Boston Bound in 2012

It took me a little extra time to post this, as I have been sidelined with a nasty virus all week that completely wiped me out for four days.  Grand total of miles logged since the marathon last Saturday…0.  Guess I’ll just look at it as a forced recovery and move on.  This also gave me more time to reflect on last weekend’s race before posting this entry.  When I began writing Monday I was focusing more on the negative aspects of my race and what I could have done better to finish with a faster time.  After thinking more about it, I fully grasped the fact that on Saturday I qualified for the Boston Marathon, the most prestigious marathon in the country, and this in itself is reason to celebrate.  Rather than focus on the negative, I thought this space would be better served reflecting on my running the last two years.  I started running a little over two years ago and ran my first marathon in Memphis in December 2008 with a finishing time of 4:29.  Two years and three marathons later I qualified for Boston with a finishing time of 3:07, an improvement of 1 hour and 22 minutes.  Pretty solid. 

When I began running, qualifying for the Boston Marathon was not a goal for me.  Not that I did not want to run the event, but rather because I truly did not think that running a 7:15 or below pace for 26.2 miles was even a remote possibility for me.  I simply made it my goal to keep improving from race to race and with my training.  Fortunately, I have been blessed with health during the last two years, avoiding any real injuries, and my times continued to improve, to the point where qualifying for Boston no longer seemed unreachable, but in fact, quite possible with continued hard work and training.  Each marathon produced a PR for me, with February’s Mercedes Marathon getting close with 3:15.  Finishing the race on Saturday under the qualifying time, with my supportive wife Sally cheering at the finish line, was a great memory for me that I will always treasure.

The race itself was well-organized and I really enjoyed spending Friday/Saturday with Sally in Huntsville for the event.  Staying at the host hotel was convenient and relaxing.  The start and finish lines were right outside the hotel doors, making it easy for Sally to be there for the start and finish, and all events were held within the hotel.  This made for a logistically easy weekend.  The seeding for the race was also a big highlight of this particular marathon.  Whereas most races assign your race number randomly, Rocket City assigned numbers based on projected finish time.  I was assigned #104 at the start, out of ~1,600 participants.  Finished 57^th, so I gained 47 places during the course of the marathon.  This provided a great perspective on race performance, which was a really interesting feature.

I am very grateful to my family and friends for their support, particularly Sally, Luke and Anna.  Sally has been unbelievably supportive of all the training hours along the way, especially the ones that occur while she and the kids are still asleep.  Also, special thanks to Aaron Ainsworth and Daniel Ellis for all the advice on training and racing.  Both of you continue to make running and other endurance pursuits look easy, which continues to leave me amazed.  Also, congratulations to Daniel on winning the Rocket City Marathon.  Good stuff.

Verse:  Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.   -1 Thessalonians 5:28