Mike's Marathon Blog

My alarm clock sounded Monday morning at 4:30 a.m. Today I was running the Boston Marathon. It’s a strange feeling being able to say that to yourself. Even after months of knowing and 169 days of training, it still doesn’t really hit you until that day. I got dressed like I do every other Monday, but this Monday was different. I packed my bag and ate breakfast like I’ve done for every long run for the past 5 months, but this wasn’t just a long run. This was THE long run. This was the long run that all the other long runs have been leading up to. As the nerves started spreading throughout my entire body, I was on 93 South heading to Boston. The buses to Hopkinton left at 6:15 sharp.

Jacky dropped me off at the Westin Copley at 6. The entire lobby of the hotel was filled with nervous and excited Miles for Miracles runners with their green Adidas bags. These bags were given to us (and every other Boston runner) with our bib numbers and were the only bags allowed in Hopkinton. I joined my team on the floor and started reading all the Facebook messages and texts on my phone that had been coming in non-stop since the night before. Even at 6 in the morning, people were already reaching out to me to wish me luck. It was amazing and definitely helped calm the nerves.

After a small disaster with the buses, we were on our way to Hopkinton. Apparently our buses got the message: ‘pick up team at Children’s Hospital’ instead of ‘pick up Children’s Hospital team at Westin Copley.’ Somehow they found a few extra buses for us and we were off. The reason for the early arrival is because the roads in Hopkinton close at 7:30. If you aren’t where you need to be before then, you’re walking. And trust me, none of us wanted to walk any further than we needed to.

We arrived at the Masonic Lodge in Hopkinton at 7:15. All runners gather at the Athletes’ Village, which is the town’s Middle School, but luckily for us we get an entire building to ourselves. We have 2 floors to spread out, comfortable chairs to relax in, endless amounts of food and drinks and most importantly, our own private bathrooms. We needed to be ready to go at 9:30, so until then we were on our own. I grabbed my camera and headed to the starting line.

The music was blaring, the fences were up and the crowds had already gathered. This was Hopkinton’s Super Bowl and little did I know, I was one of the players that day! As I walked down the sidewalk towards the center of town, strangers were already wishing me luck. One after the other, ‘good luck today Mike’ and ‘good luck Children’s.’ I felt like 1 of 26,000 celebrities gathered on this narrow, rural road in the middle of nowhere (in case you were wondering, my name was taped on the front of my shirt, so people can cheer you on during the race).

I walked around for awhile, took pictures, spoke with some of the spectators and mainly soaked up all this morning had to offer. I waited awhile to see the elite runners come out, but unfortunately had to head back to the lodge. It was 90 minutes until the gun went off.

Back in the lodge, I started getting ready for the race. I changed into my clothes, Aquaphored the feet, tied my shoes, sprayed on some suntan lotion, had a few pretzels, finished my Gatorade and sent my last text – ‘heading to the starting line.’ That’s when I started getting nervous. All of us gathered upstairs for a few speeches from some of the Miles for Miracles staff and the coaches. We then headed outside for our pre-run stretching ritual. We packed up our bags, put them back on the buses (the staff would take them to Boston for us) and started heading to our assigned corrals.

Your bib number dictates which corral you start in. The corals (in wave 2) start at 15,000 and go 7/10 of a mile down the street to 26,500. The majority of the Miles for Miracles team had numbers in the 23,000, including me. As I was walking down the sidewalk, passing thousands and thousands of runners, I noticed a familiar face – Brian Mandell (Emily’s dad). Brian was the inspiration for me to even apply to run the Boston Marathon for Children’s Hospital and Emily was the ‘miracle’ I was running for. Was it just a coincidence that I happened to see him in a crowd of over 15,o0o people? I don’t think so. We locked eyes and hugged it out. He was a couple corals ahead of me and I told him that I would catch up to him in a few miles.

I finally found my way to coral 23,000. I joined the other Children’s runners for some last minute hugs and high fives. The helicopters were soaring above, the crowd was screaming and the cameras were flashing. As the starting gunshot sounded from down the street, the runners cheered. It would take us over 15 minutes to cross the starting line. After a few minutes, the tense, fidgety standstill turned into a slow walk. The slow walk grew into a slight jog. The starting line was finally in sight. The slight jog converted into a run. I was 50 feet from the start. I took a few deep breaths, started my stopwatch and crossed the starting line. The 114th Boston Marathon had begun.

To be continued………