The kids are all very excited to go to Boston for the marathon.
We are leaving on Saturday and will be there until Tuesday.
I am looking forward to it also, but I’m very nervous for the run as I fell so far off the training plan when all the foreclosure crap went down that I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish.
Number 3, Number 4 and I were talking about it on the way home from swim practice tonight.
I was kind of hoping they’d give me a little pep talk.
They are experienced enough swimmers that they understand. They know how hard you have to train. They have been nervous at meets when they’ve had to swim really long events. But I’ve always let them know they had it in them to finish.
They also understand about pacing. About how if you go out too fast you’ll regret it later in the race.
I told them I’d have to go way slower than I had hoped.
Remember that I’m not a great runner. I didn’t qualify for Boston. I’m running for charity, and I’m just okay.
The average time marathon finishing time for a woman is 4 hours and 42 minutes.
I’ve run four marathons in the last three years, and my finishing times have been 4:37, 4:45, 4:50 and 4:46.
So I’m hovering right around average.
Last year I ran Boston and that’s when I had the 4:46. That’s an average pace of about 10:50/mile.
Not great, but considering the amount of training I was able to do, I was pretty happy with that.
Plus I’m not exactly a spring chicken anymore, so for a 45-year-old chick, that’s respectable. Not incredible, but respectable.
That was the only marathon that the kids had seen me run. And it was only Number 3, 4, and 5 who came to see it.
Around the 20 mile mark is an uphill stretch called Heartbreak Hill. That’s where my parents and 3, 4, and 5 were going to station themselves to see me last year.
When I got to that point they were there yelling and cheering. Number 4 ran most of the way up Heartbreak Hill next to me on the sidewalk. It was pretty awesome. Seeing them there gave me the push I needed to finish the last six miles. They motivated and inspired me big time.
So anyway, we were in the car tonight and I told them I’d have to go out really really slow, and Number 3 said,
“SLOWER THAN LAST YEAR??? MOM! YOU WERE BASICALLY WALKING!”
And then Number 4 said, “No she wasn’t!”
And I silently said to myself, oh thank God for Number 4. She’s going to come to my rescue.
And she said,
“She more looked like those really old men who are sort of half jogging-half walking but you’re afraid might die before they actually get to the finish line.”
Wow.
Who needs Rudy or Rocky IV to get pumped up when instead you have the inspiring words of Number 3 and 4.
CLICK HERE TO SUPPORT MY RUN IN THE BOSTON MARATHON
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