Heading to Boston

(First posted April 11, 2008.)

I have to confess that rarely a day goes by these days in which I don't check the weather in Boston. Specifically, I'm looking for forecasts for Boston on April 21.

Why that day? Because that's the day of the Boston Marathon. I'm one of a handful of fortunate El Pasoans (and one Santa Teresan that I know of) who will get the opportunity to run in what is considered to be, rightly or wrongly, the crème de la crème of marathons.

Why's Boston such a big deal? Perhaps because it's the oldest marathon in the United States. Or perhaps because it has the biggest payouts for the winners. (I'm not sure if those two statements are true, but they probably are.) Or perhaps because it, for the most part, only takes people who have run a qualifying time.

Also, it generally has the highest caliber of elite marathon runners every year. Of course, I'm not ever going to be in that category, because I'm an amateur who would be incredibly happy running an hour slower than the top runners.

But there is something magical about running in the same marathon as the top marathoners in the world. I guess it would be like getting an at-bat in the World Series, or playing in the same tournament as Tiger Woods. The odds are impossible-to-none that you would beat him, but in theory -- very much only in theory -- you could somehow pull it off.

Last year I ran Boston for the first time. After failing three times, I finally ran a qualifying time to get into Boston at the Arizona Rock N Roll Marathon in Phoenix in January 2007. I was so excited to have finally qualified that I couldn't put off running Boston, so I immediately made plans for the 2007 Boston Marathon after qualifying.

It turned out to be an odd year to run Boston. The weather took a chilly, windy, rainy turn as a Nor'easter blew into town. At one point, the organizers even considered canceling the race for the first time in its 111 years. The forecast suggested snow, sleet and icy conditions, and the honchos feared having runners slipping on the ice or freezing from the cold.

As it turned out, the weather was bad, but not horrible. The winds were strong, but not unbearable. And the rain was steady, but not overwhelming. I'm told it wasn't a typical Boston Marathon. The weather, of course, was atypical. Also, the crowds of spectators, which seemed enormous to me, were supposedly about one-third of normal -- the weather kept them away.

I like to think I could've run the race faster under better conditions. I hope to find out this year if I can.

This year, something else might help besides the weather. I've been training with three others who are also going to Boston. One of the three, Kevin Evans of Santa Teresa, came across a training program that focuses on heavy increases in mileage. My mileage topped out at 80 miles a week, but I think Kevin (and Angie Song and Larisa Pitchkolan, who also gave the program a try) did more.

It was rough. But fun. The best part of running a marathon, I believe, is training for it. The long runs, the speed workouts, the easy days -- it all is enjoyable if you like running outdoors. And I like running outdoors.

This may sound odd, but I think humans were born to run, or at least to walk and move long distances. There wouldn't be people living throughout the world, or in our case in El Paso, if we humans hadn't had a desire to move.

But I digress. The Boston Marathon is just over a week away. Kevin, Angie, Larisa and I aren't the only ones from the area running in it. From what I see on the Boston Marathon website, other El Pasoans planning to make the trek are Robin Langford, David Leary, Belinda May and Gretchen McElroy (who, by the way, is an outstanding triathlete).

Except for Gretchen, I don't know them, but I did hear that one or two of them might not make it to Boston, or they may defer their entries to next year.

If that's the case, I hope they do manage to run the Boston Marathon some time, if only to enjoy the magic. And maybe, just maybe, if only theoretically, they'll manage to win the most prestigious marathon in the world.