i love boston

Our lives intersect.  This is what makes life so special.  Sometimes it’s for just a few hours, or a weekend.  Last week I ran the Boston Marathon in near-record heat.  It became one of the hardest races I have ever done, yet the run itself brought lots of inspiration. 

22,480 of us started this year's race

I had flown out early to catch up with my great friend Maggie, whom I have known since graduate school in New Orleans.  Then my longtime friend Susanne and her sister Beth arrived.  We had a full weekend together and were eventually joined by Mandy, one of Susanne’s training partners in Carlsbad.  Spring in Boston brought summerlike temperatures, trees in full bloom (gorgeous white and pink flowers) and tulips galore.

Maggie and I

A highlight at the expo on Saturday was the celebration of the 40^th anniversary of women being able to compete in the Boston Marathon.  Five of the original eight in the 1972 women's field were present: Valerie Rogosheske, Sara Mae Berman, Nina Kuscsik (first to be awarded the champion’s olive wreath), Pat Barrett, and Kathrine Switzer (she also ran with a race number in ’67 but it was considered a scandal since she had registered with her initials and the race director therefore did not know she was a female).  Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to run the Boston Marathon (unofficially, with no race number '66-'68), was also there. 

Bobbi Gibb, the first woman to ever run Boston talks about taking the bus from California to do the race in '66

Their stories about what it was like to compete in those early days were fascinating.  It was astonishing to hear how they were told they would ruin their bodies.  They were also escorted by male friends for protection, raced in street clothes, and relentlessly petitioned the Amateur Athletic Union to allow women into all sports, including the Olympic Marathon (which wouldn’t happen until 1984!).

These women were integral to the passage of Title IX

Superstars are everywhere in Boston on marathon weekend.  Sunday morning Beth and I got up early to watch my Flagstaff friend Janet compete in the Boston Athletic Association 5K.  She shaved 30 seconds off her personal best time, to place 4^th in a world class field.  Thrilling to see!!

Janet and me

Later that day Susanne, Beth, and I did our shakeout run around Boston Commons.  The park was teeming with life.  People were doing countless activities, even playing Quidditch (with imaginary broomsticks)!  I peeled off to finish my run along Bolyston Street.  Near the end, I popped into the Fairmount Hotel (adjacent to the finish line) and happened to see the ballroom where they were setting up a floor-ceiling, arcing, Boston Marathon results board: Open Men, Open Women, Wheelchair Division…so exciting.   All sorts of equipment was going up too.  As I walked toward the hotel lobby, there was Bill Rodgers, talking casually with others clad in jeans the official orange jacket of this year’s race.  Such a beautiful afternoon, wherein one could find quiet moments such as these amidst the building momentum. 

Once my strides were done I ambled over to Newbury Street to see if my favorite shoe store (which I had spotted that morning) had opened.  Historic buildings housing neat shops, sidewalks full of people, cafes and restaurants brimming…everyone was enjoying the afternoon warmth and sunshine.  Fortunately a credit card had fit into my shorts pocket and I was able to get some work shoes.  Even though I was there all sweaty, I got the best customer service plus several wonderful race wishes.  It’s magical and fun to be in Boston as Marathon Monday approaches. 

Beth, Susanne and I in Hopkinton

Race day loomed HOT and the BAA encouraged participants to “Adopt the attitude that THIS IS NOT A RACE.  It is an experience.”  My own coach echoed this sentiment about the extreme heat and high humidity: “Can’t control temperature but you can control attitude!  Choose to see it as a great day.”  Originally we had anticipated me going for my PR at this race, but instead I needed to let go of time and take a more relaxed approach.  The scent of Coppertone welcomed  runners to the Athletes’ Village in Hopkinton.   

Mandy, Susanne, Beth and I excited to run

Mandy and I were in the same corral, so we walked over to Main Street together.  She stopped at a lawn to get her name written both on her number and arm…next thing I knew, a Hopkinton resident was also writing “SARA” down each of my arms.  The national anthem was being sung as we approached the already-packed corrals.  Once inside ours, I glanced up and noticed that someone had decorated their second-story window with GOOD LUCK RUNNERS; this homemade touch is just the type of thing everyone out there does for us on Patriots’ Day.

Crossing the actual starting line in Hopkinton always makes my heart beat faster.  I have never been to a grander race.  There is nothing like it.  Favorite snapshots in my mind’s eye along this year's course include: road ahead seeming like a storybook, so packed with people and colors.  thousands of screaming fans.  string musicians, many drummers, a bagpiper.  kids on mini-trampolines, bouncing and cheering.  little ones singing On Wisconsin.  garden hoses, hydrants, cooling houses.  home owners with pitchers of water, popsicles, fruit, ice, and soaked paper towels.  "Yeah Sara!" and "You got this, Sara!" in Boston accents.  Wellesley girls sounding like a siren.  cups of Mardi Gras proportions underfoot. 

