First Open Water Swim

This past Saturday, I went to my first open water swim.  PlayTri holds the swims early every Saturday morning at Lake Lewisville, which is a big lake about 30 minutes away from our house.  Since my parents and Piper were visiting for Easter, my father decided to come along to see the lake and take a few pictures for me.  It was a beautiful morning and the water was perfectly calm -- a perfect day for my first time in the lake.

Participants were split into two groups -- beginners and an intermediate/advanced group that focused more on doing a swim workout.  Since it was my first time, I joined the beginner group.  We practiced sighting to the buoy or the shoreline, swimming with a partner and just being more comfortable in the water.  Yes, it was very different from swimming laps in a pool -- you could see NOTHING but brown when you put your face in the water and it was much colder (temps in the upper 60's) -- but I thought I did reasonably well.  I was very comfortable in the water and was probably the strongest swimmer in my group that day.  Some people really seemed to struggle in the open water, but happily I experienced none of that.  I may try moving up to the next group the next time I go to make it more of a workout.

Listening to the pre-swim talk

Trying to stay warm between drills

Partner swim

First open water swim was a success!

2019 Boston Marathon

I've now had a few days to reflect on everything that happened this past Monday.  This year's Boston Marathon was such a vastly different experience than last year's race which was dominated by torrential rains and wind and cold temperatures.  I'd been following the weather forecast closely for days, and while they were initially calling for the chance of rain or thunderstorms, thankfully the forecast changed and those didn't materialize during my run.  In fact, the conditions were near perfect for running -- which led to a new marathon PR!

We didn't have the best night's sleep on Sunday, which I completely expected.  We woke up around 5 on Monday morning to get ready and head down to the Fleet Feet pre-race room at our hotel.  We got there a little after 5:30.  I had a piece of toast as I was already feeling a little hungry, and we took bagels and peanut butter to eat later on the bus.  We started heading to the motorcoach buses around 5:45 and by 6:00 we were off to Hopkinton.  I don't remember much of the ride as I kept dozing off, although the seat wasn't especially conducive to sleeping.  We were one of the first private buses to arrive.  It started raining around the time we got there (before 7:00), but we settled in and rested as much as we could for the day ahead.  Mike and I ate our bagels a few hours before the race start and walked to the Athlete Village briefly.  It wasn't the muddy mess that it was last year, but it was still wet from the rain.  Having the bus to wait on was such a great thing.  Eventually the rain did stop and it remained cloudy and comfortably cool.

I started to get everything ready a little after 9, and around 9:20 I started making my way to the Athlete Village and then on to the starting line.  It's about a 3/4 mile walk from the Village to the start corrals but this year I could take my time and absorb the moment.

I was in the sixth corral of the first wave (I should hopefully be closer to the front next year).  The race started for the non-elite athletes at 10:02 and by 10:04 I was officially crossing the starting line and running the race. 

The first few miles are a little crazy.  It's just a two lane road and you start out running downhill -- so people have trouble controlling their speed.  There are just people everywhere for as far as you can see.  I settled into what felt to be a comfortable pace and began ticking off the miles.  Eventually the road does widen and you can start to spread out a little more -- but it takes a few miles for that to happen.

I felt like I could really look around and take in everything much more this year.  I also felt like there were a lot more people cheering along the course.  Yes, there were spectators last year -- but this year they really turned out.  The course isn't especially beautiful -- you are essentially running through New England towns, but there was plenty of energy from the crowd support.

Feeling strong!

Everyone talks about the four hills of Newton, but this year I really noticed that there are rolling hills all along the course.  Yes, the initial part of the course is a net downhill, but there are still hills even within that.  This year, it felt like Newton was just more in a series of hills along the course.  I don't remember at what point I started noticing how hard my quads were working, but I knew I would be sore the next day (spoiler -- I was and still am a little).

