***WARNING: LONG POST!***
PrefaceGrowing up with running friends, Robin and JeVonne, to name a couple, I loved hearing and watching cross-country races, which inspired me to be a better athlete and enjoy running in the off-season of the sports that I participated in (swimming and softball). JeVonne went off to BYU and I heard more about her involvement in "marathons". Robin continued to run and even met the standards to run for BYU women's cross-country.
Soon it was my turn to leave the trailed grounds of western Washington and head off to BYU myself. There I found myself surrounded by a handful of girls who enjoyed running. Due to synergy and mere pleasure that comes with running and chatting beside excellent individuals, I soon found myself running increasingly long distances with Connie, Brittney, Robin, and others. For the fun of it, Britt and I would "explore" new long runs and discovered a love for running through Indian Hills, which years later I found is even a cyclist's challenge! We
loved it... and would talk about how we're going to still be able to run that 8-10 mile loop when we're 40. Robin and I would run a Provo/Orem loop together on a weekly basis in the rain and snow late a night. It was a more impressive run to look at from the view at the Y on Y-mountain... "We really run that!?"
Needless to say, by the summer of
2002 I decided it was surely time to train for a marathon.
Britt and I signed up for the "
Top of Utah" Marathon to take place in Logan, Utah. Simultaneously, Connie (Conz) trained for the St. George that would take place a couple weeks later. Training was a new experience and a minor injury made for less-than-ideal mileage gain, terminating at 14 miles prior to the race.
Robin taught me the art of "aqua jogging," which made it possible to continue preparation for the marathon despite the pains. God is very kind and gave me a great run on the morning of the race, free of pain the my shins or anywhere else that I had felt injury during training. I met my goal and finished without stopping.
In 2004 when I entered my mission president's office on the island of
Guam, we quickly learned that we had a common love for running. President Pulsipher had made plans to run the St. George marathon in the Fall after he would be released. Right then, we decided we would train for the same race together and reunite after we were both released back in southern Utah where he and Sister Pulsipher would be moving. So, the summer of
2006, was another marathon training season, preparing to run with
President Pulsipher.
Andrew, committed to run with me. Training went well for us both until he was sent to South Africa for a period of time in the middle of our long runs. Nonetheless, we ran that race, having reached 18 and 15 miles prior to the marathon. Choosing to run at the side of President Pulsipher and his son, Casey, was a great experience. We finished in a time that I still do not know... we were "ghost runners" since we had not made it in the lottery pull as official entrants. That's the most I've ever
run with my brother, Andrew, and I am so glad that we got to run together with President.
The following year, President Pulsipher decided to go for "round two" at St. George, and I was successful in being pulled in the lottery, we it was time to relive St. George. Summer of 2007 was training season once again. Long runs were done with my diligent running friend, Connie, through the streets and hills of Provo and other parts of the Wasatch front. During these runs
Connie mentioned how her coworkers had set a goals for the race time, which inspired me to set a goal that was significantly fast than I had previously run a marathon. That said,
Connie's goal was faster than mine, but I was content with the amount of time my 3:40 goal would shave off my previous times that were done leisurely. We were successful in running a 19 and 20 miler previous to race day, which was a feat in and of itself! Training went great... 3:40 was looking good.
Mom and Maea, Andrew and Rachel, Kristen and Kevin, came to cheer me on, and I had a really nice race, finishing in 3:34, which met my goal and
qualified me for the
Boston Marathon.
Conversations with fellow runners began going something like this...
Them: You qualified for Boston, so when is the race?
Me: I'm not planning on running it. I just ran to meet the qualifying time as a goal, but I have no intentions of running it... it's far away.
Them: It's such a great race though, and a really good experience that you can't have anywhere else. The atmosphere is unique... the streets are
filled with people. You don't go there to run a ast time but just to have the experience.
The more I heard this, the more interest I had in
considering, at least. Nontheless, the Due to "racing" the St. George rather than casually running it, my legs and knees were not able to swing back into long runs to the degree necessary to safely prepare for Boston 2008. That said, I put it off, at least, until the next year.
