they must have a good weight training program for the BC students.

2:42 pm: Mile 24 in four hours flat. I can see Citgo sign outside Fenway. The crowds are loud and I am struggling.

2:54 pm: Just passed mile 25 with a time of 4 hours, 11 minutes.

3:08 pm: Finished! 4:25:27. Pace 10:07.

4:45 pm: The finish line is on Boylston Street in downtown Boston. Last year, as I turned on to Boylston the band started playing "Sweet Home Alabama" as if on cue just for me (since I live in Birmingham, Alabama). This year, the "Sweet Home Alabama" tune was playing, but the band was actually playing a new song (I've been told its called "All Summer") from Kid Rock that uses the Lynyrd Skynyrd tune. It was good to be done. I battled nausea from mile 19 on and it did not go away, even after the finish. The reward (actually, just part of the reward) for finishing the Boston Marathon (and for every marathon I've run) is receiving the finisher's medal. I crossed the finish line, picked up a heat blanket (just like the blankets in pictures from this morning) and headed to have the timing chip removed from my shoe and receive my medal. Once the medal was around my neck, I remembered I was freezing. It was so cold and windy that I headed straight to pick up my gear from the shuttle bus. I struggled to put on my sweats and jackets, as my balance is not so great after running 26.2 miles. As much fun as it might be to hang around the finish line, I was cold and tired. My sole focus was finding a warm "T" (subway) station that would take me back to my hotel. At the T station, I bought a Pepsi, which finally helped relieve the nausea during the ride back to North Station, which was near my hotel. The final challenge of the day is attempting to stand up after sitting on the subway, and then walking half a mile back to the hotel. I made it, and immediately laid down on the bed...not moving for about an hour.

9:30 pm: Let me first acknowledge some people with "shout outs" for their help or support today. If you have not taken the time you should read down through the blog of my day experiencing the Boston Marathon as runner #24772. After 6:15 in the morning (Eastern time) none of the posts would have happened without the help of Marianne Clancy who works with me in the SEC office. It's not easy to run and type. It's likely even more difficult to read and properly interpret what someone else is typing while they run. She did that well, so many thanks to her. Second, I learned during the day that my colleague Joe D'Antonio (Joey D.) of the Big East Conference was updating the NCAA Division I Legislative Council on my progress. Thanks to Joey D. for the "plugs," for my fellow Council members for putting up with the updates, and for Gil Grimes of the SEC for capably representing the Conference (in my place) at this meeting. Third, the people of Boston and its suburbs are phenomenal! The volunteers, fans, supporters, college students and just the people you meet on the street were great all day. As I walked to my hotel after the race, every person offered congratulations to me--men and women, young and old, different ethnicities all said "congratulations." As for the race, I'll be honest that my goal was a time between 4:10 and 4:15. I ran in 4 hours, 25 minutes, almost the exact time from last year. Now, I have to believe that typing blog entries while one runs costs at least ten minutes of time...so maybe I did meet my goal after all. At about mile 19 I encountered nausea that dogged (and slowed) me for the last seven miles. It has never happened to me before (in 28 previous marathons), but it happened today. I'm not sure why, although I have an idea...but I hope it does not happen again. By the way, an earlier post indicated Elvis was singing on a pickup in Natick Center. I was wrong, I passed Elvis at mile 17. Apparently, Elvis had left the pickup truck. No picture was taken as he was dressed in a way too tight white jumpsuit. It was cold today. 46 degrees at the finish, with a howling wind out of the east. It was in our face the entire way. After finishing, I was freezing cold. A very hot shower helped thaw me. The shower is actually one of the tests of a successful marathon. Any chafing, burns, scrapes or blisters are revealed by hot water. The good news is I had no new pain in the shower. The final "shout out" goes to Cathy (my wife of 20+ years), and our daughters, Hannah and Moriah, for letting me live this adventure. They are also letting me live a new adventure in 12 days at the Whiskey Row Marathon in Prescott, Arizona, which will be the May marathon on my "marathon a month" quest. Thanks for reading!