Ready to be done with the hills

I checked my watch occasionally and knew that I was running a good pace but still one that I had been able to comfortably maintain for all my long training runs.  I also changed up my nutrition a little, delaying my first GU until mile 10 and then taking them again after 16 and 22 (in the past I have started at mile 7).  This seemed to work well as my stomach felt great the whole race.

Making it past Heartbreak Hill, I knew the end was getting closer.  I passed a lot of people walking and struggling up the hills and I passed a lot more in the last couple miles heading into Boston.  Finally, I saw the Citgo sign in the distance, and I knew once I reached that there was only a mile to go.

My quads were definitely feeling all those hills in the home stretch, but I knew that I was on target for a decent PR.  I pushed on and finally saw it ahead -- Hereford.  I knew it was just a right on Hereford and left on Boylston and that was it.  I raced up Hereford and made that left turn onto Boylston.  There were people packed all along this part cheering.  I looked around at the cheering crowds and tried to take in every detail.  This had been a well-run race and I was proud of how I ran. 

Turning onto Boylston

In the home stretch

And then I crossed the finish line and saw the message pop up on my watch with my official time -- 2:56:05 -- a PR by over 3 minutes!  I was emotional collecting my medal and heat sheet and drinking water and getting the bag of food.  Finishing a marathon is always an emotional accomplishment, but I trained really well for this one and knew that my body was in the kind of shape to run my best.  And that's exactly what I did!

Crossing the finish line with a new PR

I went back to the room and showered and then headed back to watch Mike cross the finish line a little while later.  It was certainly an emotional experience for him as well.

We celebrated that night with a drink in a bar before we headed back to just relax, put on our Normatec boots, drink some wine and have a delicious calzone dinner from a local pizza place.  It was a long day and we were both tired.

If we still lived in Chicago, I fully believe there was no way I could have trained like I did here in Dallas this winter.  I was blessed with so many wonderful weekends of weather for my long runs that made training a joy.  All that work paid off tenfold on Monday.

I don't even know what else to say... there is nothing like being in Boston and running the Boston Marathon.  To be a part of such a prestigious event steeped in tradition is wonderfully humbling and something runners strive for.  I am honored to have run in twice -- and I can't wait to return again in 2020!

Showing off our medals and sporting our Celebration jackets!

B.A.A. 5K

We flew to Boston Friday afternoon in preparation for the marathon on Monday.  We signed up again this year for the 5K on Saturday morning.  The race starts and ends in Boston Common and is a short walk from our hotel.  The course takes you along the final stretch of the marathon course so you get a nice taste of what to expect on the big day.

Runners self seed for this race, meaning people can line up according to their expected pace.  We made the mistake of lining up too far back last year and had to go around a ton of people as we ran -- walkers and slow runners who clearly shouldn't have lined up where they did.  This year we moved up closer to the front, although I still think we could have gone a little farther.  The initial part of the race is a little bit of a bottleneck as you leave the park area and that did slow me down in the beginning.

The race itself was fine -- it was a typical 5K.  As I ran it I thought about how much I really don't like the distance and why I don't run more of them.  It's so short and you just push hard the entire time.  I have no problem pushing hard, but when your usual running workouts are around an hour or longer, this is over so quickly.  It's funny how much I've grown accustomed to longer endurance events.

There was some on and off rain during the race, nothing terrible but enough to make it a little wet.  I was careful about where I ran.  The roads were pretty good but the last thing I needed was to slip or twist something just before the marathon.

Overall, it ended up being my second fastest 5K.  As is typical for most races, the first mile was my slowest as I tried to maneuver around the crowds of people.  Then my pace picked up from there.

Not a bad result

We got a race shirt, a small medal with the B.A.A. unicorn on it and a nice bag of snacks after the race.  After we both finished, we made our way over to Dunkin for our morning coffee (of course!).  Having done this race the last two years, I don't feel a strong need to do it again next year if we come back to Boston.

Happy to be done!

...And so do we