[Oe List ...] My report on running the Boston Marathon

[Judi White]

Amazing!!

On Wed, Apr 18, 2018, 10:20 AM Herman Greene via OE <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
wrote:

>
> *Background: The race was on April 16. The temperature was in the 30s at
> the beginning and in the mid-40s at the end. Rain was constant and
> sometimes came down in sheets. Wind was in our face at 10-20 mph with gusts
> to 32 mph. This marathon, as all others, was 26.2 miles long. The Boston
> Marathon has been run since 1897. It's the granddaddy and the most
> prestigious of all. It's a metro-wide festival. The run is from Hopkinton,
> MA, to Copley Square in Boston. 2800 racers sought medical help. 59 were
> taken to the hospital, mostly from hypothermia. Thirty-two thousand were
> registered for the race. Seven thousand failed to finish or didn't run. I
> was toward the end of the finishers as explained below.*
>
>
> *The Report:*
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> * Every race you learn something. The conditions I ran in were totally
> new. Not only was the weather bad during the race, but because the ground
> was soaking in the "athlete's village" I had to stand for over an hour
> before the race and then walk a kilometer to the starting line. This was my
> 21st marathon. I'm very satisfied with my race, but it was my second
> slowest ever, about 5:48. My slowest was when I tore a muscle and walked
> the last 12 miles. My time then was  6:15. I could say I'm just getting
> old, but I ran a 4:30 marathon in November 2017, so I don't think I've
> declined that much.Much of my slowness this time came from having something
> happen to my left groin at mile 7. I had to shorten my stride from there
> on. From mile 7 on I ran about 13 minute miles most of the way but even
> slower toward the end. I didn't walk!. So my achievement was putting one
> foot in front of the other and staying with it.The weather was a huge
> factor. The wind and rain drop body temperature and I read that  with
> hypothermia comes shortened breath. I never felt I could breath well and
> that makes all the difference. I didn't have serious hypothermia because
> fortunately I did decide to wear a gore-tex type suit, but the weather was
> still a factor.The injury came out of nowhere. I didn't take a wrong step
> or anything and I have never had an injury in my left groin. I thought it
> might have been a groin pull but I think it must have been a spasm of some
> kind, possibly with some tendon strain. At the expo, a person handed out a
> homeopathic cream for cramps as well as homeopathic pills for cramps. I
> think they saved my day. Without that medication I would have had to walk
> and walking beginning at 7 miles which would really have been bad.  I'm
> changing my mind about the tapering. I think the most important training
> ends about three weeks out and that one should taper more than I did the
> last two weeks. I was pushing because an injury kept me from running in
> weeks 5 and 4 before the race. Tens of thousands of people run marathons
> each year. They are all heroes in a way. Training for a marathon is hard
> and running one is hard . . . and you never know what might be coming at
> you in a race in terms of weather or injury.Aside from all this, the day
> was perfect. That strange logic of the marathoner takes over . . . the more
> grueling the experience, the more the spirit rages within. Pain is good!
> When's the next race?!Well, for me this really may be my last. It's been
> glorious and I feel I had a glorious ending. Plus it was great having Sandi
> and her brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Kristen Strong, as my team. We
> had a grand time.Herman *
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>
> --
> __________________________________________________
> Herman F. Greene
> 2516 Winningham Road
> Chapel Hill, NC 27516
> 919-942-4358 (ph & fax)
> hfgreenenc at gmail.com
>
>
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