Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Boston Marathon Weekend Wrap up

Yesterday was the 115th running of the Boston Marathon! I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to fly to Boston last Thursday and spend the weekend with some of my favorite people, bouncing around in and around Boston until flying back to Clemson this morning (and by opportunity, I mean the weeks that I spent hating my life at MGTA this summer provided the funds for my airfare). Although I left Clark for greener pastures, it's still nice to go back and see Kayla Reeves and the rest of the dirty woo that still remains!

As I spent the weekend focused around all things running, it was hard not to imagine myself out there one day. On Marathon Monday as I rode the t (boston subway system for all you non-new-englanders) many people asked me if I had just run, and the more people that asked me, the more I wanted to say yes! I started telling people that running Boston sure is on my bucket list, but when I run it I want to know that I'm training correctly by getting enough sleep and eating well, two thing that aren't always priorities in college. Yesterday and today, I kept telling people that once I finish my undergrad I plan to run Boston. Although logical, I'm not really quite sure where this plan came from. I'm going to go ahead and blame it on the extensive quantities of coffee I consumed combined with the lack of sleep.

Speaking of training smart...that half marathon? I was doing really well, got up to my 8-mile long run, then on a shorter run I had an incident with some pre-run peanut butter cups that lead to my downfall in the form of yuking on the outer parts of Perimeter Road. This weekend, although inspiring, exhausting, and much needed, only allowed for one run, meaning that my training has continued spiraling downward and my long run must occur tomorrow if at all this week. I am going to keep going with my training, but as I haven't officially signed up for Twin Lights (and I missed the t-shirt deadline....) the option to choose a different half is still very much a possibility.


I'm hoping the inspirations from this weekend will be enough to carry me through the next twenty-seven days as I push forward in attempts of completing Twin Lights. The spirit of Boston is contagious and I'm still amazed by the tremendous things that were accomplished in 26.2 miles by runners of all shapes and sizes yesterday. As we did last year, Kayla and I volunteered for the Hall Steps Foundation (Ryan Hall's foundation!) at the expo events, and were actually able to hang out with Ryan for a quick minute! (see above!) The Hall Steps Foundation isn't the only non-profit that runners can choose to support in their running endeavors, there are probably too many charities that were represented yesterday, but I admire each and every runner that dedicates their steps to help others. Yesterday over 27,000 runners raised money for charities, over came personal battles, broke records (impressive records too!) and made a difference during their journey from Hopkinton to Copley Square.

Someday, I can't wait to be one of them.