10 Days to Londons!

15 Days of 39

12 days to London!

The Countdown Is On!

16 Days of 39 left...Woohoo! We leave for London on the 14th and will be there for my 40th. Can't wait!

21 to Finish

We made it over Heartbreak Hill. We now only had 5 miles to go. We turned up Chestnut Hill Ave. and crossed over into Brookline. Our cheering section was to be at Kenmore Square, Mile 25. We knew we just had to get to them and then their energy would push us across the finish line.

Mile 22-My feet hurt.

Mile 23-My feet hurt.

We get to mile 24 and smack! Tee loses a toenail. We stopped at the Red Cross tent so they could bandage her up. What should have taken about a minute and a half took 10 minutes. They mean well, but man, did they take a long time to put on a band aid.
We managed to get going again and pull through Coolidge Corner and Saint Marys. As we crossed over the bridge into Kenmore Square, I saw my friends. Liz, Dave, Mel, Andrew, Yvonne were there with Pom Poms; shouting and cheering us on. It felt wonderful.

On the other side of Kenmore Square were my co-workers. Dan, Erica, Shkeya, Jen, Amy, Matt and Emily. How inspiring it was to see them out supporting us. This would make me get through to the finish line.

As we came up the underpass on Comm. Ave just before the turn, some drunk guy yelled at us to pick up the pace. "Move it!" He yelled. What we yelled back wasn't very nice but the bastard deserved it. As we came around the turn onto Hereford St., there was Kelly. "Run Forest! Run!" She yelled. And we did! Around the corner, onto Boylston and the home stretch. We could see the finish line in the distance.

Tee and I crossed the finish line as we had the start line; together all the way. We made a pact not to ever run another marathon and if we started feeling like we wanted to, we were to call the other person so they could talk us off the edge.

Here I am, one week later, and all I can think is, "when do I get to run the New York Marathon...?"

Miles 14-21

We felt great at the half marathon point. the crowd was still as big as ever and the weather was wonderful. All of a sudden I began to get the chills which led to feeling like I was going to pass out. It kept getting worse and worse. How was I going to finish this course? It last for 4 miles. If it had not been for Tee and her encouragement I would have given up. Seriously, I would have gone to the next first aid tent and quit. It was that bad. She kept me moving by talking about everything but the run. At mile 17 someone gave me a banana and I felt much better. Weird.

Anyway, we came down route 16 and turned onto Commonwealth Ave (route 30). This is the beginning of 3 miles of hills which ends with Heartbreak Hill. I agree with Lance Armstrong who said it was the toughest thing he has had to do. Well, except maybe that cancer thing, right Lance?

My friend Perrin met us right at the beginning of it and gave us bananas and words of encouragement. We managed to get ourselves up and over those hills with the help of the crowd. It was a great feeling coming over Heartbreak Hill and realizing you are in the home stretch.

Mile 12-Wellesley College

At mile 12 we hit Wellesley College. There is a slight incline as you head towards it. I could here this high pitched sound I couldn't quite make out. I looked at Tee and she said, "Oh, just wait until you see it." It turns out that sound was the Wellesley College contingent, likes of which you have never seen. There were hundreds of Wellesley girls screaming out to the runners. Some of them had signs that said things like "Kiss Me" or " I only date runners. They have the best Stamina." It was hilarious and awesome. What a site.

Right after that we hit the 13.1 mark. Half way there. That's where it all went to shit.

The First 10 Miles

We crossed the start line at about 10:45. The weather was lovely and the crowd amazing. I had previously run the Napa Valley marathon. Much of that course was not accessible to spectators which made it a lonely run. Not Boston. Every kilometer of this course was taken up by people all of whom were shouting words of encouragement. It was incredible. We had written our names on our shirts and people were shouting out, "Go Kevin, great job! You can do it!" "Go Tee!" It really makes a difference. Every time you feel like you just can't go on someone calls out your name and it helps you go one step further.

The first 10 miles or so were pretty uneventful. Tee and I just chugged along getting to know each other (like one does on a blind date). I felt strangely confident in my running which made me a bit nervous. Often times my best runs are the ones where I start out feeling like crap and then get into a stride. I hoped I wasn't going to crash early!