What a long, strange trip its been.. Boston Part 1

I need to preface that I LOVE the Boston marathon. I love the crowds, the expo, the city, it is just awesome. I love, love, love the course. Moreso than I remembered from last year. Rolling hills are my favorite! I was SO excited to run my heart out at Boston. Seriously, I could barely contain myself.  But more on that later.

Anyways, this was an...interesting trip. We got in Thursday night after a looonnnggg day of travel.  Matt and I went to the Barking Crab for a late dinner and went back to our hotel to get some shut-eye.

Friday morning came and it was cloudy and rainy outside. I went to the treadmill and did my 6 miles with strides and felt SUPER!! Boston here I come!! My legs felt awesome! We met Terri and Mark for a Trader Joe's  trip and proceeded to the expo. We were walking around quite a bit in the damp, cold, air which in hindsight was probably not so good for me. We stopped at the Nike store to write on the Great Wall of Boston.

Expo time! We got our numbers and walked around.

I should have realized that there was something wrong when, after about an hour at the expo, I felt tired and not really into it anymore.  I did perk up when meeting Steve from Brooks ID and I probably embarrassed myself a little bit..(but she's cute!) I told him my goal on video- an exuberant 2:48 I knew I could do it! He sent me off with and awesome Brooks duffel and some Brooks arm warmers. I *LOVE* BROOKS!!! I was super happy!

lights, camera...

Action! I am such a nerd!! lol!!!

Terri and I sat down to watch a video of the course. I look like I am seeing Santa Claus! I love this course!

After the expo, we went to eat at Bella Vista in the North End. The food was PHENOMENAL! Seriously so good. After dinner we went home. We finally made it off the T at about 8:30 pm. By that time I felt drained, like I was getting a cold. I figured it was just from walking around in the rain, traveling, etc. Boy was I wrong.

Matt ended up violently ill all night Friday. We thought it must be food poisoning as he was so sick so suddenly. Saturday morning I began to feel queasy.  Maybe it was just in my head. So I tried some coffee. About 10 minutes later it came up. O.K. , maybe just nerves, lack of sleep.. Tried to run on the treadmill.  That lasted about 2 minutes. I was SO weak. Came back to the room. Could not eat or drink anything. I started to cry. This was the most important day for carbs and hydration and I could not stomach anything. I started vomiting around 1pm.  I was completely devastated. My head was pounding, I could keep nothing in me.  I have not been sick all year long. I could not help but think- Why me? And I know that I have a great life, and it seems silly to be upset over this to some. But for me, it was awful. I had worked SO hard to prepare for Boston. Although it is not a goal race, I was looking at it as a major stepping stone.

We laid in bed ALL DAY and night Saturday.  I finally stopped feeling nauseous Sunday at about 12:30am. My head was pounding but I thought I might still be able to run well. I woke up at 7am feeling much better and immediately tried to get in all of the carbs and fluids  I could.  I did a 4 mile jog and felt pretty good. We went to watch our friend Wendy run the BAA 5k- she did awesome, a 3 minute PR!! 

We went for breakfast after the race.  I ate pancakes and was hydrating like a mad woman.  We came back to the hotel and I was already super tired. I took a nap, shower, and began my pre-race relaxation rituals...(girly pampering stuff)

I went to sleep at about 8 pm.  Midnight I woke up sick again. This time it was the other *fun* flu symptom. Bad.  I was up going another 4 times in the middle of the night. This could not be happening. I thought I was in the clear but my stomach had other plans.  I was hopeful that it would be gone by 10am start time, but I knew I was losing more and more of the little I was able to replenish myself with on Sunday. I slept through my alarm on Monday morning- on race day! I never do that regardless! Luckily we set Matt's phone as a back-up 30 minutes later! I woke up still going to the restroom. It was worse.  I was completely devastated. Should I even try to run?

Runningly Yours,