Beautiful weather, full night of sleep, and just a few follow up coughing fits leftover from the flu. What more could one need when trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon for the third time?
W was up and out the door for the 8am start, while I tried to wrestle a still-not-quite 100% C out the door. The course ran right by our hotel but we missed W by about 30 seconds. Luckily I saw the warm-up jacket he had tossed onto the hotel grass, picked it up and started the dash across the island. It took some creativity to dash with C in the Bob across the road, still full of many runners, and start the 1.2 mile dash to King Street. We made it just as the pace car and lead runners came through. Less than 10 minutes later, there was W...looking great! C and I then ran against traffic down King, cheering on the runners, getting some calls of 'you are going the wrong way' and 'go momma.' We enjoyed cheering encouragement and getting some whoop, whoops for the great weather. A quick trip into Harris Teeter and we were restocked with breakfast, candy, supplies and signage gear. Round trip back to the hotel for a total of 4 miles to start.
Then we hopped into the car and drove up the highway to the finish line. C and I then sprinted around the course, cheering W and our MRC friend, Josh Cox, as they ran by miles 20 & 22. Everything looked good though W seemed to be having a tough go. Interesting note - one volunteer who I saw three times reported that the course was measuring long. C and I stopped our run at one intersection to give out LifeSavers and high fives....so much fun! I highly recommend it.
I stood at mile 25.8 waiting to see our guy. And waited...and worried...and waited some more. Then I ran back to mile 25 to see if he was coming. I waited too long. When I finally saw him, I said 'dig deep babe' and kept up with him as he did, then he rounded the corner and the stroller was just too much. I was hoping as he rounded the finish, but I saw in his eyes that today was not his day. Was it the flu that hit last week? Was it too warm? Had he cracked? After he had his picture taken and collected his medal, he walked up to me and said, "26.67? Seriously? I kept waiting for the finish and it never came." W finished at 26:14, a personal record but 1 minute and 14 seconds outside of a BQ. He missed his goal by less than 75 seconds.
I held back my emotions and bit my tongue. Runners are always lamenting the difference between their finish distances and the course actuals. GPS watches are notoriously incorrect as Runners' World has repeatedly reported. But as we walked, and waited for our friend, many folks around us were murmuring the same type of disbelief. W recovered quickly (and honestly, he looked the best of the finish of any of his three races) and we slowly walked over to cheer for Josh as he completed a PR finish.
Back to the car and then to the hotel. It was a quiet ride, followed by a quiet lunch of leftover pizza. C was bouncing off the walls at this point and still barely eating. I crawled into his little couch bed with him while still in my running clothes. Then came a first, he clutched my hand and fell asleep. We have kept C out of our bed deliberately since he was a baby and couldn't get him to sleep with us if we wanted to. But today, he did. Everyone napped for about an hour, then we set out in the Courtyard van for some sustenance. Molly Darcy's was the recommendation for a good pub. We relaxed and taught C how to play foosball, then caught up with Josh. Some good gelato and we all hit the hay. Tomorrow would come quickly with a 4 year old in the room. It was time for sleep. Decisions would come later.
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