Upon finishing this year’s Boston Marathon I felt an intense wave of emotion.  Each person who supports this race does so from his or her heart.  It’s so genuine.  And never-ending.  Even after crossing the line, person after person was there to assist and congratulate.  There was also a steady stream of runners being wheeled into the medical tent, with others on cots, some with IV drips…I heard requests on the intercom for Spanish, then Japanese translators…love how international this event is.

For those who want to know such things (only because I’ve been asked a bunch about my time), I netted 3:25:56 for the course, was 2,508 overall, 276th amidst the 8,991 women, and 27th in my division of 1,522.  I improved my Boston time by 9 minutes yet was 10 minutes off my marathon PR, which was to be expected on such a sweltering day. 

My coach summed it up perfectly: “Some races the time may not mean anything but the way you fought did. When you look back over all the years it's not just the fastest ones that meant something.” This is absolutely how I feel.  The heat made it extremely difficult, but I had the support of so many friends and family to draw from; this, combined with the phenomenal deluge along the course, enhanced my experience beyond what the clock can measure.  

Boston is a very classy place.  The Boston Globe mentions every single finisher by name the next day (all 21,606 of us).  Restaurants print special menus for runners, billboards change, hotel managers hand out bananas and snacks on race day morning…you cannot go anywhere without being supported and encouraged. 

I heard a race official say that upwards of 20,000 volunteers touch this race.  Love pours out in so many forms.  Even flying out the next day, Southwest was still congratulating all the runners. 

Susanne, Beth, and I celebrated in grand style with a lavish dinner and high-end bottle of champagne

In many ways I feel like I just discovered Boston, even though I had been there a handful of times in the past.  We see things differently as the years go by, take in so much more sometimes.  I feel so fortunate to have been part of this year’s event.  It is something that will never come again, not with this exact mix of people and circumstances anyway.  Such a wonder that year after year this magnificent event happens. 

boston bound

I head to Boston this week, to run the marathon next Monday! 


Last fall my friend Susanne suggested a girls' trip, to celebrate fitness and friendship.  "I don't know about you," she said, "but I feel more fit at 40 than I did at 21!"  (she is on Team Timex and a three-time Ironman!) Susanne and her training partner Mandy are flying in from California, her sister Beth from Wisconsin, and me from Arizona.  Should be a fun weekend.  I'll kick it off with a visit to Maggie, a cherished friend I rarely get to see who I know from grad school.  She's a physician now, living and working just north of the city.

The last time I was in Boston was seven years ago.  I was there for a very special reason, to run the marathon in memory of Lillie Haskie.  Lillie was of the Toaheedliinii (Water Flows Together) Clan, born for the Totsohnii (Big Water) Clan; her maternal grandfather's clan was Honaghahnii (One Who Walks Around), and her paternal grandfather's clan was Tabaahi (Water Edge).  She had a deep passion for public health and took me under her wing from the moment I arrived in the heart of the Navajo Reservation in February 1999.  I would not have been able to accept my position with the Indian Health Service had it not been for her, as there was no government housing available.  A complete stranger (to her) at the time, she had me follow her home to Lukachukai, Arizona one day (the hospital I worked at was near Canyon de Chelly, about 45 minutes away).  She led me to a furnished house which even had a washer and dryer, pulled out a drawer and said, "Here are the forks" then disappeared into the night.  Her own home was nearby.  Before I knew it, Lillie was inviting me in for meals, then ceremonies, and suddenly I had a Navajo family of my own.  On the work front, Lillie was a registered nurse whose integrity, courage and vision made her the administrator of the Tsaile Health Center.  I could not have asked for a better person to learn from.  We worked together in Chinle Service Unit for over five years and shared many, many laughs.  Her tireless energy and dedicated efforts to make things better for the people in her community inspired me greatly.  She was an absolutely beautiful, strong example of the Navajo Way.
 

Lillie and I in 2001

So it was my great privilege to run the 109th Boston Marathon in her honor.  I collected pledges for every mile I ran.  Through this, her family and I established a memorial scholarship at her alma mater, Dine College (which is adjacent to the clinic she ran).  She was always encouraging further education and this scholarship (established in June 2005 as an endowment) now provides annual assistance to those pursuing life sciences.  The scholarship is aptly named Shandiin ("morning rays of sun"), reflecting Lillie's traditional values.  
   

