The year I didn’t make it to the starting line. An official “DNS”. I did make it to the 5K for the first time since qualifying for Boston in 11 years so that will be my story this year.
My left leg started hurting in January 2022 during training. The pain radiated from my butt and sometimes into my calf. Running was not fun and during winter months in New York, it definitely has to be somewhat fun.
I was scheduled to run the Houston Marathon, a race which had been on my bucket list for years. Unfortunately, I believe my coach was training me for the half until about 4 weeks out when I brought it to his attention. The end result was that I ran Houston in 3:55 but was uncomfortable the entire run. This simply exacerbated the pain in “the butt”.
Next up: A1A Marathon in Fort Lauderdale for February. Still trying to run with aches and pains but thought I could at least run the half so I scaled back from the full distance to the half. Got through that, after thinking I should drop during the first 3 miles. I had never felt such pain during a race as I did in this half marathon. Now I was really hurting. Training was a struggle with every running footfall. Come March, I knew Boston was not going to happen. When I tried any kind of a double digit run, it ended in tears.
April 2022.
The hotel was booked for Boston and my sister, brother-in-law, and Ted were excited to go. I signed up for the 5K just to make it fun. I had ordered the celebration jacket in advance and thought that at least being a qualifier and then running the 5K would justify wearing it. There are some realms of thought regarding wearing the celebration jacket and not having run the marathon but after 11 consecutive years, I felt I earned it or at least the right to wear it a month post race. My bib for this year’s Boston was 20739, Wave 3.
We arrived on the Friday since Saturday race bibs and all necessary materials were mailed to us so we didn’t have to visit the expo in advance of the 5K. We ate at Morse Tavern on the drive in and had a good dinner at Atlantic Fish Friday night. I even had wine and was quite relaxed.
Saturday morning, I woke up early and ran half a mile to warm up. The leg did not feel good but I was running that 5K no matter what. Ted walked with me to the start where 10000 runners mingled and collected their race shirts. It was a bit chaotic and that is exactly how the race went. The 5K is more of a fun run with strollers, people on crutches, walking, not a fast and furious 5K by any means. I was able to pull off an embarrassing 8 plus min mile overall time.
Sunday morning, I simply had to do my annual run through Public Gardens to take a picture of the ducks then meander through Boston Commons. Being there and able to simply do a slow jog around my usual pre race shake out area was satisfying. I was able to be grateful for being there, qualifying and accomplishing all that I had accomplished with running.
The above photo is from the bridge in the public gardens looking out towards the ducks.
The rest of the weekend was a mix of fun and remorse. Come Monday when everyone was making their way to get on the buses for the ride to Hopkinton, Ted and I went for a walk to the Charles River. We were back in time to meet Sue and Sam for breakfast in the Westin Hotel then cleaned up and positioned at the turn onto Boylston Street to watch elites finish their race.
In the end, it was a fun weekend. We kept busy and were consumed by the energy of the weekend. I will set my sights on running in 2023 and if not, well, I had 11 consecutive Boston Marathons and that was my initial goal back in 2011.
As for the left leg injury, I learned my lesson. No runner is immune and when you feel something hurting, don’t keep running. Allow the body to heal otherwise the recovery will be long. This post has taken me a while to finish. I’ve been avoiding it because recapping Boston has been so much fun and filled with memorable experiences over the past 11 years. This one not so much. Now the end of May and I still am not running. I have been working with a physical therapist and since there was no improvement, saw an orthopedic doctor to rule out anything more serious. The final result is high hamstring tendonitis, a real pain in the butt. I will put in the physical therapy time and engage in alternate forms of training such as weights, elliptical-strider, walking, cycling. The focus is on full recovery, run with no pain, but most importantly, stay active and be grateful for my accomplishments.
Joanne
