Hi Everybody! It’s Caroline, Elizabeth’s favorite friend from home! I am writing this from bed where I have been laying motionlessly for the past 36 hours because this Monday I FINISHED THE BOSTON MARATHON AHHH! I sometimes still can’t believe I was able to do it, but any doubts I have disappear instantly when I try to stand up or walk somewhere, which usually results in some moaning and then crawling back into bed for a quick pre-walking-somewhere rest. But let me start with how this first began.
The Boston marathon goes right past BC’s campus, right at the end of Heartbreak Hill, named so for the rolling hills of Newton that painfully make an appearance at Miles 19-21 of the course. Luckily just over the last hill, the entirety of the student body is out there screaming and cheering wildly after 5+ hours of day drinking. While it’s definitely fun to be in the crowd cheering people on, as I found out freshman year, I couldn’t stop thinking that passing BC after running for 3 ½ hours and seeing all of your friends and family must be an INCREDIBLE experience.
So, this year my roommate Alex and I insanely decided to spend all winter running for hours in negative temperatures, alongside snowdrifts that were taller than we were, and over icy patches that made me want to scream with frustration. I didn’t follow the training schedule exactly- I tried to do the best I could working out during the week, but if I felt myself starting to get overwhelmed or too tired or sick, I just let myself sleep. But I made sure to always do the long runs on the weekends that ranged from about 8 to 21 miles. Building up wasn’t terrible, but going for my first run that lasted longer than “Titanic” was hard to swallow and when we realized that we called 10 miles a “nice easy run,” we started to wonder why on Earth we decided to do this But it was OK because we love eating most and this gave us an excuse to eat an entire quart of Edy’s chocolate ice cream in ten minutes after dinner and not feel guilty. We had a wall of motivational posters one of which was a quote from Alex- “Marathons only exist to fill the time between eating.” That pretty much sums up our marathon experience.
These are our marathon faces.
On the day of the race, we were nervous, but excited to do something we’d been working towards for a long time. The start was exciting and it was hard to believe we were actually running in the Boston Marathon. Even though it got boring after awhile, there were often interesting things to look at, whether it was a group of people sitting on an replica of the Eifel Tower in Hopkinton or a guy dressed as a giant solo cup in Brookline or a furniture store with 40 trampolines out front and a live band. But the best part by far was passing BC. Passing the halfway mark was terrible, but once I started recognizing familiar landmarks of my regular running route I knew I was almost there and that BC was quickly approaching. And so came Heartbreak Hill! I actually was relieved to go up it because my knee had starting hurting around mile 8 and so it actually ended up being the downhill parts that were killer. Luckily my dad saw me just towards the top of the last hill which was fortunate because I passed the street where my dorm (and my bed, my food, my sweatpants) is located and it was tempting to just hang a right and get all cozy back in bed. But I made it to Mile 21, located right at BC’s main gate. Seeing all of my friends holding signs and cheering wildly was SUCH an incredible experience. After 3 ½ hours and 21 miles all I could think about was stopping, but now I was completely cheered up. Some of my friends ran with me for a little while screaming about how great I was and pointing (embarrassingly) at me and screaming to the crowd “CHEER FOR HERRR!” which they did. I couldn’t stop smiling and laughing the entire time I was passing BC and it was by far one of my best experiences at school.
But then came the last 5 miles. Up until this point I had just pretended they didn’t exist because the most we had ever run was 21, to BC, and thinking about doing any more than that seemed insane. But really, it’s just five miles! After 21 that’s nothing! That was my mentality before the race, but my mentality after passing BC became just “Stop.” Everything hurt so much and when I looked up I could see the Prudential Center, where I knew the race ended and it did not look close. Because I was so tired I started running a lot slower so it felt like the finish line was getting further and further away. But at last we took a turn and then another and I saw the finish line. I wish I could say I enjoyed that moment and soaked in the experience but really I just starred at it and mentally screamed “YESS THE STOPPING PLACE!!!” I barely remember crossing the finish line, and before I knew it someone had wrapped me up in one of those foily blankets that you see marathon winners wearing after they cross the line, like a runner burrito. Then I really felt like a marathon runner and as I hobbled to the nearest T at a record crawl (Really, there are like 100 people holding wheelchairs just across the finish line and they kept asking if I needed one, and to prove that I was fineee reallyyy, I tried to joke with one of them, but their look of confusion and alarm showed me I really should just focus on walking at snail speed to the Arlington T stop).
Now that I’ve recovered for a few days, eaten a lot of things, and caught up on TV, I must say, it was a pretty amazing experience. If you had asked me yesterday, I would’ve said that people who do this more than once are freaking psychos. And maybe we are! But there’s something to be said about doing something that only .13% of all people will ever do. And then promising yourself that you’ll never have to do it again.