Singlet my Navajo family made for me to race in

As you can see, my Navajo sister Cindy (on right in above photo) and her friend Carrie were the perfect cheering squad at my last Boston!  A great surprise that year was getting a hug from my heroine Uta Pippig just before the start of the race (she also signed my number, which mostly got washed away during the race, by wonderful people along the course who cooled us down with their garden hoses!).  Another highlight was attending a service at the Old South Church the day before the race, which lifted the spirits of all with songs, poems, and prayers geared toward running, from nations around the world; I sat next to a woman Coley there who not only made a significant donation to the scholarship but offered me her spare apartment in if I ever came back to Boston to run.  Somehow I also met a doctor from Kansas on the subway race day morning whose mother worked at a school near me on the reservation; we ended up riding the school bus shuttle together.  By the time we arrived in Hopkinton, we were friends.  He even snapped a photo of us with his disposable Kodak, which he later mailed to me (of course I had lunch with his mom when I got home, too!).  After the race I took my first ice bath ever (Runners in my hotel elevator were talking about this foreign concept...I didn't think I could do such a thing, but they said, "If you can run a marathon, you can stand six minutes in the ice bath."  So Cindy prepared one for me from the ice machine in the hotel hallway.  However, she didn't feel it'd be a good idea for me to take a hot shower afterward...BRRR!!  I was cold for a long while afterward, but it certainly did wonders for speeding my recovery!).

Boston PR

My first encounter with Boston came while I was a graduate student at the Tulane University School of Public Health a decade earlier.  Back then I ran the levees, roads, parks, and streetcar line of New Orleans every chance I got.  My training consisted of squeezing runs in between classes and jobs.  I often had to wear running clothes to class to make this happen.  A gracious friend-of-a-friend (Anthony) hosted me in Cambridge.

Just my second marathon, I went out way too fast then crashed and burned.  At the half marathon mark I pulled off the course to regain my composure.  It had become emotional.  By the time I reached the Newton hills I was seriously considering dropping out.  I wanted someone or something to make the experience easier.  I went into an aid station, only to have a medic tell me that if they touched me I'd be disqualified.  I contemplated this and found myself back on the course, resolving to finish no matter what.  Walking up that first hill, I starting "hearing" what the spectators were saying for the first time.  They were cheering.  For me.  And I was walking.  Wow.  I learned a valuable lesson that day, about what effort means.  They truly didn't care that I was not moving as fast as the others.  I was still out there doing it, and this is what they were celebrating.  The kindness of so many touched my heart that day.  I did a walk-run combo the rest of the way.  A woman I didn't even know helped me to start running again when I thought I could not..."C'mon, we're going to do this together," she said as we approached the final miles where spectators were six deep along either side of the course. 

After finishing I bumped into Peggy Keller, a Brookline native who bandited the race.  We had first met that morning in Hopkinton, in the extremely long bathroom line at the high school where runners used to hang out before the Athletes' Village was established.  I congratulated her and in her thick accent she said, "You don't understand, I've been watching this race my entire life."  She was one of the happiest persons I have ever seen, having accomplished her goal of someday doing the race.  She felt it was fate that we found each other again amidst the crowd, so we became penpals and kept in touch for years.  There was also a mixup with Anthony, my host, meeting me at the designated area (he thought I was still out on the course), so Peggy and her boyfriend gave me money for the train, which I took back out to Cambridge.  Donned in a mylar blanket and moving very slowly, I felt like an old woman since I could barely negotiate the subway steps and hobbled up the steep street to Anthony's place.  When he finally came home, after waiting for me on the course for hours, all he had for me was a huge smile and warm congratulatory hug, saying, "I'm so glad you're okay."  I will always remember Bostonians as some of the best people around.

That town goes all out for runners in a way I have never experienced elsewhere.  Favorite memories which swirl around when I hear "Boston" are subway signs that are changed to encourage marathoners, countless little hands after little hands (of kids) waiting for high-fives along the course, a story I heard about a $100 bill someone had under an orange slice on their hand for a runner, and the genuine support that comes in many forms from Sox fans spilling onto the sidewalk after the race...it's hard to beat marathon weekend in Boston and the special kind of love one gets out there on Patriot's Day. 

This year I'm in yet another phase of life, doing Boston for the first time since I've been living in Flagstaff.  I have a coach now, know so much more about training, and have awesome friends who sent me off in grand style last Saturday....I had asked my friend Janet to pace me for 10 miles of my final 16 miler before the marathon.  She not only said yes but invited a friend, who invited another friend...pretty soon I had four runners much faster than me carrying me along Lake Mary Road for my workout, making the run so much fun.  They helped me to dip under my target pace too (THANK YOU again Janet, Jeffrey, Ryan and Chris!), which is a great feeling. 

I am excited.  Like Susanne, I'm more fit than ever.  It will be great to see old friends and make new ones (inevitable at Boston), to watch Janet race the B.A.A. 5K the day before the marathon, and to experience Boston once more.  Who knows, a new marathon PR may even be in store...regardless, I can't wait to see what the East Coast brings this time around.