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

Wed Apr 18 19:38:52 PDT 2018

Herman,

Today is the first day I’ve slept through the night with no pain and awakened with none – hip replacement was 3 ½ weeks ago. I’ve only ONCE trained to WALK a half marathon (my exercise mantra is if I feel like exercising, lie down until it passes). In that training, what eventually turned out to be an arthritic hip reared its ugly head and I dropped out after doing a glorious 6 mile walk during the training. Note that my first training day at 2 miles had me home and in bed for a couple of days, too exhausted to shower. Ick. So doing 6 miles with no exhaustion was a major accomplishment and having to stop a major disappointment.

All that is to say, you have my admiration in spades (and hearts and clubs and diamonds, too – full on top drawer)!! Thanks for the detailed reflection. I, too, stand (now that I can stand) in complete amazement!

Blessings,

Sunny

From: OE <oe-bounces at lists.wedgeblade.net> On Behalf Of Judi White via OE
Sent: Wednesday, April 18, 2018 9:25 AM
To: Order Ecumenical Community <oe at lists.wedgeblade.net>
Cc: Judi White <sophiacircle at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Oe List ...] My report on running the Boston Marathon

Amazing!!

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

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

-- 

__________________________________________________

Herman F. Greene

2516 Winningham Road

Chapel Hill, NC 27516

919-942-4358 (ph & fax)

hfgreenenc at gmail.com <mailto:hfgreenenc at gmail.com> 

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