Moving out to DC, I was
not "so far" any longer. Additionally, in the summer at a Skeen family reunion, my cousin whom I had not seen in
many years, reconnected and talked about how much fun it would be to go to Boston together if she could qualify again this year (she is a great runner and had qualified and never actually run in Boston in past years)! Then living in northern VA, I started
loving the running terrain of the east. I soon learned that it was quite simple to head north for the race... it became inevitable...it was time to
sign up for the 2009 Boston Marathon. Done!
Long training runs started in the winter as I my body was fighting through an unusually long bout of sickness, lasting about 2 months. It ended with a long where that was unbearably
miserable, shamefully stopping half way through, having a friend pick me up along the way.
Great... how will I prepare in time for Boston at this rate, was about how I felt that that point. This coupled with increasing pain thereafter, I asked my neighbors for a priesthood blessing.
God is constant, and He gave me the assurance and peace I needed to
move forward with
confidence and patience, and all would be well in time.
In little time, my body was back to normal and I was able to progress in adding miles to my long runs. Reviewing my calendar, it became increasingly evident that all "would be well," and I would be able to find success in training endeavors.
Long runs became truly "long," and I found a girl in my ward,
Julie, who was training for a marathon that took place a month prior to the Boston, so my 16 and 20-milers were a huge success with her encouragement as a new running friend. Then
Katie, a cycling friend, was back to running after an injury, so I was so glad to run most of my last 23-miler with her! In short, I was so fortunate to cross paths many choice people just at the right time to help me "move forward" during the most difficult stints of training during the winter and early spring months...
Orchestration!
Four weeks passed with semi-long runs leading to the day of the race. My parents and Connie made plans long before the race to come out and watch. This was yet another reason I desired to train really well for the race- I didn't want to keep them waiting around all day!
Mom, Dad and
Connie, flew into DC on Friday night, 3 days before the marathon. At this points thoughts of doubt that my training was finished too early before the race were coming, but my wise friend, Conz, reminded me that it was all in my mind, and it was going to be a great race! We played a little bit in DC on Saturday, Conz and I doing a short
running tour of some of the monuments (as seen in
her blog) while Mom and Dad went to the
Air and Space museum (Dad
loved it)! That afternoon, we started our
trek northeast toward Boston, spending a few hours in
New York City. Sunday we went to church in
Connecticut where we ran into
Brother Quinn, my good friend Shelley's dad, who I had run part of the 2007 marathon with!
It was Steve Quinn's sister, Jenny, who was one of the women who "sold" me on what a great experience Boston could be for me :)
Orchestration.
When we finally arrived in Boston (about an 8 hour drive in total), we went to the Boston
Marathon Expo for
packet-pick-up, and spent some time looking at the varioud venues they had for the runners, family and friends. It was really neat to be there with Mom, Dad, and Connie. We took pictures and got
t-shirts to remember our time together at this "elite race." Connie and I even got some "fast"
running spandies to wear and remember our soon-to-be goal to run it together in the next few years. Dad and Mom helped me pick out a
jacket too. I had never gone to a pre-race expo, but it was fun to be there- my parents and Connie helped me get even more excited about the race.
Sunday night, we slept in Marlborough, MA, which was very
close to Hopkinton (the city of the starting line for the race). I
slept really well with no worries. The race would not begin until
late morning, and Mom was so smart to choose this town to stay so I didn't have to go to the start at sunrise like most of the runner would due to massive transportation.
Race DayMom drove me to the
local shuttle in the morning and they would meet to later down the course.
It turned out to be a pretty
cold morning, but by the time the race-start time was approaching, the sun was warming the air and I decided to shed my tights. It was comfortable enough to run in shorts!
Stacey, my cousin whom I had talked with last summer, and I met up at the "
Runner's Village" near the starting line prior to the race. (She had qualified in the late winter/early spring!) We fulfilled our desire to have this experience together! She's a wife and mother of 4, and the daughter or 2 great athletes (Uncle Trace and Aunt Maryanne).
