The Marathon to Boston

That would have been... What if I could... I should have...

That was me 12 months ago.

I have for a long time been intrigued by running a marathon but didn't know if I could pull it off? Plenty of people I know have run marathons. Could I? Should I? I'm a passionate bike rider. Waking up at 7am on Saturday mornings is normal. I love getting out on the road and see the morning sun paint the landscape in a delightful golden tint. It makes me feel free and alive. I love it!

Some of my friends think I'm crazy to ride for hours solo. Exactly what I was thinking about people running marathons. Crazy! Work requires a lot of travel, which means less time in the saddle. As I got more serious with my riding I felt a strong urge to maintain an exercise regimen when traveling.

Solution. Running shoes.

Last spring I was in Toronto and broke in my newly purchased running shoes North Face Boa, endorsed by Dean Karnazes, the Ultramarathonman. This was my fourth time in the city, and I'd never seen anything but the airport, conference rooms and hotel rooms. I assume this sounds familiar to other business travelers? Lake Ontario here we go. Consumed by the beauty of the surroundings I quickly forgot that I was out running. 6 miles later it dawned on me that I had been running for almost an hour and it wasn't a loop. I had to go back.

Once I got back to the hotel I learned two valuable lessons:

1) ALWAYS remember chafing cream

2) I actually enjoy long distance running(!)

Prior to that run I had never run farther than 10K. That day I decided to enter my first Marathon.

Three months later 6am in the morning I have remembered to apply chafing cream, and I am nervously waiting at the starting line of the 2009 San Francisco Marathon. For some perfectly illogical reason I have limited my training to no more than 13 miles.

We're off and I'm struggling to pace myself. The rational part of my brain is telling me to go easy - "you don't know what will happen after 13 miles". The competitive part of me is telling me to "go all in".

At mile 18 I realize that with a really strong finish I could qualify for Boston! I start doing the math, and I would have to do 5:30 per mile splits for the remainder of the race. Impossible.

The last mile felt like a marathon in itself. As I crossed the finish line on Embarcadero St the timer said 3:17:01. It is difficult to describe the feelings that were going through my body. I had blown my goals out of the water!! My legs were killing me. I did it!

After finishing 2 bottles of Muscle Milk I was thinking Boston is only 7 minutes and 1 second away. That night I registered for the Dean Karnazes Silicon Valley Marathon. 2 days after I learned valuable lesson number 3: ice baths.

A few months and hundreds of miles later it was race day again. Better prepared and ready set a new PR. In San Jose I crossed the finish line at 02:57:48 and completed all three goals that I set for myself. New PR, qualify for Boston Marathon and sub 3 hours.

I submitted my application to the B.A.A. as soon as I could and got really excited when I received the email confirming my entry. In the 6 months that followed I ran into fellow running enthusiasts in Chicago, London, Oslo, Stockholm, New York, Miami, Atlanta, LA, San Diego, Montreal, DC, Calgary, Austin and of course in the Bay Area.

I guess you could say I became a runner. You know you're brain washed when you start looking forward to the next issue of Runners World arriving in the mail, or when you see someone else out running and you wish you had laced up too. I even read a book about running. A friend of mine recommended reading Born to Run. I read it and so should you. It's a fascinating and exciting read, even for non-runners!

It's interesting to see what becomes 'normal' as you start identifying with being a runner. Getting up before sunrise. Wearing a headlamp. Not to mention wearing spandex(!) Eating copious amounts of food, using silly terms like "hydrating" and "carbo-loading" etc.

April 12th 2010 I had packed everything I needed for the Boston Marathon. My stuff was all neatly laid out on the floor, and I went over every item to make sure I didn't forget anything. I had even bought 2XUcompression socks for post-race recovery. What I lacked in preparation for my first marathon I had made up for this time around. I didn't want to leave anything to chance. After all, I had worked [out] a year for this.

April 13th I flew from San Francisco to London for business. I had a flight booked back to Boston from Heathrow on the 18th. Not ideal but doable. I had planned everything in detail, even where and what to eat for dinner on the 18th. However, there was one thing I hadn't planned for.

Eyjafjallajökull.

If you haven't heard of it you were either safe and sound in your home town during the third week of April or out running Caballo Blanco in the middle of nowhere. Eyjafjallajökul is an Icelandic volcano with a temper, and it has caused the biggest disruption to commercial flying since 9/11 and left hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded.

Friday April 16th all planes in the UK and most other European countries were grounded. After a few hours of research I discovered that the Irish air space was still open, and I had found a rather creative way of getting to Dublin from London. I made a game time decision. Flying from Heathrow, where I was staying, to Dublin would normally be a one hour flight. With all planes being grounded getting to Dublin meant two trains and a ferry. There was no way a volcano would throw a wrench in my marathon plans. I calculated it would take me 41 hours to get from London to Boston. It was either that or no race at all.

One cab ride, and two train rides (and countless sheep) later I had moved my way west from London through Wales to a small town called Holyhead on the west coast of the UK. Chaos ruled at the ferry dock. Thousands of people were trying to get to the UK from Ireland and vice versa. When I finally made it onboard the Ulysses to Dublin I learned that the Irish Aviation Authority had closed the Irish air space. Just the perfect birthday present! After a few hours of sailing in calm seas and under a sunny sky we ended up in Dublin.

Running marathons teach us a thing or two about not giving up. Stubbornness and stamina. My flight to Boston was leaving the next day. Hopefully. The race was two days away. Upon reading Aer Lingus' website "all flights today are cancelled. This information will be updated as the situation progresses" I still didn't give up. The optimist in me felt a little bit like Lloyd in Dumb and Dumber "so you're telling me there is a chance". It was Saturday night April 17th.

Today it's Tuesday April 20th. Robert Cheruiyot from Kenya set a course record time in Boston 2:05:51 and won $150,000. I've turned 33 and I'm still waiting for a flight back to San Francsico.

Lesson number 4: Sometimes you just have to realize that you need to stop running and just accept the situation you are in - a perfect, yet difficult, exercise for an exercise junkie.

Can I have another Guinness please?