Mike's Marathon Blog

Today has been circled on my calendar for quite some time.

The alarm sounded at 5:30 a.m. Yes, I said 5:30 a.m. I did my usual routine, grabbed my bag and I was on my way to Boston College. The temperature in my car was 24 degrees. Now I know you’re thinking ‘hey, you’ve run in much colder weather than that!’ Yes, but after a week of 60’s and even one day of 70, 24 degrees mine as well have been 5 below. Forty-five minutes later, I was walking towards 7 Coach buses waiting outside of Alumni Stadium for over 500 BAA charity runners.

The buses left for Hopkington shortly after 7:30. When you need to get on the Mass Pike and drive for 25 minutes to get to your starting point, you’re probably not just going out for a light jog that day. In fact, just the opposite of a light jog. How about a nice run along the Boston Marathon route from the actual starting line in Hopkington all the way to Brighton? Sound fun?

Ever been in a Porta-Potty at 8 a.m. when it’s 25 degrees out? That’s not even the worst part. Standing in a 30-person line for the Porta-Potty at 8 a.m. when it’s 25 degrees is actually worse than using the actual Porta-Potty. Ever been in a Porta-Potty at an athletic event like a marathon or a triathlon? You’d think bears were just wrestling in there. It’s absolutely disgusting. I’ve been in bathrooms at construction sites and rock concerts that look better than those. You know what’s even more fun than standing in line for the Porta-Potty and actually using it? Opening the door and seeing your entire team starting the run 50 yards away from you. Awesome.

Just what I wanted to do before a long run: sprint down a hill to catch up to my team. And apparently that’s what I had to look forward to for the next few miles……descending hills. It’s funny, we’ve been practicing running up hills for the past 4 months and the first two hours of the race are downhill. The first quarter of the race is through cow-towns and then the second quarter is straight down a busy commercial area. It’s definitely an interesting road to hold one of the most famous races in the world.

For race day, I keep telling myself to just get to mile 13. If I get to mile 13, I’ll be good the rest of the way. I know miles 13 to 22 like the back of my hand. This is the section of the race that most runners fear: the Newton Hills and Heartbreak Hill. The Children’s coaches have us run this section every single weekend to help overcome that fear and familiarize ourselves with every inch of pavement. I am more confident running those hills than any other part of the course. Yes, Heartbreak Hill is absolutely brutal, but I know I can get up it. And once you reach the top, you’re on cruise control to the finish line.

I ran great today. I have been worrying all week about this run. I used this week as a dress rehearsal for the actual week of the marathon. I planned my meals accordingly, tried to get sufficient amount of sleep and basically just tried to get my mind in check. My head was definitely the biggest challenge. Especially when you wake up every morning to clicking in your hip and knees. It’s very difficult to stay focused. It helped running well today. I am ready for Boston. 23 days. I can’t wait!

Oh and in case you wanted to know how far we ran today:

Hopkington

Ashland

Framingham

Natick

Wellesley

Newton

Boston

3 hours, 20 minutes

21 miles