The start came quickly... the wait in the village was a comfortable amount of time. I made it up to my corral in the 2nd Wave. It was really nice positioning for the start, because the 1400's (I was bib #14138) we at the very front of the 1st corral. So I was able to cross the start line in the gynormous pack around 10:31 am, just over a minute after our wave start time at 10:30am!
Staying on the outside of the pack, shooting gaps was a pretty fun game with the exception of feeling having to dodge some sideline viewers who where so excited to overstep the course lines. Crowds of people cheering were, as described, packed from the beginning! It was crowded enough that I was glad to have my phone so I could text Connie and tell her which side of the course I was going to be on when they were watching at mile 6. Had they not known, it would have been easy to run by and miss them.
Mile 6 was nice to reach. Dad, Mom and Connie were cheering, and the sun was out! :)
I saw them again at
mile 15. About
5 miles later, it started to become more of a
mental challenge than I had previously remembered from past races. That I realized I needed to talk with someone... it had been a couple hours and my thoughts were becoming more focused on the running and less on my surroundings. Failing at my
attempts to find someone closeby to talk with (
ipods were in ears and people were focused on their running), it was time to really try and lose my thoughts in the crowds and experience. A few nearby runners had posted their
names on their shirts, which enabled the crowd to cheer for them by name- brilliant! Soon I began to hear people whom I did not know screaming "Gooooo
Jenny!!!" Well, my name is "Jenn-i," not "Jenn-y." A yound lady just behind me had written on
her shirt, "Jenny." They were cheering for her!!! :) This was quite funny... I laughed and enjoyed the irony of the situation. Good timing!
Orchestration!
Mile 21 took me
past "heart-break hill," which was a
joy to climb--- really. I love up-hills even though it hurts my time a little bit.
While I had been keeping a 7:45 and 7:55 pace up to about mile 18, I was happy to break 8:30's after mile 22. Knowing I had less than 5 miles to go, I felt some bursts of energy on occasion, but the
true battle had not started to sink in! Now that I was in the city, I could feel that lack of decline and incline... the temperature was slightly warmer and the miles were passing less quickly. Closing my eyes around some of the turns in the course as we did a little bit of winding in some of the
city streets, I would not recognize which streets we ran along now without looking at a course map. A the
mile-26 sign came into sight, I could feel the victory coming. I was on my way to a new "Personal Best" time, but it was very apparent that I would not be breaking 3:30 like I had most desired. The streets at this point were so crowded and loud that there were t
oo many faces to sift through to find my parents. The
finish line is all I could look forward to :)
Passing a few people down the last turn and through the shoot satisfied my competitiveness and made for a more complete personal victory. My
finish time clocked at
3:32:28 (8:07 pace)... yes! A new
personal record and a qualification for Boston 2010. Whew!
The walk after the finish was line with
volunteers, untying our shoes to collect the runners' chips, handing out food and water, and wrapping us in
metallic blankets to prevent extreme loss of body heat. After a really good
stretch and finding Mom, Connie and Dad in all the crowds and traffic dominating the city, it was great to be walking and seeing how well my body held up through the race. It's a miracle and such a blessing to get to have such adventures on my feet! The town was filled with runner, family and friends.
The Skeens let me shower in their hotel room before we finished our time in Boston for the day. I didn't realize how caked in sweat I had become- gross, but to-be-expected, I suppose!
We went to the "
Barking Crab" on
Boston Harbor for dinner to enjoy some Bostonian seafood for dinner. The rain came down in the evening along with the winds as we went up to Cambridge to see part of the Harvard campus on our way out.
It could not have been the experience it was without the
journey from the beginning. I am convinced that I am one of the
luckiest girls in the world, but every other girl and boy can be just as lucky in her own way.
God orchestrates our paths, I am sure. In His way and time, He undoubtedly aided me in moving forward with my meager effort to exercise greater confidence and patience... In this endeavor and all done with His help-
Success!
