This year’s race was not my first Boston, so from January to April on every run, I visualized this race.
Every hill sprint I ran in Winston I told myself was training for the Newton hills. I knew what I was in shape to run and I was hungry to get after it! And the weather was perfect. So at mile 16, when I started to feel the race slip away from me, I should have been upset or sad or disappointed (those emotions would all come later!), but at that point I was so tired I just wanted to finish the race so I could stop running. Let me tell you, a 15-minute positive split is NOT the way to run Boston!
But! The Boston Marathon experience is more than just the race. It’s about how the whole city seemingly shuts down to celebrate the marathon for the entire weekend. In a world where it’s unfortunately normalized to put on your AirPods and ignore the people around you, during the Boston Marathon weekend, people from all over the world gather for this shared pursuit and are eager to celebrate each other. From TSA lines at the airport to the walk from Athletes Village to the start line, the whole weekend I met runners were eager to chat, share their running and life stories and cheer each other on. It’s a little glimmer of how good people can be if we actually took the time to get to know each other.
I’m not giving up on my marathon goal by any means (you better believe I’m gonna keep on chasing it). But I’m choosing to remember this race weekend not for my disappointing race time but as a reminder of why the community in this sport is just the best!
