boston's run to remember

so i know i am a really bad blogger. and it's getting to the point where i only blog race re-caps. i understand this is probably interesting to a very small percentage of you. apologies. we headed up to bean town on saturday morning and got into the city around 10. we went straight to the world trade center for packet pick-up and the expo. the expo wasn't all that exciting, but i did finally get to meet the awesome christine of  bun&borough. she was awesome! it's funny that we both live in new york but met in boston, but hopefully we'll be able to get some runs in together at some point! after the expo, we headed to tim's sister's house in quincy to spend some time with them. i ended up with purple nails, animal crackers and learned the choreography to a rihanna song. it was an awesome way to spend a saturday afternoon. 

saturday night we took it easy and had a delicious dinner in the fenway area. we went to jerry remy's, which i think is probably the best sports bar ever. we don't have things as cool in new york. or maybe we do, but they are yankees related, which makes them uncool. 

we went to bed early to prep for my first 13.1 on sunday. we made sure to get bagels the night before, and toasted them up with PB and J. i got a blueberry bagel which is my favorite and they are some what hard to come by in ny. bagel w/ pb&j is definitely my go-to race breakfast now. 

after devouring this delicious bag, i body glided it up, put pre-wrap on my knees (i swear by this now and it has really really helped my knee injuries) and headed to the seaport district, where the race started. it wasn't as crowded at all as the NYRR races, which i am not sure i liked more or less. we decided to line up around the 9:30 pace marker. the goal was around a 9:00 minute pace, but we figured we would not get too intimidated if we lined up at the 9:30 mark. we then met up with one of my best friends from childhood who happened to be running the race too. it was such a fantastic coincidence! we caught up at the start line, chatted about which pump up jams were on our ipods, and before we knew it, the race was about to start (but not before we snapped a picture!)

tim, mary and i ran together for about the first mile or so. it was pretty slow going since it was somewhat crowded. my garmin was wonking out and saying we were running 12 minute pace, then 5 minute pace. i think we did the first mile at about 10 minute pace. after that though, we started trucking. tim ended up running the race after a friend had to drop out, and i think that was the best thing that could have happened. he is very fast and was able to pace me the entire race and push me to run faster than i ever had before. he was also my sherpa and carried gatorade for the both of us. he's a catch :) this is the amazing view from the start line. obvs didn't take this one. 

the first 9 miles of the race were honestly awesome. i was feeling good, nothing was hurting, and it wasn't too too hot yet. we went from the seaport district all the way out to harvard and by the time we turned around at about the 6.5 mile mark it was starting to get hot. it wasn't scorching, but the humidity was not pleasant. we cruised until about mile 8 or 9 and then i just started slowing down. by mile 10, my body starting doing things it never had before. i got the CHILLS. i was freezing. it was so weird. i started feeling nauseous and was getting slower and slower. it also sucked because the last three miles were through beacon hill, boston commons and back through the financial district where there were a lot of spectators. i am sure they were all thinking "what is wrong with that girl." oh well. i think we probably ran 10 and 11 at about 9:45 pace. finally, i could see the seaport and i knew we were close to being done. though, the finish line was so poorly marked, i had no idea how long we had to go. i managed up some more energy and started up faster, only to realize the finish line was a bit farther. that SUCKED. but then, it got closer, and we were done!! 

the goal had been around or under 2 hours. we ran it in 2:00:32. i'd say that is pretty close to what we were shooting for. overall, i am just happy i did it, and can still (sort of) walk today. it was great to do it in such a wonderful city and to be around people i love while pushing myself harder than i ever have before. once my quads stop hurting, i'll probably sign up for another one. XO