After a nice pre-marathon steak dinner, we settled in for the night to listen to the wind howl and the rain fall. Fortunately, Julia was able to get us a seat on her club bus to the start, so we had a warm place to sit while waiting to start the marathon. We made a couple short ventures out to check on temperatures, wind, and rain, but it sure was nice to sit on the bus instead of hanging out in the mud-bowl that is known as Athlete's Village. We were in the second wave, and as our start time of 10:30 approached, something else happened. It stopped raining! Cool.
The normal 10-minutes-to-starting-line after the gun went off, and we were off on the downhill start from Hopkinton, heading for Boston. Neither of us were out for any personal records, so we ran together for the whole race. Within the first mile I had my rain jacket and windshirt off, but about 5 miles later the rain started and I put the jacket back on. Rain didn't last long, but the heavy winds allowed me to stay comfortable in the jacket, so I just left it on for the rest of the run.
Wellesley was the normal screaming-young-college-girls event. They put up barricades to protect us, but they all have signs offering kisses along the way, so I had to stop briefly. Ten or twelve times.
At the bottom of Heartbreak Hill we stopped at the Johnnie Kelly statue for a picture, then started up the hill. I was distracted for a few seconds to drink a couple small glasses of beer as Francine went on ahead for a bit. I kept her in sight, then caught her toward the top of the hill. At mile 24, my BS level spiked a bit (that's not "blood sugar" by the way) and the pace got a little faster. Finally, the Citgo sign we had seen for more than a mile was upon us--only one mile to go. The course jogged over a street and we saw the finish line in the distance. As we passed the 26 mile mark, we joined hands for the final stretch, crossing the finish line together. 4:44:47 was our net time.
We drank a little, ate a banana (that was all the food they had left) and headed for the nearest T stop to catch a ride back to Joe and Julia's. When we got off in Brookline, we were both cold and wet and calorie-deprived, so we ducked into the Duncan Donuts at the corner and got some hot chocolate. Instead of walking the half-mile to their house, we grabbed a taxi and figured the $5 would be a cheap price to keep us from shivering all the way there. So, a cold and wet day in Boston, but a nice marathon and a great time with some great friends. Marathon 141 for me, 30 for Francine, and my 50th consecutive month running a marathon.
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