The pandemic sure put a stop on events for 2020. Everything has pretty much been canceled. I qualified for Boston by virtue of my time from the St. George, 2018 marathon, in which I ran about a 3:10 time. When you qualify, you basically just qualify to register for the event, after which they evaluate all entrants to inform you if you are "qualified" to run their marathon. They qualify you based on the number of entrants and where you stand in comparison to the field of entrants. On September 17th, 2019, I received the news that I was indeed accepted to run the Boston marathon that next April on Patriot's Day. This meant that I was actually faster than others in my age group to participate legitimately. The family was so cute that they actually bought me some balloons with the blue and gold colors of Boston to celebrate my acceptance. Achieving this goal was so special to me. I was so excited to be able to finally participate in a "Majors Marathon" because of actually qualifying. Huge accomplishment!
We got all the preparations ready, the hotels and flights booked, reservations made. Ready to go. But, the hopes were dashed due this crazy Coronavirus pandemic. I was so sad. Plus, injuries again plagued me. I have such weak and scrawny legs. First, having pain in the ankle bones, then pain in my left knee, then my right, then the IT band, then the posterior tibial tendonitis. On and on. So many problems, I forgot the names of all the tendons, muscles and bones that were messed up. Very discouraging. It is so difficult when you want to go out and enjoy the training and then just everything you do is excruciating pain. Pain again was so bad that I could not even walk. I seriously looked like a 90-year old man with arthritis so bad that I was crippled. I did all the therapy I could. But, it was just bad timing. So, the event gets canceled from its original April date to September. That was actually good news for me because I have been injury-plagued since February. The months of April through the beginning of September were especially bad. Pain so bad it brought me to tears again on numerous occasions. So, September came around and the day of the "Virtual Boston Marathon" was fast approaching. I have to be honest. I was not excited to run this marathon. But, since I qualified, I had to again at least go do it. It's hard to enter a race event knowing that you will not be able to perform at your personal best. So, I approached it with the attitude of just going out and doing what I love to do and hope for the best.
September 12, 2020 was the day. Nichole got up early with me to be my support. No official race event support for this one. Nichole and I were on our own. Nichole was so awesome to come with me! I love that girl! There's no way I could have done this without her. With the lack of training, I was not ready physically to handle the pace. And, I didn't know if I could actually do the full miles with my injuries. It's amazing what the body can achieve when your mental is in the right place. I was able to make it through the long course from AF canyon down into Vineyard. Was the physical leg pain non-existent? No! But, doing a marathon, you know you're going to experience pain. It's just part of the race experience. It's what you do with that pain that defines you. Are you going to quit or persevere? Nichole was there cheering me on, and my mind would tell me to just keep going. No way I'm going to quit. I ran the first 13 miles in 1 hour 29 minutes, so I was definitely on pace and ahead of my goal for a a sub 3-hr race. But, due to the pain and lack of training, finally at 3 hours and 22 minutes later, we made it to our own Vineyard finish line. I love doing these events. It just overwhelms my emotions knowing I can do this. We are meant to do great things as children of God. This assures me that I can.
The "Virtual" race was not nearly as exciting as the race would have been if I could have actually have been able to run down through the streets of Boston, but I am glad to still have done my own. I was able to record my race on Strava, so I did get the finishing medals and swag. So, all in all, it was a fun experience!
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