Mike Mc Bride and I crossed the finish line at the Boston marathon in under the time limit, making us the first registered athletes with severe lung disease to do so!
Unfortunately, I starting to flare-up pretty bad during the last two miles and within 5 minutes of crossing the finish line, I was wisked away to Boston Mass General hospital where Im now in stable condition and able to get this post out ( courtesy of the wonderful Social Services people at the hospital.) I ‘ll write a full race report in about a week when I return to California, but let me just say this..The Boston marathon is all what they say…and More!!
Most of the marathon attire that Ive accumulated over the last 3 years usually ends up in a duffel bag crammed in the corner of my closet , never to be seen again. This jacket is gonna get worn a few days before I retire it.
I don’t want to jinx myself , so I’ll try to keep this post short and to the point. Today makes 6 full months that Ive been hospital free!
May not sound like a big deal to some, but believe me, for me…it is! By comparison, last year I was hospitalized 5 times, (or appx once every 2.5 months) …a record even for me. The year before that wasn’t much better at 4 admissions.
Even during a so called “good breathing” year, I usually end up in the pokey at least once or twice, so wouldn’t it be something if I could go an entire year with NO ADMISSIONS!!! Oh my god…..UCSFs Respiratory Dept would go out of business.
I really don’t know what to attribute this success to. My disease hasn’t gotten any better, on the contrary…my PFTs are actually worse, but I think I’m getting a little better at quashing the minor flare-ups before they turn into big ones. It could also be that I’m doing a better of job of avoiding some of the environmental triggers , which probably aggravate my symptoms. A few months ago I totally re-did my sleeping space. I now keep that area of the house pet free, dust free and I think for the most part, allergen free . I even have one of those Ionic breeze things to filter the air.
Even more than just reducing my exposure to certain triggers, I think it’s the methods I use to cope with my disease that have changed. Subconsciously I think Ive raised the bar as to what I consider to be a ” hospital worthy” exacerbation. Severe breathing flare-ups that would have landed me in the ER just a year ago, Ive now somehow managed to tough out at home without all the hospital intervention and drama. Probably not the smartest thing to do for a high risk asthmatic, but I suppose its a way for me to maintain some kind of control over my own life.
Whatever the reason, I’m certainly grateful for the reprieve. One less day spent in the hospital, is one more day I can spend living like a normal person….whatever the heck that is. cytomel vs levothroid
With less than 2 weeks to go before the big day, the reality that I’m actually going to be doing the Boston marathon is finally starting to sink in and I’m starting to get jazzed about it.
I know this has always been a very popular and respected race among serious runners, but I had no idea just how big a deal the event is for the city of Boston and the neighboring communities that line the course. This is a race that attracts 500,000+ spectators and is broadcast all over the world. After you’ve been signed up, they send you this massive PDF file ( I think 300 pages) . Which lists all the stats from all the years that the race has been held.
And check out some of the runner comments for the 2008 race. I don’t think I read a single review that had less than 4.5 stars
Here are some other interesting facts about the race that I pulled of the main page:
I’m referring of course to the most dreaded of all training walks( or runs)…The dreaded 20 Miler! Basically the marathon before the marathon. You marathon walkers and runners know what Im talking about. It’s all about conditioning yourself for the long haul. A one last practice run before the big event if you will.
This is usually a pretty brutal walk for me, even when I’m breathing well . And with less than 3 weeks until the marathon, I’m kinda pushing my luck ( and my lungs), but it has to be done or I don’t stand a chance of finishing the most important race of my life. The fact is, if I don’t put in these 20 miles today , there’s absolutely no way I’ll be able to put in 26.2 miles 20 days from now at the Boston marathon.
The biggest trick of course, will be to pull this training walk off without getting really sick afterward. For sure I’ll be flaring up like crazy tonight. That’s a given and I’m prepared for it. I even have a follow up appt with my Pulmonologist tomorrow just in case things get ugly. Hopefully it wont be a big deal and I’ll be able to do the rest of my taper, which includes a 10 miler next week , followed by an eight miler a week before the race. Worse case scenario, if I get sick from todays walk, I’ll still have a 2 week cushion to recover, and if I do get sick , at least I will have completed 90% of my training.
