My Journey to Boston

Two weeks from now, hopefully around this exact time, I will be finishing the Boston Marathon.  This "check off my life list" has been a long time in the making.

 Rewind to eight years ago...

I was pregnant with Clare, and Phil and I flew to Boston to watch my dad run his 7th Boston Marathon.   My dad has always been my running inspiration.  I ran some of my very first races "with" him.  Granted, he was usually showered and fed by the time I crossed the finish line, but we have shared the running experience for over 15 years now.  

After watching my dad run the Boston Marathon, I knew that I would one day run it too.

(This picture isn't really part of the timeline, but I just love it.  This was our first/only time in Boston.  Phil and I were newlyweds, early pregnant, and full of dreams.  Now, eight years later, we still feel like newlyweds, we are blessed with three littles, and we are still full of dreams.)

So, in between pregnancies and babies, I attempted to train my way to qualifying for Boston.  I had several setbacks, and I began to think that it might not be in the cards for me.  After months of hard training, back in 2012, I was primed and ready to run the Missoula Marathon in Montana.  I was trained to qualify.  Ten days before the race, I broke my toe.

I still ran the race...with a broken toe.  Even though it was disappointing, it remains to be one of my most memorable races because Phil and I ran the whole thing together.  We were in the beautiful mountains of Montana, and we shared this experience that neither of us will ever forget.

 This was Phil's first marathon, 

and crossing the finish line hand-in-hand was pretty awesome!

 Side note: Had I qualified for Boston at the Missoula Marathon, I would have run the Boston Marathon in 2013.  That was the year of the bombings.  As Phil and I watched all the coverage that year, I remember Phil saying, "This is why you broke your toe."

Two years later, I set my sights on the Bayshore Marathon in Traverse City, Michigan.  The flat course and cool weather promised to make it a runner's dream for qualifying.  Phil and I registered for the race, started training, and bought our plane tickets to Michigan.  I TORE MY HAMSTRING!  The broken toe was nothing compared to the torn hamstring, and I was out of running for almost six months.  While I endured physical therapy and slow healing, I watched Phil train for the race that I really wanted to run.  My husband, who never really loved running, was pounding the pavement and basking in the euphoria of the runner's high.  I cheered him on from the sideline, and excitedly watched him finish his best race ever, and I just felt discouraged.

 Over the next couple of years, my running ebbed and flowed as our family grew.  I ran through most of my pregnancy with Myles, and then I started training with the goal of qualifying.  When Phil and I ran the Celebration Marathon, in 2015, I knew that I was going to qualify.  I was ready!

 There's nothing quite like setting a goal and accomplishing it.  I've reflected on that quite a bit over the past few years.  Mind over matter, and our minds are POWERFUL!

So, here we are!

I finished my last long run yesterday.

My training is done.

I have one huge blister,

  two black toenails (I'll spare you the picture of that), one chronically sore hamstring (from the tear in 2014), a start time assigned, a bib number assigned, and a house full of cheerleaders! I've talked with a handful of people who have run Boston, and they've all warned me that it is a tough course with lots of hills.  But, they've also encouraged me that it will be  an unforgettable experience.

So, unless I break a toe in the next few days (and even then),

Boston, here I come!