‘An Experience’ — Not a race!!!

What a difference a year makes!!

Today, as I write this post, runners are gathering at the “athlete village” in Hopinton and getting ready to run the 116th Boston Marathon. I’m not there this year but my friend Pam Geernaert is. So are Caolan MacMahon, Carman Carmack and Melodie Pullen — all four are women I’ve profiled on this blog.

The expected high is 87 degrees!! Around 10-10:30 a.m., when most people start the race in multiple waves, it will already be 74 degrees!!

I can’t believe it. I’m in shock. It’s a complete turn around from the ideal conditions I faced last year when I ran it — in the 40s at the start and 60s near at the end.

Boston is having a crazy heat wave, but here in Colorado we’ve had “all four seasons” — sunny, rain, snow, hail — within the last 48 hours, but mainly it’s been cool and wet.

It was 36 degrees today at o’dark early when I ran with a friend.

Given the choice of extreme cold or hot for running a marathon, I’d opt for the cold. Yes, you’d still be miserable and slower but you don’t usually die from running in the cold.

Either way, though, too much chill or broiling is bad news for a race this big, especially for the organizers.

I have been following Boston on the Internet. Caolan, in fact, copied an email to everyone on Facebook. It was sent from the BAA and told runners to expect “an experience, not a race” because of the heat.

The BAA has offered to defer entries and warned that novice runners should not race it this year.

Clearly they are worried and rightfully so after the marathon disaster that happened in the heat at the Chicago Marathon a few years ago.

 
has made me think, What would I do if this had been my Boston “experience”? Would I still run or defer to the following year?

My guess is, I’d still run. It would be “an experience” but not the one I bargained for, that’s for sure.
 
While deferring might be an option IN THEORY, getting to Boston, especially if you live out West as I do, is difficult and expense. The plane tickets are pricy as are the hotels, etc., etc.

Besides that, I never expected a PR out of Boston when I went. I was one of those people who found the challenge in qualifying, then wanted to enjoy race itself.

Yes, Boston is at sea level, which, again IN THEORY could make for a PR, but probably not for me because of where the hills are within the race — mainly more downhill on the front end and uphill on the later end.

The hills at Boston aren’t any harder than anything here in Colorado, but I do with a course with the opposite presentation — uphill on the front end and downhill on the back end.

What would you do if you faced the “furnace” today at Boston? Run or defer? I’d love to hear.

I’m sending cooling thoughts and prayers to Pam, Caolan, Carmen, Melodie and my other friends at Boston today.

Pam texted from the athlete’s village; her mantra for the today’s Boston race: “Popsicle!”

Good luck and Godspeed to all the racers!!

What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger …



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Aging is inevitable, but growing old is a choice. Lace up your shoes, and let’s go!

Mileage today; 5.5′ Mileage for 2012: 347

2 thoughts on “‘An Experience’ — Not a race!!!

  1. Shoot – if I was ever fast enough to qualify for Boston, I’d run it in snow, heat, hail or flood 🙂

    I wish everyone the best. I ran a 1/2 marathon when it was 80 degrees at the start and 90 at the finish. It was tough.

  2. I feel the exact same way as you. The challenge was qualifying and the race is the experience. With that said, it would not be ideal to have such high temps but you can’t mess with “The Mother of all Mother’s” Nature, so I would have gone for it. Apparently 420 something people deferred and about 4,000 did not run. So shouldn’t be too much a problem for those of us trying to get in next year. Let’s just hope next year it is 40-60 again. xo

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