The Journey to Boston 2014

Preface: I started writing this story during my flight home after two weeks that included the Boston Marathon and the busiest time of the year on the job. I didn't find the time to reflect on the marathon until the flight, and it turns out that 4 hours wasn't quite long enough to get everything down on paper. The words just kept coming as each part of the story reminded me of something else I wanted to share. So, instead of sending out one massive email, I decided to post my memories here so that anyone could read through them if they chose to do so. I could probably just use a good editor, but it's the internet, and who really cares!  On to chapter 1.

I’m 30,000 feet up and I have 4 hours to reflect on my most recent trip to Boston. While I had so many highlights over the past two weeks, both personal and professional, I wanted to put my 2014 Boston Marathon experience down on paper. It was by far one of the most memorable experiences of my life so I figure it deserves my first essay since finishing grad school. 

Here goes nothing . . .

My training for Boston 2014 began when my application to Goodwill’s marathon team was accepted in January, but that is far from when my journey began. It would be easy to say that it started after the unspeakable acts of April 15 and 18/19, 2013. Last year’s events only solidified my desire to run in 2014. In reality, my adventure probably started when I was connected with Morgan Memorial Goodwill Industries to become the coach of the 2013 Running for Great Kids marathon team. I wouldn't consider myself a coach, just someone that really liked to run and had studied what it took to run a marathon. It had been five years since I did any sort of serious training. However, getting to know last year’s runners, and convincing them of the keys to marathoning, like actually consuming food and fluids during a long run, I found myself catching the running bug again. I had so much fun connecting with last year’s team in the months leading up to the race that I knew I wanted to be part of that adventure this year. These individuals also became an important part of my motivation that kept me going when my legs didn't want to take another stride.

Carlos (suglasses), Courtney (pink headband), Rachel (white headband), and Lauren V. (blue visor) from last year's team.
Greg (white hat), Russel (black top), Lauren B. (green headband) and myself from this year's team.

Fast forward 12 months and I’m now a resident of Colorado. For the purposes of this story, we’ll just say it was for the performance benefits of training at high altitude and it had nothing to do with incredible childhood memories, the beautiful Rocky Mountains, and 300 days of sunshine a year. For some reason, I don't think I ever fully acclimated to the low oxygen environment, but I figured my new home would give me at least an extra 10 miles without worry. At least that's what I kept telling myself.  It turns out I didn't necessarily need it, but I’ll explain that a little later.

Tuesday, April 15 brought about a lot of emotions that I really wasn’t expecting. I found myself reading every single Facebook post, blog entry, newspaper article, and long-form essay, and watching all the ceremonies and news specials commemorating last year’s tragedy. The amazing part about every single story and speech: none of them were about looking back, but moving forward despite all of the physical and emotional scars. If I couldn’t find motivation and inspiration from so many amazing stories, I should probably reevaluate a few things in my life. Thankfully they only made me want to get to Boston that much quicker.

Next chapter: Reaching Race Day