Road to Boston: Brookline to Boylston

    This was it ... the home stretch.   I had successfully made it over the Newton Hills, but they definitely took their toll on me. Thankfully the Brookline portion of the race has a fair amount of down hill sections. Despite the fact that things were now starting to hurt (hips, knees and feet), I couldn't help but smile when I looked at my GPS watch and saw that I had run 20 miles. 20 miles! Can you believe that ... I actually ran 20 miles! The downside to 20 miles, was that I still had another 6.2 to go.
    When I got into Brookline I needed to come up with a new strategy about how I was going to get to the finish line because I was totally spent at this portion of the race. Unfortunately, this was the portion of the race that I hadn't trained for since I was hampered by those IT Band issues. Normally, when training for a marathon, runners plan on doing a 20 or 22 mile run in preparation for the actual race. This means that they have to run 5 or 6 miles further on race day and are generally in good shape to do so. The bad news for me was that my longest run was 15 miles ... which means that I had already run 5 miles further than I had ever done in my training (or my life) ... and now had to come up with a way to run another 5 or 6!
     Yet again, where strategy came into play. I owe this one to Scott Jurek, the ultramarathoner that we saw do a presentation at the marathon expo. He said that when you get in situations like this, its important not to focus on the distance that remains but rather to break it up into smaller, more achievable goals. He often says that on his long runs he will focus on running to the next aid station or the next area of shade and finds that this strategy helps makes these remaining distances possible. Thus, this is what I decided to do. I figured I would stick with my strategy of speed walking up any sort of incline that came my way, decided that I would let loose on any downhills that were left and took the flat sections by the street light. I guess I need to explain what "by the street light" means. I decided that to break the race into manageable sections that I would run the distance of 2-3 street lights and then walk the distance of 1 street light. While running 3 blocks and walking 1 doesn't seem like a great way to complete a marathon, it was really all I had at this point in the race.
      Besides the fatigue that was setting in ... things really started to ache in the last few miles. In addition to everything that already hurt, my feet started to kill during these last few miles. I guess thats what happens when you have been running for over 4 hours ... your feet hurt. It didn't feel like an injury but more of just a pure soreness from the pounding they had taken during the trek from Hopkinton to Boston. Regardless, I kept with my strategy of running and walking ... and it seemed to work out.
      The remaining mileage slowly started to disappear. Before I knew it ... 22 miles turned into 23 ... 24 ... and then I ran through Kenmore Square! That was it, I was back in familiar territory ... places that I had run before with L Street! I was almost there, unfortunately I just didn't have enough gas in the tank to run it all the way in so I kept with my run / walk strategy. Shortly after Kenmore I saw the sign that said "1 Mile Left"! I was almost there. As the distance evaporated, I made my way under the Mass Ave overpass and came back up onto the level road.
       Up ahead of me, I saw the sharp right turn and I knew I was almost there! Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston ... that was all that laid ahead of me. I made the right turn and worked my way up Hereford, then I took a hard left turn onto Boylston and I saw it ... the finish line was finally in view. Its hard to describe what I felt when I made the left turn onto Boylston. One year ago, I remember watching the marathon at this corner and waiting for Renee to make the turn. Its hard to explain, but I took a "mental snapshot" of the view looking down Boylston, with the streets chalked full of cheering fans and I remember thinking to myself that maybe one day I would be running down this road. Its an image that I recall from my memory at the end of every workout I have had ... this is what I picture during the last minutes of every workout to make sure that I finish strong.
       Now ... it was a reality ... I was running down Boylston and was only a few hundred feet from the finish line. One of the tricky things about Boylston is that although you can see the finish line the second you make the turn, I seriously think the line is at least 0.4 miles away which at that point in the race seems like forever. I kept pushing forward and the line got closer and closer. Before I knew it, I was crossing the finish line.
       I had done it. A goal that I set for myself nearly five months ago had finally been achieved. I honestly would have broken down in tears if it wasn't for the fact that as I crossed the line my utter exhaustion was replaced by pure happiness and excitement when I saw Renee there waiting for me. While she likes to rub in the fact that she "had been waiting there forever" (in reality it was about 15 minutes) ... I was happy she was there and couldn't have pictured a better finish to the race.
   There really aren't any words to sum up how unbelievable it felt to cross that line. Honestly, I haven't stopped smiling since I did it almost a week ago today. Without a doubt this was the third greatest day in my life ... only behind the day that I got married and the day that I graduated medical school.   As always, I want to thank the people that helped me get to the finish because there is no way I would have been able to do it alone:

- Tom & Lyn - Renee and I appreciate everything you have done for us. There is no way that I ever would have dreamed this was possible if you weren't kind enough to get Renee a number last year. And of course, there is no chance I would have been able to find a number this year without your help! I am eternally grateful.
- Renee - For all the support and encouragement that you gave me over the past few months. I know it wasn't easy dealing with me through my ups and downs, but I appreciate everything. I am so glad you were there at the line when I crossed.
- Mom & Dad - For getting me to where I am today
- Declan - For all of the physical therapy over the past few weeks. I appreciate your dedication and was really impressed that you were nearly as invested in this race as I was.
- Dr. Matzkin - For giving me the cortisone shot, without which I may not have been able to run the race.
- All our friends - For all the support and help with fundraising.

       I have literally worn my marathon jacket everyday and can't stop thinking about the next marathon that I am going to run. The feeling is addicting ... and I can't wait to get my next marathon fix. As of now, I am going to take a couple of weeks to work on strengthening my knee. During this time I am going to try to focus on swimming and biking so that I can hopefully complete a sprint triathlon later this summer. I plan on starting my training for the Marine Corps Marathon in late June.

Thankfully the last few miles of the course had a decent amount of downhill sections. If I had to go over one more hill, it could have gotten ugly!

The home stretch. While it doesn't seem like much, that little divot (the underpass) at 25.5 miles or so really takes its toll!

Making the turn onto Boylston. I literally have nothing left in the gas tank at this point, but am just trying to dig it out for a little bit longer. After this turn, the finish line comes right into view.