My official and unofficial Boston Marathon stats

Official finishing time: 4 hours, 11 minutes, 21 seconds.

Some unofficial stats to give you a flavor of what it’s like to run the Boston Marathon:




  • 25,000-plus — approximate number of runners with me at the race
  • 100,000-plus — one estimate I read of the number of spectators along the way
  • Two dozens — number of bikers and their Harleys I saw cheering for us by a bar in Ashland (first few miles of the race)
  • 50-plus — number of children I high-fived along the way (a conservative, random guess)
  • 1,000??  — random guess as to how many people I heard shout mine or Pam’s name (our names were on our T-shirts).



  • One — number of posters with my nickname (Donna) and Pam’s name on it made by Faith Mazdar of Natick — a friend of Pam’s (shown above)
  • Two — number of full stops Pam and I made along the course — one potty break, the other for a big hug and photo op with Faith.
  • 3 1/2 — number of PowerGels I ate.
  • 10:40 a.m. — time my wave and corral started.
  • 4 — number of hours I had already been up by then, including one hour wait to get on the bus to the start, one hour bus ride to the athlete’s village and time spent hanging out before it started.
  • .7 of a mile — distance of the athlete’s village to the starting lines
  • 10 — the number of my toenails that miraculously stayed intact from 26.2 miles of pounding!!
  • ZERO — number of blisters I got! Woohoo!!
  • 11-plus — number of times I likely sipped water or Gatorade along the course.
  • 70 — random guess as to how many Wellesley girls I high-fived in the famous scream tunnel.  (My arm hurt from holding it up high after awhile!!)
  • One — number of Otter popsicles I consumed (A little boy handed me one around Mile 10.)
  • 16, 18 and 20 — miles where the hardest hills came in my opinion.
  • One dozen — number of smaller, rolling hills we also traversed along the way 
  • 4 — number of downhill miles and potential quad-thrashers at the beginning of the race.
  • 21 — the mile where I conquered Heartbreak Hill — I ran up the whole way!
  • 23 — mile where I noticed the famous Citgo sign into Boston
  • 40 — kilometers — the point in my head where I had to dig the deepest.
  • 26.2 — distance that I ran, never had to walk.
  • 7 — number of marathons I’ve now completed!
  • 4 and 21 — number of planes and number of hours it took my family and I to get home after weather delays and airline craziness in the midwest yesterday AND today.
  • 2 — hours of sleep I got last night from hectic travels home — it made the marathon look EASY!

I will do a full write-up on the race tomorrow. I’m exhausted from our travels and I’m now waiting for out lost bags to be delivered.
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Aging is inevitable, but growing old is a choice. Lace up your shoes and let’s go!


 

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