Marathon Mania

Phew!  It's been quite the week with the 118th Boston Marathon on Monday and my marathon that I will run on Saturday.  Which may explain why I have been in a FANTASTIC mood all week.  I'm just bursting with smiles & excitement everywhere I turn.

After watching like a crazed mad woman the Boston Marathon I was so pumped up!  I wanted to run out the door right then & there and run 26.2 myself.  I should note that not everything about Boston was all so perfect & peachy king.  It started out near perfect.  Shalane (we're so close we're on a first name basis, ya know) was leading....no blazing on the marathon course.  I really fully believe she was going to go all the way & win.  I was also super pumped about Desi who I hadn't paid that much attention to in years past.  I mean she was on my radar, but I just didn't give it much thought.  And after hearing & realizing her 2nd place finish at the 2011 Boston Marathon (start watching at about 2:30) I was definitely having high hopes for her to come out & crush it.  On the men's side there is my ever favorite Ryan Hall (it's not that we're not *tight*, but in my book he earns a first & last intro every. single. time.)  Anyway, Ryan....he's my boy.  Always #1 to me, no matter how he finishes.  And, of course, Meb & Abdi.  Obviously no matter how you break it down I was looking for an American on both sides to not only win, but maybe dominate this race.

I started out watching the race with a lot of jumping around, clapping and yelling even though I was the only one in the room.  I even had both tvs turned on so that I could hear & see no matter where I moved about on the main level of my home.  (I did have a sleeping teenager upstairs....she woke earlier than usual, I think because of the ruckus I was creating.)  I also jumped on facebook, gave a fair warning to my peeps and began a posting frenzy.  I was into this year's race 110%!!

Everything was going great & *perfect* until they were having technically difficulty and when they came back & Shalane was no where to be found.  And all they seemed to say was "What happened to Shalane...."  At first I thought....good one, she's surged ahead of the pack.  After a bunch more "technical difficulties" the finally reported that she had dropped back.  Siiiigh. On the guys side of the race, the Americans took the front from the get go, but soon my precious Ryan was nowhere to be seen.  Siiiiiiiigh.   Long story short (if you don't already know) despite setting an American record Shalane did not win.  Meb did win, the first American in 30 some years.  No matter how you look at it it was a great day in Boston marathon history!

All of this excitement has made me start declaring that I WILL RUN BOSTON next year.  I'm already qualified, but this year didn't seem to be a good year to do it.  Perhaps I'll requalify and could go at other years in the future, but there is no guarantee.  So I'm just getting in the mindset that I'll be there!   Gaaaaah!  In the meantime it made me nervous, anxious in a good way to go bursting out the door and run a marathon right then and there.  In fact, it's been building in me all week.  Normally being in taper mode leaves people like this:

But I've been like this:

It's taken a lot of restraint to not just go out and tear up the road on a good long run.  Hopefully so much contained energy will be very beneficial for Friday & Saturday's run.

Tomorrow I leave town for my marathon weekend.  I'm nervous, excited, anxious and so much more.  Not only am I ready to just get it over with, but with all the excitement and inspiration behind Boston, I'm ready to take it on!



Did you watch the Boston Marathon this year?