On June 22, 2002, I ran Grandma's Marathon for Shannon's birthday. I met most of my goals: to finish, run negative splits with the second half faster than the first, run under 3:30 hours (I ran 3:26:48 for 851st place), and to be able to play the gig I booked in Duluth for the night (legs were stiff, hands were fine). The only goal
I missed was qualifying for Boston, for which I missed the qualifying time of 2:25 by less than 2 minutes.
so I qualified! I wondered who called them.
I decided to train for and run the April 21, 2003
marathon, because I might not ever qualify again.
I tried to handicap the race by falling while climbing and hiking the week before in Arizona, leaving a bruise the size of a football on my right hip. I was able to loosen it up in the week before the race, but it still looked pretty impressive. I was hoping to get an award for fastest abuse victim, but they did not have that category.
Since it was my first Boston Marathon, I took it easy, running a 3:53, and having a great time. A lot of people recognized the Wellstone shirt I was wearing, especially at Wellesley College, and cheered me on. It was hot and hilly, but Heart Break Hill was way oversold. I think it is not the hill, but all the up and down in the miles before it.
I still had some steam and was able to run up it. I then was able to pick it up for a couple miles, but had to slow down for the last three miles. I was about 27 minutes slower than Grandma's, but I finished healthy and was walking fine the next day.
