I love Boston, especially it's famous 26.2 miles

it's been a great weekend...
Let's see, I was on call all Saturday, and did not get called in. On Sunday I went in to Boston in the early afternoon to hang out with Mark a bit. We went to the Franklin Park Zoo since he doesn't ever remember going to the zoo as a kid. Well, it was different, and a little depressing, but I am glad he went. The tigers looked really sad, especially since I saw them as cubs.
Then there was the Tufts Pasta dinner in Medford. Mark had agreed to go with me, which was really nice of him. Of course, overall I am confident and handle social situations well, but sometimes I get so awkward. Well, I didn't know how to introduce Mark to people since he is technically not a boyfriend. So my vet school friends showed up and caught me by surprise while Mark and I were looking at pics on the wall and I kind of forgot to introduce him. As they walked away Mark said "Feel free to introduce me anytime"...oops. I did not mean to be such a twat, but realized that I had. Well, we ate dinner with them and I think it all worked out when I introduced him then, but I felt like such an idiot. Overall the dinner was nice, and it was nice to have a friend there with me. I tried to get to bed early that night, and think it was a success when I was asleep by 10:30.

On Marathon Monday, the Massachusetts Patriot's Day, I got up at 530am to catch the bus from the Medford Tufts school (around the corner from Mark's place thank goodness). The Medford bus got on I-93 and took us to the park in Boston. We drove by a couple miles of school buses lined up to load runners up and take them to the start line in Hopkinton. At the park we waited in line for 40 minutes, and once on the bus I had my PB&J breakfast. It took over an hour and a half to get to he Hopkinton High School's Athlete's Village. I was very lucky and actually found my fellow vet school runners, Marc, Amy, Shiela, and Suzanne. We were all pumped, and the sun came out too. At 10:10 we started walking towards the start line. Of course, once the race started for us (10:30) we were still walking about a mile away towards it in a huge crowd. At one point Marc turned to me and said "So yeah, I ran in the Boston Parade". Finally at 10:46 I crossed the finish.

I started running and promised myself not to go too fast. My bad habit in marathons is that I can run a 7-8 minute mile for the first 6-7 miles, but then I peeter out and die in the end. All the experienced runners and coaches say you need to run slow at first and then you can maintain your pace. So I made a huge effort not to run over a 9 minute pace when I started.

Christina and Pete had told me they would be at the 6-7 mile mark, near the Natick-Framingham line. I told them depending on when I started I would see them between 1130 and noon. At mile 6 I started scanning the crowd for them. Mile 7 was the Natick-Framingham line, and still no Christina and Pete, but the crowd was thick so I was looking hard. At mile 8 I was so disappointed since I thought I had missed them, when suddenly I head a huge shriek "LINDSEY!!!" There they were, with a massive pink poster board sign saying "Go lindsey! #25053!!!" I couldn't stop beaming (the pic is one they took of me at that point). Then there was the Natick Animal Hospital at mile 9, with John, Lisa, and Dean Debbie cheering me on. By this point I was trying to ignore the endless shrieks saying "Go LIndsey" since I didn't know most of the people yelling it (my name was written on my shirt). When suddenly at mile 10 I hear "Nielsen!!!" and there are Corynne and Meredith, Corynne ran out of the crowd to give me a high five.

The Wellesley women at mile 13 have a rep for being great screamers, and a billboard at the wellesley town line said "Brace your ears" which made me smile. The course was even better then last year, since there was more of a crowd with the weather being beautiful. Mile 16 was the start of the Newton hills, and this was the moment when I knew all those runners ad coaches were right. If I had torn out of the start line at a fast pace I think I would of wanted to die there, but instead I hit the hills and felt so strong. I charged up them like it was no problem, not slowing my pace at all. I can't tell you how good of a feeling it was. At that moment I actually didn't need the crowd to scream my name cause the ease with which I could prance up the hills made me smile alone. Just thinking about it now makes me smile and feel slightly euphoric, I think it was the best runner's high I have had yet. Wow. I kicked those hill's asses. At mile 21 I felt like I was flying over the top of the last hill in to the sea of wacky undergrad students at Boston College, and I knew it was almost over, yet I didn't want it to stop. I kept my pace. The only snag was mile 22 I realized I kind of needed to go to the bathroom, but I could grin and bear it, I only had four more miles, and I could see that lovely Citgo sign. At mile 24 I sent my text message to all my friends saying I was 2 miles away from the finish. Ryan met up with me at mile 25 and ran along side me for 0.5 miles, it was fun, he even held my runners belt that had my cell for it, which was a relief. He left me at .7 miles from the finish, and the moment I saw Hereford I think I upped my pace by 30 seconds a mile. I chared on to Bolyston, running by Newbury where Christina and Pete were waiting with my sign. And with the finish in site I picked up my pace as best I could. The funny thing was about 100 feet from the finish I stepped on some ball of tape and it stuck to my shoe, and I really wanted to kick it off, but realized it would not come off, so rather then stop just in front of the finish to pick it off, I had a bit of a lop-sided gait as I pushed through the finish and met Larry Bacow, The Tufts University Prez, who told me I looked amazing and like I could do it again (in my mind, I probably could). Don also said I looked great (our coach) and complimented me on how fit I looked. I was getting texts right and left, and my time was 4:09, which was 18 minutes better then my last marathon's time.

I picked up my stuff from the buses, changed in what was supposed to be a womens' tent but ended up co-ed, and met Christina and Pete (who brought me flowers, awww) and went to Sunset Bar and Grill. There we met up with Beth and Ryan too. And Nadine came a little later. We had a nice dinner, I had my post race beer, and came close to falling asleep from it. I won't lie, the night was not perfect, but that is my own fault. My friends were amazing and I am so lucky to have them. They supported me so much, and I can't wait to break 4 hours in my next marathon. : )

Back to wildlife land today, which was great. Katie made me a vegan cake with my time on it. And all my patients are doing great. We released my great horned owl tonight. And a common loon came in which was cool. I am on call again tonight, and need to get started on my powerpoint for grand rounds. yippee.