Run Report: 21-miler on the course

3 weeks before the Boston Marathon, our Run for Research team, along with many other charity teams, hosts a 21-mile training run on the Boston Marathon course. Today was that day, and it was the highlight of the season so far.

We were shuttled out to Hopkinton -- a bus ride that took so incredibly long, you can't help but be aware of the distance that you are about to RUN back. It's a simultaneously thought of, "Damn this bus ride is long!" and "Oh shit." During the bus ride, we had the opportunity to listen to a Mission Moment -- something we do before every long run where we get to hear from a teammate about their connection to liver disease. Today's Mission Moment was delivered by a 10-year survivor of a liver transplant, who happened to be the father of one of our teammates. He told the story of how he went from living his life unaware of any problems, to collapsing at home, to going to the hospital, then falling into a coma, then getting a life-saving liver transplant -- ALL IN FOUR WEEKS. Then his daughter, our teammate Meghan, spoke about how this impacted her and the rest of the family. My retelling of the story won't do it justice, but I will tell you that it made me cry enough that I was actually worried about replenishing my fluids and my salt stores before getting off the bus to run. It really was a moving story, and a good reminder of why we are out there.

We got off the bus, took a group photo, and then we started in dribs and drabs with the other couple hundred runners who were there. Hopkinton Town Green was covered in snow today, a very stark contrast from the last time we were there (Marathon Monday 2012, when the temps reached high 80's.)

Even though this is a dress rehearsal for the marathon, we were warned not to race it. You want to save something for marathon day. Even though dinner the night before, breakfast the morning of, clothing, shoes and fueling is supposed to be the same as what it will be on marathon day, the pacing guidance was to run this as a long run, i.e. slower than what we'll run on marathon day. Fine by me! And run slow I did. Adding in the time I spent at water stops where there were lots of familiar faces (including my mom at mile 15!), I ended up running at a 12:24 pace, a whole minute per mile slower than my goal marathon pace. Do I care? Not really.

I was running low 12:00's until the 15 mile mark. That was a long stop at the water stop with Mommie Dearest, and then right after that came the Newton Hills, a series of 4 hills that end with the infamous Heartbreak Hill (and our finish line. Yay!) I did some walking during the hills, including one walking break that came with free entertainment provided by my teammate Sarah who happened to be doubled over behind a car at the moment I caught up to her. The conversation went a little like this:

Me: Are you ok? How are you feeling?
Sarah: I was feeling good until mile 18. Then my stomach decided it was done running. So I said to my stomach, 'no, you're not done yet, we have 3 more miles to go.' But my stomach was like, 'No, I'm done. I've had enough'. So then we compromised and we're walking. My new mantra in life is "Whatever you do, just don't puke."

The funniest part about that conversation was that it wasn't supposed to be funny. Sarah was recapping the dialogue between her and her stomach as if she was briefing me on a legal deposition. Ahh, the joys of long run delirium. I'm happy to report that Sarah finished, and as far as I know, her mantra worked and there was no puking.

I can relate to the long run delirium because that's how I felt on last year's 21-miler. I remember getting to the mile 19 water stop and just having a crying meltdown (which I now know was caused by improper fueling) but at the time I was just utterly convinced that I was crazy, and weak, and I didn't even want to quit because that would still entail moving to get to a car or an ambulance or finding a person with a cell phone. It's really a hopeless predicament. This year, I got to the mile 19 water stop and felt like a million bucks. Coach Kate was there, and my friend Christine, so it was really nice to see more familiar faces. And only 2 miles left? That's nothing! With a half mile or so left to go, I realized I hadn't yet heard a new song I had put on my ipod the night before, and I really wanted to hear it, so I was skipping tracks wildly trying to find this song. Then I looked up and saw the 21 mile mark and a bunch of my teammates who had recently finished. Instead of feeling elation that I was done, I was a little disappointed because I wasn't ready to stop running yet. But, you know, not that disappointed. I promptly turned my ipod off and hit stop on my watch.

21-miles done! 3 weeks until the marathon!