The Boston Marathon took place Monday, April 20 and
I didn’t run it. There is always a feeling of guilt for me about not running
Boston. Guilt may not be the best word. Disappointment, inadequacy, missing out
on a special event, no bragging rights, might be better terms.
This year non-runners at work didn’t even ask me if I was
going to run the race, I can’t remember the last time that happened. When I was
running around Spencerport Monday night after work I realized it has been 19
years since I ran my first and only Boston marathon. Nineteen years ago I still
thought I had hair and my oldest daughter just turned 17, my youngest 12. Also
strange, I’ve completed 19 marathons. I never ran a marathon without trying to
qualify for Boston. Obviously my success rate was pathetic.
In the early years of my marathon “career” the qualifying
times were so tough I didn’t stand much of a chance. A sub-2:50? My best ½ marathon
was 1:23, how was I going to run a 2:50 marathon? Needless to say, I didn’t.
When I got to my mid-30’s the times softened a bit so I “only” needed a sub
3:00, so in a race that’s what I would start my pace at. I never lasted.
Finally in 1995 I ran a qualifying time (if you count the few seconds it took
me to cross the starting line, my “chip” time-which Boston did for 1996).
That was it, my only Boston marathon. In later attempts the
qualifying times had softened a bit more and I naively thought they were too
easy. I went out faster knowing I could always fall back to the Boston time.
That didn’t work out well for me, having marathons where I missed the time by a
minute, 3 minutes, or just totally falling apart. Stupid man.
This year I streamed the race via the internet while working,
the advantage to having two monitors on my desk. It was a great race among the top ten to
fifteen elite runners and I was happy to be able to watch it live. However there’s
a big difference between sitting in an office 400 miles away and being in the
event. Don’t worry though; I don’t have
any plans to run another marathon. Nineteen seems like enough times to attempt
something I’m not very good at, even if every third week of April I feel guilt,
disappointment or inadequate.
2 comments:
Come on and do one last "last" marathon. Then we can really do our last marathon at Boston together.
I just had a thought regarding your Old Man at the Track blog. One I really related to and don't forget I am way older than you. She did think you were an old man. But she said that thinking you were 40. Take it as a compliment.
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