Boston Marathon with Shannon.

 Good, Bad, Ugly

Well let’s start with the bad, six weeks out from Boston Shannon got back into town after a business trip went for a run that was going ok until about 4mls in when she started to feel pain in her ankle. By the end of her 6mls run the pain had gotten worse. Sunday was to be a 20mls run day but that did not happen even though Shannon wanted to try run a few miles, I had her run on the treadmill for about a minute and shut it down a run was not going to happen. On Monday Shannon made an appointment with Dr. Fields and was lucky enough to get in to see him that morning, diagnosis was bursitis in the ankle. With only five weeks to go until the Marathon things where not looking good. So she was allowed to bike which was good so for the next 3 weeks Shannon was on the bike, some days twice doing up to 2 hour workouts.

The Good, then 16 days out from the marathon she did her first 2 mile jog which went well, the next day we did a 4 mile run starting at 7:40, 7:20, 7:05 and finished with a 6:45, all was well. By this time we had made the decision that if we were to run it was going to be for fun and not race.

The next 14 day went well, with some medium long runs and one 14 miler. We arrived in Boston on Friday, mid-morning, checked into the hotel, had lunch then went to the expo pick up numbers. Then it was out for a light six mile run. Saturday a short run before some walking around and back to the hotel to meet Shannon's parents . Sunday another short run, then to service and then to Fenway park which was my first pro baseball game. Sunday night Lori and Suzanne, Shannon’s friends, invited us over for dinner which was very nice, chicken and rice some good carbs and protein.

            Monday, race day, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly all in one. The Good, the plan was to get to start line about 90 minutes before the start which worked out great thanks to Cristina’s mom who picked us up at the hotel and dropped us at the start line. Were able to sleep in a little longer and had no queuing for buses. By 9am it was already 70 degrees, by 10am start time it was in the upper 70s.

The plan was to just run and have fun in the sun and not worry about time as the temperature was to get into the upper 80s by noon and Shannon was coming off an injury. The first ten miles went great we were having fun but then it started to get ugly for me, by now it was well into the 80s, Shannon was still cruising along and running well within herself. By 13 miles I had enough, I was done all I wanted to do was stop.

            This is where our roles changed instead of me being the one giving the encouragement to Shannon, she was giving it to me. The next 13 miles where Ugly for me, but Shannon stayed with me even though I told her to go ahead. I think she knew if she left me I was stopping. Over the last six miles I had cramps in both calf muscles and by the last mile they had moved up into by hamstrings As we rounded the corner unto Boylston Street I told Shannon to go “ I think I can make it from here”  So we made it to the finish, yes we had fun. What’s next??