Boilermaker 2009

A couple of Sundays ago, I ran the Boilermaker for the first time. Other than a half marathon, this was the longest race I've ever participated in. I was more than a bit nervous, as this would be my longest run since my injury. During the week, I ran 7 miles. I felt so good, I went directly to spin class for an hour. BIG OOPS! This was too stressful on my knee and I wasn't able to run again until the day of the race.
I boarded the bus to Utica at 4:15 AM and we arrived at 7:30, with thirty minutes to start time. We all went straight to registration, got our timing chips and then headed to the port-o-pots. Bib numbers for this race are color-coded based on your estimated finish time. As a complete newbie, I had a grey bib and started at the end of the pack. With over 10 thousand runners, it took me almost 10 minutes to get to the start. This is the largest race I have ever run and as always, I get more excited as I talked to other runners while waiting to make our way to the start.
Overall, I had a great race. I will definitely be doing this again. The race is incredibly well organized and there are fans cheering you on the entire way. I can only hope that the Marine Corps Marathon is similar in this fashion. It was really invigorating and motivating to have people cheering on the side of the road for 9+ miles. I finished in 1:34:21 which I feel is pretty respectable all things considered. If I had kept that pace for the half marathon, I would have finished a half hour earlier! I did make a bad nutrition decision in not taking a gu packet at the 10K mark, but hey, live and learn, right? Next time I won't make the same mistake. Actually, this week on my long run, I won't make that same mistake! I have to say, this race was really fun and did a lot in improving my overall morale. Just the days before the race, my surgeon told me I couldn't do bike-run bricks or race in a triathlon until August. This race gave me back some of my confidence in myself and my strength.