Hi. It's Laura.
I watched the weather forecast for the 10 days leading up to
the Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon.
10 days out, there was a 50% chance of rain (I think this is
a default setting for the weather channel). 5 days out "they"
predicted the high to be 71 and the low 51. What a wonderful prediction. Then
reality sets in.
Lolita and I took Amtrak into the "Boston area" which
turns out to be Newton, MA. It is at least 7 miles from Boston which makes a
huge difference in being in the city then from being in the suburbs. The race was to start at Boston College (BC) in
Newton. Our hotel was in Needham which is another 5 miles from BC. We planned this trip back in March. Neither
one of us had any idea about Boston or the surrounding area. How far away could things be really? Had we
had a car, things may have been different. But we both agreed that driving home
after the race was a bad idea for either one of us. If you are not familiar with Uber car
service, you need to be.
I cannot sing their praises loud enough. We Ubered back and forth and back and forth.
From the hotel to BC, from BC to Needham to dinner to the hotel, you get the
idea.
We arrived in Needham area Friday night. The one and only taxi we took, which was VERY
expensive, dropped us at a brand new Residence Inn in the middle of an
industrial park. I was slightly panicked
that we were so far away until we met another person checking-in who was running
the same race. Turns out there were
quite a few staying in the same hotel which made me feel better about the
choice we made.
Because we were unfamiliar we decided the Friday arrival
would be ideal to get ourselves orientated. We took all of Saturday to explore so
we would not be completely lost on race day.
We start Saturday off with a free breakfast. When they told us it was free we expected
coffee and Danish. Not the caseJ.
They had a full breakfast buffet with make-your-own-waffles station. Seat yourself, clean up after yourself and eat
all you want. I do not like buffet style
eating. I find them pretty disgusting and let's face it, I’m a bit of a food
snob. With free breakfast, without leaving the hotel, hot eggs and being
hungry, I dug in with no problem.
Off to the expo.
Neither Lolita nor I knew that there were other races going on during
the weekend. We knew about the Eukanuba Dog Race but no other people/dog
race. Our timing to the expo was bad. We
arrived just as the bulk of people were either finishing or staring a 5K or a
10K. Apparently there was a hat trick (5K, 10K, 13.1) of races. A runner could
do 1, 2 or all 3 with the 5k and the 10k on the same day. There were all these
sweaty smelly people milling about the expo trying to pick up the bib and shirt
for the next race. Ewww. Good stuff but
too small. With all of the space on the floor of the BC arena they had the
vendors in only half of it which smooshed everyone together. Why? Why not
spread out?
Bib and shirt secured. We set out to enjoy the rest of the
day.
We took and Uber car back to Needham proper to grab some
lunch, mani/pedi and relax. It would
have been an absolutely lovely afternoon but for the heat. We were prepared for a high of 71 not 87
degrees.
We walked around Needham sweating and trying to find shade
for the lack of SPF.
I checked the weather again for Sunday and it was not
looking food for us. 85 degrees is
awesome when you are going to the beach. 85 is not awesome when you are going
to run 13.1 miles in race called Heartbreak Hill. If you are not a runner you may not be
familiar with the rule of thumb of 20 degrees.
Before heading out to run, add 20 degree to the temp outside
and dress for that. If the high is going
to be 86 we need to dress for 106. This is going to suck.
We left for the race start on Sunday morning at 6:30. We were very lucky there were a number of
people running the half, so the hotel arranged for a van to take us all over
(good Expedia and trip -advisor reviews for them). We arrived right at 7 am and
headed straight for the porta potties.
It is inevitable that no matter how many they have there will always be
a line. Some time there is dancing in
line some times its just sheer panic. No matter which it’s just unpleasant.
This is the first road race that I have done that did not
have a number or time finish corral start.
Apparently it was the honor system and you could start wherever you
wanted (I think most people do that anyway). So we pushed our way to the
section that seemed right. We were close
to the front but not too close to the people who would eventually win. There was the national anthem and, once
complete, everyone started moving. What happened to the shot gun, cannon or
other loud starting noise? Oh well, here we go. I thought for sure we would cross the start
line about 1/2 hour after the actual start time but we actually crossed very
close to 7:30. I have heard rumors that
some people who run the NYC marathon don't start for something like four hours
after the actual start time. I don’t
know how true that is but it certainly sounds believable to me for the size of
the race.
Even before we actually started you could feel the heat of
the of the sun beating down. No clouds
no wind and, down Commonwealth Avenue, no shade. According to my Garmin, the temp was only 70
degree with no wind, no shade and, running 13.1 miles, it felt closer to
100. We can sum that up with it was HOT
HOT HOT. By mile one people were already very sweaty and starting to walk.
You can study a course all you want but until you are on it,
you have no idea what it is going to be like.
This one was rolling hills, steep hills, and more rolling then Heartbreak
Hill perfectly situated at the start of mile 12! Why not at mile 5 or 6 or 7 or
2? It’s just mean.
I managed to lose Lolita at mile 1ish. I knew I would find
her at the end and didn't worry about her too much. As far as my race went. I
was good until mile 6/7. We made the
turn to head back up Commonwealth Avenue and I started to have pain in my right
foot. I had to stop twice to make sure I
wasn't blistering. I wasn't. I stopped twice more to rub the numbness out
of my foot. My right foot was so numb,
it was causing actual pain to the point it felt almost broken. The broken toe, BTW,
felt just fine. I did not run heartbreak
hill, I walked it. I just couldn't. I
was hot and hurting and there is no shame in walking in direct sun up hill at
mile 12. Once I cleared the top I ran to the finish line.
The first two half marathons I ran were both flat flat flat,
cold and rainy. Philly half was 23 degrees in November and Long Branch was
pouring rain in May. I finished both of those in just about 2 hours but the
heat of the day on Sunday just killed me. I wound up finishing in 2:44. I never set out with time expectations for
this race, so I am not too disappointed. Ok, maybe a little but I finished and
that is what counts. The heat was just
awful. Did I mention it was hot?
After I crossed the finish line, I grabbed a bottle of
water, finished it and grabbed two more waters and a bottle of Gatorade. I made
my way back to the ending .1 of the race to look for Lolita. She made the turn into the last 800 yards
about 30 minutes later. Since this was her first, I ran across the finish line
with her and handed her a bottle of water at the end.
Finishing 13.1 felt good but the Mercedes Benz Uber car that
took us back to the hotel felt even better.
We showered, we lunched and we headed home.
Tuesday morning, I was back at it. Still sore from the half and still training
for the tri, I headed out for a good bike ride to break up some lactic acid and
swam in the afternoon.
One adventure down, the next one continues and one more
after that one. I would have liked to take another day off but they are not
going to move the date for the tri because I decided to run a half
marathon. This morning was a slow 5
miler. It is such a relief to not have very long runs anymore. 10
mile training runs are not exactly fun, which is why I will never run a full
marathon. 20 mile training runs sound even less fun.
Now I can just focus on triathlon which makes it sound
almost easy. Almost.
Laura
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