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.
Well, as fate would have it, on the Tuesday afterwards
the Boston Marathon announced that it lowered the
qualifying time to 3:30,
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.
