Ready or not, Boston here I come !

Bib# 22157

Today I did my last recovery walk of 4 miles, huffing and puffing most of the way, and in just a few hours, for better or worse, I’ll be making my way back east for Monday’s Race. Gosh, Ive spend more money on this one event, than all my previous races combined. I did manage however, to get my flight from San Francisco to Boston upgraded to First Class…yeah!

I have no idea what to expect during marathon weekend, but from what I’ve read (there’s a great article here) and from what people have told me, it should be a pretty exciting 4 days. I’m looking forward to meeting up with a few of my friends who are also doing the race. I’d also like to get out and tour some the famous Boston area sights. Ive never been to any of the New England states , so this is an exciting trip for me in many ways. I’m guessing that since it has a soup named after it, that Boston must have some awesome Restaurants:-)

Seriously though, as race day approaches , I’m starting to get those all too familiar pre-race jitters. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous about doing this marathon. Thoughts of potentially dire breathing consequences and those debilitating leg cramps that I seem to suffer during every race, have made their way to the front of my mind. Then there’s the weather issue. Most forecasts are calling for a good chance of rain along with cold temps and windy conditions… something of which I’m not used to.

The Boston course is a tough one , and considering my current state of health, this will undoubtedly be the most physically challenging marathon Ive ever attempted. Though Ive been lucky enough to stay out of the hospital for 6 months now, my lung function is at an all time low and the neuro muscular problems Ive been experiencing lately, makes walking long distances quite painful.

What can I say, Ive trained hard and Ive done everything I possibly can to prepare myself for this race. All I can do now is soak it all in, and let it play out. Whether I’ll actually be strong enough to finish the race, remains to be seen, but just making it to the starting line on race day will be a dream come true for me.

If you’re so inclined, you can sign up to receive Athlete text alerts from AT&T to monitor my progress ( or any other runner) along the race course. Don’t freak out though if it’s taking me forever to cross certain markers. Assuming that I’m able to complete the entire race, my anticipated finish time would be around 4:40 pm EST, which would probably put me in at dead last! You can also watch the race live at Universalsports.com

And best wishes to other 24,999 runners who have worked just as hard as I have to make it to Boston.

Next update, Wednesday , April 22