Boston Marathon - Lise Ashton
The Boston Marathon is an iconic event involving 30,000 runners that I had the privilege of running on April 15-a Monday public holiday called Patriot’s Day. I arrived Friday night after long flights and welcomed by Destination Marathons- a tour group
On Saturday morning I took the tour group bus trip out to the start at the town of Hopkinton which then followed the marathon route to Boston and to the expo to pick up bibs etc.
This showed us the terrain with a initial downhill then some significant hills with 1 called heartbreak hill
Sunday involved a group 2mile run out to the start and an evening pasta meal
Then the big day arrived
With the tour group we had our own bus out to Hopkinton near the start. As our waves came close we left to catch the yellow school bus to the marshalling area and entered our different corrals. It was beginning to warm up and nearing 11 am I crossed the start line to commence the downhill. Having been warned to not go out too fast with the hype I tried to peg myself back- somewhat.
The 42.2 km route is fully supported with people cheering, having family bbqs and displaying placards. Water and Gatorade is supplied each mile and gels 3x after the 11 mile mark hence the need to carry your own. All went well for the first half with hi5 s etc then the left quad and right knee began to ache with each step
The cheering crowd offer different helpful ingredients including ice- put up my shorts for my quad-helped a bit -snakes,beer,oranges,water hosing and even pickle juice-tried to help my cramping foot!
I even scored some Vaseline for a chafing armpit. I began to suffer nausea too and with the foot cramp I walked small sections
The Citgo sign-1 mile to go.
I gratefully crossed the finish line with a great sense of accomplishment- an hour longer than hoped- and awarded with a medal and wrapped in a silver blanket. A slow walk to a nearby hall and tour group celebrations had begun.
A marvellous challenging experience I recommend to anyone with the opportunity. There are so many events in so many interesting places Go for it. Life is short. It may not always go to plan. It only adds to the challenge
