Boston Marathon 2008

By Tom Storey

We (my wife Carol and I) had a wonderful experience in Boston this past weekend--I will never forget my first Boston Marathon experience!!  I rediscovered, after many years away, that Boston has great character, a rich history and a very proud population.  

The marathon expo was very organized and well attended--it was packed, in fact.

She's so lucky

Judy Creedon traveled with us on Saturday morning and we had a great time on the ride, at the expo and then at lunch.  About an hour after we parted to go to our respective hotels, Judy called me and said in a smooth tempered voice   "Tom, I'm trying to be very calm about all this" ..  but I think I threw my race packet out accidentally and I'm trying to call BAA to see if there is any recourse.  Since I was just upstairs from the expo and organizers and, knowing that Judy would not get through to them by phone, I volunteered to go down and try to find an answer for her.  Armed only with her bib number and the truth of the situation, I went immediately downstairs to investigate.  The first information booth I found, I went up to and said "you're not going to believe this but my friend threw away her race packet accidentally, is there any recourse?"  to which they responded with " ... uhhhh No but go to the control center down the hall in room 109 to get the official answer..." so down the hall I went and met up with Steve, a kind and friendly official.  I repeated my story and Steve replied and said " this is the most devastating thing which can happen to a runner here because there is nothing we can do ... I believe you but there is no recourse because if we gave you another number, we would effectively be allowing another runner on the course .. but, just in case, what is your friend’s bib number?  I can go check and see if someone has turned it in but in all my time as an official, I've never seen it happen."  After a minute, Steve came back to me and said " What was that bib number again?"  he walked away and then came back in another moment and showed me Judy's race packet that someone turned in!!!  Steve still could not give me the packet without ID, which was perfectly fine with me.  It only took me about 15 minutes after Judy called me to track down her packet .. I was as relieved as she was to have found it .. what a sigh of relief I let out.  

My wife almost kicked me when I called Judy and  started my straight man act.  "Judy,  I have good news and I have bad news" .. "Oh NO!!!", she said  .. "The bad news is that you cannot run officially without your number.  The good news is (pause .. I'm so bad) that I'm looking at your number right now ... come and get it!!!! YAY!!"  Therefore, Judy Creedon was officially the luckiest person in Boston that day.

Race Day

After a very restful sleep (which is becoming the trend for me) the night before, I walked up to Boston Commons to get the shuttle to the start and then hooked up with Matt Adams and another friend of mine where we got on the school bus at about 6:40 for, what seemed like, the longest school bus ride of my life.  Apparently the normal route to the start was closed off by police so we had to circle in by another route to Hopkinton and it took us a full hour to go the 26 miles.  Even so, it seemed to me like we were traveling at an excessive speed considering that we were passing many of the cars around us.  A fun ride, it just seemed a bit surreal.

The runner's village was well organized with plenty of everything available to the runners.  We made our way to the least crowded part of the event, which happened to be the longest way away from where we were left off by the bus.  I stayed off my feet as much as possible letting my mind wander and watching the very dense, low, cloud cover.  The event commentator went on about this and that  saying "blah blah blah COFFEE blah blah blah" at which point my (our) ears perked up .. I got up and had a delicious cup of hot coffee about an hour before the race.  

The procession to the start was relaxed and orderly.  Then the sun came out and stayed out (I forget the exact timing but it seems like the sun came out strong just as we were lined up to start) making it warm in the sun and cool in the shade.  

After the gun went off, it took five minutes to reach the starting line which seemed a very long time to me but I was quite relaxed during all of this and I had no real intention of setting a personal record time.  My race plan was to start off at my projected, albeit very optimistic, average pace of 7:30/mi.  Though this pace is quick for me, it was not unreasonable for me to run this on the long downhill in the first half of Boston.  I felt quite relaxed and held this pace until the rolling mid section of the course when my effort was sustained but my pace slowed due to the terrain.  I was still very happy about being in Boston and comfortable with my performance;  I was trying to focus on the fans, the other runners, and my feeling of being in my very first Boston Marathon.  The Boston fans were great!  I always write my name on my singlet because it is always encouraging for me to hear my named called out, screamed out at times, on the course.  The fans grew in number and intensity the closer we got to the finish line however their dedication remained constant.  The most energetic group was just around the halfway mark at Wellesley!!!! While I didn't hear any words articulated, I certainly heard a lot--what a scream--literally.  There was a sign right beforehand reading "Brace your ears."  Running mostly along the side of the course, as I was, I was able to engage countless individual cheering sections.  From the picnicking families all yelling  "Go Tom Go Tom Go Tom" from the moment they put me in focus until just after I passed by.  On and on it went, the constant pull and push from one cheering zone to the next with increasing intensity all the way through the finish.  The Fraternity cheering zones were a lot of fun as the guys would chant my name in a loud bass rhythmic chant "TOM TOM TOM TOM" I had to laugh out loud.  All the time I'm running strong and never had a moment of panic about my ability to finish at my current pace which seemed to be well within my means.  Heartbreak hill wasn't a heartbreak.  In fact, it wasn't much of a hill at all but just came at a very bad place in the race around mile 21.  Any incline towards the end of a marathon seems like a hill.  It was an incline for sure but just didn't compare to the hills in Dutchess or Ulster.  The last five miles were solid miles for me but everything became a little more blurry to me.  The noise, fatigue and the impact the sun had on race conditions all took their toll--it was a good thing I stayed nourished and hydrated during the entire race.  The home stretch and finish line were grand in scale.  I finished strong but did not sprint and, as I can always say for sure at this point, I was really relieved to walk once I crossed the finish line.

My wife happened to spot me in a sea of silver blanket wrapped people just after the end and was able to follow my progress through the final assembly line--what luck!!

What a great race I had indeed!!!  I will never forget my first Boston and I'm already excited about the hope of training for a personal record in Chicago this year so I can move up in the start for next year's Boston which, by the way, I qualified for again with my performance this year.

On a side note.  I heard many people comparing the NYC Marathon with the Boston Marathon and, depending on where they were from, the "better race" seemed obvious to them.  From my point of view, they are both equally great races for different reasons.  They are both well organized and executed.  Boston is a highly coveted race to run in because you have to qualify to get in making it one of two marathons in the country for which this must be done (the other being the US Olympic Trials.)   One difference is very clear to me, however, and I don't say this because I live in New York but rather from purely objective view:  The fans along the Boston Marathon course are just as dedicated to the racers as the New York fans are--it's just that the New York City Marathon runs entirely in New York City and there are a lot more fans.  There were millions more fans along the New York course than there were along the Boston course.  So if you really want a great time in your first marathon, write your name on your shirt and go run the NYC Marathon along the side of the course:  It is awesome.