I don't want this to just be another post about Boston, but I really felt strongly about it so I wanted to write down a little bit of my thoughs and how it affected me though I'm having a hard time thinking what to even say so I'll just start at the beginning.
I woke up last Monday with just a little bit of excitment knowing that the Boston Marathon was going on. Even though I was in no way connected to that race, the thought of all those amazing runners getting together just made me smile.
For a split second, the idea popped into my head to try and qualify for Boston this year so I could go with Shannon next year!
I laughed and laughed at such a crazy idea! But when I thought about it seriously, I realized that, like most runners, I really do have a dream to qualify for Boston someday. I decided I would start running faster that day, and that I would do the SoJo Marathon again in October to see if I could redeem myself a little. Shannon's doing it since she got a free race entry along with winning our age group last year so it will be fun to do it with her again.
Ok, so I wanted to start running faster, but I didn't really feel good. I didn't want to go run. But then I thought about all those fast people out there running Boston, and it inspired me to put on some cute running clothes and head to the gym. I knew if I just got there and started running, I would feel better and be able to get a good workout even though I wasn't feeling it at the time. I did intervals on the indoor track which was a lot more fun than the intervals I did last week on the treadmil! I did a mile warm-up, then 8 x 4 laps fast/ 2 laps slow, and another cool down mile to total 5 miles. It was a great workout and I was so happy I went!
After I went home and showered, I started thinking about trying to watch some of the marathon, but I wasn't able to find a website where it was streaming so I gave up. Not long after that, the tweets started coming in about the bombs. I just could not believe it. Who in the world would bomb the Boston Marathon?! I hoped everyone was ok, but soon found out that they were not. I just felt so sad and couldn't imagine how it would be to come in from running 26 miles to that! It's hard to express how I feltt. I heard a couple people say this later, and it helped me realize why I was so hurt. I kind of feel like my running family had been attacked. And I also couldn't stop thinking about how much I love the specators and the volunteers at the races I've done, and that they were the ones who were really hit the hardest.
I know people think it's silly to get so upset about something that happened so far away that didn't even concern me when there are terrible things happening all around the world all the time. But I kind of feel like it did concern me and that it hit way too close to home even though it was on the other side of the country. It's hard to explain.
The next day, word was going around to wear a race shirt to support Boston. I couldn't find either of my marathon shirts,, so I grabbed the next best thing and wore that to Zumba.
On Thursday I ran with my friend Shannon and she helped me do the fastest 4 miles I've done in a looooong time. It was so good to show me that, hey, I really can run faster than I have been running! I just need someone else to push me! It was also just really fun to run with her so I'm hoping to make it more of a regular thing for both of those reasons.
On Wednesday I found out that the Salt Lake Running Company was still looking for volunteers to help out at their aid station for the Sale Lake City Marathon on Saturday and I immediatly sent them an email saying that I wanted to help out. I just felt like I needed to do something to show support for sport I love and the family that had been attacked, and this was the perfect thing for that. Then I decided that I would just run 10 miles home afterwards for my long run so it would be even more perfect! Shannon also found out that day that she and her husband were registered for the half so I was excited to be able to see them there too!
Once we got the water all up there, we set up a lot of cups, half with water, half with poweraid. I heard that there were 1,000 people doing the full marathon and 3,000 doing the half. We kind of didn't think that many people would be stopping at mile 2, but we had to be prepaired if they did.
Looks pretty wet and gloomy, hu?
Like my mis-matched gloves? I was styin' with 3 jackets, a cap, a beanie, a hood and my volunteer t-shirt on top!
Once the runners started getting to us, they came and went very quickly! As you can imagine at mile 2, everyone was still grouped together pretty tightly, and a lot of people did choose to take our water/poweraid. It was so much fun! Totally worth getting up early and getting soaked for. I saw a couple familure faces in the crowd, but I never saw Shannon because there were just so many people and I was really busy grabbing cups and yelling out "Poweraid!"
It was craziness for about half an hour, then we were done, packed up the garbage and said goodbye.
It was still raining hard, and I was having second thoughts about running my 10 miles home because my gloves and socks/shoes were totally soaked and I was cold. But after sitting in the car with the heater on my feet for a few minutes, I decided I still wanted to do it. I knew it would be a fun run, mostly downhill, and that I wouldn't want to run later so I just jumped back out into the pouring rain and started running.
It was a really fun run, and having the rain just made me want to run that much faster to get home to a hot bath that much sooner.
I decided to just run home instead of adding 3 miles on to make it 10 so when I got to the drinking fountain at the track at 5 miles, I just got a drink and didn't take my gel. I kind of wished I had later, though, because my stomach was growling by the time I got home!
This is when I stopped at the highschool track to get a drink and stand under a roof for a few minutes. It was hard to dive back out into the rain, but I only had 2 miles to get home so I did it, and I did it fast!
It was a good run for me! That nice downhill combined with the rain really helped me run faster! While 10:14 min/mile pace isn't super fast, it was a lot faster then I 've been doing, especially on my long runs, so I was excited! :)
I was so wet and glad to be done when I got home. I will do 10 miles next week.
Monday I went and did a 5k Run For Boston at the Salt Lake Running Company with my friend Amber. It was awesome to see how many people showed up. The run was free, but the shirts were $20 and all the money is going to help the victems of the Boston bombing. They raised almost $20,000! Isn't that amazing!?
I couldn't help but cry during the National Anthem before we left. Then I just tried to push the pace as hard as I could. It was really fun to try and run fast and to run with all those people. I felt so great at the beginning, and remember seeing my pace just under 8:00 on my garmin and thinking, "I can keep this up!" Unfortunatly, I couldn't quite keep it up. My pace kept creeping closer and closer to 10:00 by the end, but I kept reminding myself that I did 3 of those miles with Shannon at 9:30 so I could at least do that again! I finished in 28:23 which is a 9:21 average so I was happy with that!
I love the running community here so much! It was so great to see some many people come out to support our brothers and sisters over in Boston and wherever else those who were hurt came from!
Oh, and also, guess who got potty trained this weekend!? (Best baby ever!)
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