As strange as it sounds, I take comfort from the experience I had with my first Portland marathon in 2006. Back then, I had just completed the bulk of my long training walks ( which took 9 full months) , when just 3 weeks from the marathon, I ended up in the hospital for a week! Nevertheless, I still managed to recover enough to do the marathon. Albeit, a very slow and painful marathon ( 8:50 ) … but I finished.
Now I would hate to do another marathon under those circumstances, but the experience does afford me the confidence to go on with todays walk. God I hate this freakin disease..
Boy, I’ve been home for a couple of days now and I’m still jet-lagged. This always affects me more on the return flight for some reason. Anyways, Rome out did herself this year. The 15th edition of Maratona di Roma was by far the best one yet, and in my opinion, is now one of the top 3 best marathons in world! They really got it together this year. I don’t think Ive ever seen so many volunteers or staff in a single race before. Without exaggeration, the number of support people had to be in the thousands . As far as actually runners, I don’t think they were far off when they predicted 100,000 would participate. I have never seen so many people in one place at one time for a sporting event. The first place winner came in at something like 2:07 which I believe is a record for the course.
As for my racing stats, well, let’s just say I didn’t break any records. But, I felt good, I was breathing well ,I soaked in as much of the atmosphere as I could and had the time of my life. Actually I would say, that the marathon was the highlight for the entire trip. Even though this was one of my slowest races ( 3:23 for the first 21 km) , I managed to cross the 21km point within the course time limit which is really all that I wanted to do.
As planned, I completed 21 of the 42 kms , but actually ended up walking 30km to catch the SAG bus back to the finish area. I have to say, I’m kinda glad that I stuck to my guns and stopped when I did, because as tempting as it was to keep going, my legs were already starting to cramp. I’m not really sure that I would have been able to finish the entire race….without really hurting myself.
Even though I didn’t do the entire race, when I got back to the finish area they called me up to the stage and congratulated me in front of a million people and cameras. They then presented me with a special gift ( pictures of which I will post at a later time).
All I can say, is that if you ever get a chance, do this race! It’s an experience you will never forget.
Here are some pictures I took during the actual race. Some of them are kind of blurry as I was in motion during most of them.
I arrived in Italy a full week ahead the race, but jet lag prevented me from doing all things I wanted to do. I was able to get down to Ercolano for a day and visit the scavi ( the excavation of the ruins of Herculaneum). What a fascinating place to visit. It’s hard to believe that an entire city was buried underneath the soot of the Mt Vesuvius eruption some 2000 years ago. Everything is as if it was frozen in time (for lack of a better word). It is literally a huge pit that they are still unearthing to this day.
From Ercolano I went on to Sorrento, but was too tired from my day at Herculaneum to go further south to the Amalfy coast or to visit the other more famous ruins site at Pompeii . Definitely, on my next visit.
Here are some pictures I took during my time in Ercolano.
After returning back to the north, I spent a couple days roaming
around Rome. I skipped the Vatican Museums, because again, I was racking up too many miles and really needed to spare my legs for the race. I focused mainly on the Pantheon area and some other tourist spots that I missed the last time I was here.
Here are a few misc shots of I took while “roaming” around Rome… including the infamous train station ..Rome Termini (I don’t know why I’m so fascinated by that railway station).
Lastly, but certainly not least, is the town of Zagarolo. This was my home base and where I usually stay when I come to Italy. It’s also one of my favorite places in the whole country. It’s definitely a different way of life here, one that I think I could get very used too.
Here are some pictures of I took of Zagarolo.
Finally, here’s a collage of video clips of the things I did and the places I saw on my short stay. I had to chop about 15 minutes off it because of the Youtube time limit. A short clip of the marathon is at the end . Sorry, the playback quality isn’t that great ,cuz the camera was bouncing all over. You can actually see my feet as I’m walking ( the orange shoes).
OK…..Next adventure is the Boston Marathon in just 3 weeks. I’m excited about that trip as well, because Ive never been to any of the New England states.
