Epic. I don't use the word frivolously. It was hot - extremely hot. Temperature was in the 80's. When the normal for the race is in the 50's. Sick hot. Heat exhaustion hot. I got numerous emails from the Boston Athletic Association advising "only the fittest runners consider running", the rest of us should defer their run to next year. Defer? Boston offering deferrals? A first for Boston.
I don't think any runners from Dana-Farber took advantage of that offer. No way was I going through 4 months of training again. Pretty sure that was what my teammates were thinking. "Fittest runners" - nope not me, but I could walk it if I had to. I didn't walk it all - despite my time. We did get an email directing us to a website where you put in your anticipated time with 'normal' weather and it spit out your 'new' anticipated time based on the weather forecast. They were dead on for me - the weather added a full hour to my anticipated finish time. They added extra medical support, had misting stations, even opened fire hydrants. They were scared. Rightly so - I saw quite a few people heading off the course on stretchers. I assisted more than a half-dozen - getting them help, icing their necks etc. It was rough out there. My feet suffered horribly. At first they were just on fire, but eventually the fire was joined by weird pillow-ish feelings. Turns out those 'pillows' were ginormous blisters. They are hideous. I might post pictures - you should fear them.
Despite the tortured feet and extreme heat (did I mention it was a full 15 degrees warmer than any of my training runs?) - I did finish. I got my medal. And most important - the team had raised about 75% of it's $4.8 million goal. We have until September to hit our goal - so just because the running (and walking) part of the marathon is over, doesn't mean the fund-raising is! You can still donate - and every dollar gets us closer to our goal.
