"Rescued"

   It was finally here, the longest of our long runs that we would be doing during training.  Like I had mentioned earlier, our running group had actually chartered a few buses that were going to bring us from Boston College out to Hopkinton so we could run the first 20 miles of the actual marathon course.  Since the buses left at 6:45 from Boston College, Renee and I had to wake up early and set our alarms for 5:20 am.  It kind of worked out well since this is likely the time that we will be getting up to catch the bus on the day of the Boston Marathon.  That being said, when the actual alarm went off I really didn't want to get out of bed.  Once I did, I hopped in the shower and started gearing up.  In preparation for an early morning, Renee and I had laid out all of our gear / accessories the night before.  The weather was supposed to be sunny with temps of 27-30 at 8 am with the forecast calling for it to warm up to 40 by noon.  This made it difficult to plan the outfit since our run was likely going to encompass about 4 hours during which time we were expecting a 15-20 degree weather change.  I decided to go with shorts instead of pants, under armor cold gear shirt & t shirt covered by a windbreaker and then a hat and gloves.  I figured my legs would be a little cold to begin with, but I am planning on wearing shorts on race day, so I wanted this to be as close to the actual thing as I could get.  In addition to the close, I had all my accessories laid out as well.  These consisted of three powerbar sugar packets, ipod, sunglasses, running pack and my phone.  The morning seemed to progress well as Renee and I were right on time, leaving our house at 6:10.  We picked up our friend Lauren and headed out to BC.
    When we got to BC, it was still pretty cold outside.  I hopped out of the car and for a split second regretted my decision to wear only shorts.  I figured it was only temporary though and that once I started running around I would be fine.  We entered the gym where we checked in and waited for the buses.  I have to say, the scene in the gym was pretty impressive.  There were upwards of 150-200 people from our running group waiting in the gym for these buses (see pic below).  Again, they are of all ages, 20's up to 70's, and everyone of them was geared up to take on this 20 mile run.  Since I tend to run at a slow pace for our running group, I was loaded onto the first bus.  This meant that we would get out to the course first, that way when the fast people got out there, they wouldn't catch up to us for about 4-5 miles and it would help keep everyone somewhat together on the course.    The bus ride was long, which was a little bit unsettling since it I knew that we had to run the whole way back.  Ultimately, it dropped us off near the start of the race and all of the runners took off.
     After stretching for a big, I started my run.  Once I got moving, the chill that I had felt from being in shorts on a 30 degree day went away.  I started my pace out slow since I knew that this run was definitely an endurance run and that it was going to go on for upwards of 4 hours.  The run started out great.  It was nice to run with such a great group of people.  Like I said before, running in this large group really helps give you the "race day" type feel and makes running a lot easier and more enjoyable.  The first mile or two went by without a problem.  The course at this point is pretty rural, mainly consisting of houses and woods lining the road.   On top of it, the knee actually was feeling good.  The run continued through Ashland and into Framingham, where we could start to see the train tracks of the commuter rail.  At this point in time, our group had thinned out a little big, but on the flat straight aways you could see everyone.  I felt good at this point.   I had dressed correctly for the weather and wasn't too hot or too cold.  Unfortunately, as I passed the four mile mark my worst fear started to become a reality.  That all to familiar burning on the outside of my left knee.  I had dealt with it before and on past runs as long as I kept moving it had never really progressed.  Today, however, was a little bit different.  I turned up the music in the ipod thinking that if I could distract myself from it that it might go away.  As mile 6 came and went, the discomfort in my knee started to get a little worse.  The progression of this pain generally goes something like this .... a slight burning / painful sensation on the outside of the knee (location of where the IT Band crosses the knee and likely where all the inflammation of the bursa is), then a little bit of pain below the knee (location where the IT band connects to the tibia) and then as it really progresses the discomfort starts to work its was over the patella and into the back of the knee.  This ultimately ended up occurring right around mile 7.  I decided that if I could go a distance at a fast walk, that maybe it would help to loosen it up and I could get back to a slow jog.  The next two miles I essentially did at a power walk with intermittent pieces of attempting to jog.  As only my luck would have it, I was fine when I was walking quickly but the second that I started to try and jog ... all the discomfort came back. 
   Ultimately, I power walked my way into the water stop in Natick that was right around the 8-9 mile mark.  While I knew that I likely wasn't going to be able to run anymore, I decided that it probably wasn't worth walking the last 11 miles of the course.  Also, L Street will ultimately scoop you up to make sure that they don't leave anyone out on the course.  It was at the Natick water stop that I found one of the course monitors for L Street who was nice enough to pick me up and bring me back to BC where I would spend the next couple of hours waiting for everyone to finish their run. 
    So, not much to say about this one.  This was the big one, the longest of the long runs, the run on the actual course that I supposed to be running in three short weeks ... and I made barely made it 9 miles.  Like I said before, this run was a double edged sword.  Do well on it and you were going to be flying high and full of confidence heading into the race.  Totally bomb it like I did ... and ... well ... you feel like crap.  Frustrated and down I guess are the only words to describe how I felt after this one.  Its tough to train for something for nearly 5 months and then to bomb 3 weeks before the race. 
    Don't really have much more to say at this point ... back to the drawing board.

L Street Running Club.  Everyone getting ready to board the buses for the big run.

Getting ready for the big run.  I was hopeful I was going to be able to do it, but ultimately ended up getting having to get picked up and driven back to Boston College after 8-9 miles.

Renee getting ready for the big run.  Thankfully, she absolutely killed it.  She ran at a great pace and took out her personal vendetta on Heart Break Hill when she kicked on the afterburners.  In total, the 20 miles only took her 3 hrs and 36 minutes, which is nearly 40 minutes ahead of her marathon pace from last year.