Boston Marathon, April 20th, 2009
After running at Disney in January, I took a break from running. Not just a reduction down to casual running, but rather a complete stop to running. In February I did something to my left knee that made me stop running completely; it was just too painful (As of May, I still can’t run).
Anyone that knows me knows I do not do well when forced to change. Additionally, when your activity level goes down and your food consumption stays the same, you gain weight. It was safe to say that I was not a happy camper. The spring 2009 Marathon season was a bust for me.
Given the above predicament, I decided to be a volunteer at the Boston Marathon. Man do these people know how to put a race together. This race, in recent years has become very large – now over 27,000 runners, while just 10 years ago it was 1/5 that size. Nonetheless, the organization was impeccable. Though I had never before been a volunteer at a race, I was always the racer, this became a small first step, for me, in paying back what so many have given me over the last 6 years I have been racing.
The Boston Marathon is the oldest marathon in the United States and it has always been a race for true, dedicated runners – no Mickey Mouse here. To keep Boston a Real Race means that you need to qualify to run it – you first must run a marathon in a given time or you don’t get to race. There are some (20 %) that run for charities, but the rest have earned there way in by qualifying in another marathon. How tough is it? Well, only about 10% of all the marathoners run fast enough to qualify. The Boston Marathon has the second fastest overall times of all marathons in the USA!
My assignment on race day was at the starting line in Hopkinton 26.2 miles West of Boston. The race is a point-to-point race that finishes in the city of Boston. I was at my station at 5:45 AM – in most of MA we get the day off as a holiday (Patriot’s Day), so here I was in a cold tent mixing Gatorade and filling cups for when the runners would show up in 2 hours. The race starts at 10 AM and this year we had cold, damp weather – about 42 degrees and steady wind coming from Boston.
Most of the runners skipped my table and stood in line for coffee – it was that kind of day. While standing at my table of 300 cups I watched the runners pass by me to get the hot coffee and they had that look.
Normally before the race there is a mix of people, some had run marathons before, while for others it was there first time. The First Timers were always so excited, often to the point of not being able to control there bodily functions. But most of the time, they simply could not contain themselves and talk with anyone that will listen just to release the stress. After many weeks of training, First Timers will be truly tested since during training you never typically run a full 26.2 miles – not recommended; it is just wears you out, so you end up topping out at running 18-22 miles. So the First Timers don’t know what to expect at 19 or 20 or 25 miles; they had never been there before.
After running at Disney in January, I took a break from running. Not just a reduction down to casual running, but rather a complete stop to running. In February I did something to my left knee that made me stop running completely; it was just too painful (As of May, I still can’t run).
Anyone that knows me knows I do not do well when forced to change. Additionally, when your activity level goes down and your food consumption stays the same, you gain weight. It was safe to say that I was not a happy camper. The spring 2009 Marathon season was a bust for me.
Given the above predicament, I decided to be a volunteer at the Boston Marathon. Man do these people know how to put a race together. This race, in recent years has become very large – now over 27,000 runners, while just 10 years ago it was 1/5 that size. Nonetheless, the organization was impeccable. Though I had never before been a volunteer at a race, I was always the racer, this became a small first step, for me, in paying back what so many have given me over the last 6 years I have been racing.
The Boston Marathon is the oldest marathon in the United States and it has always been a race for true, dedicated runners – no Mickey Mouse here. To keep Boston a Real Race means that you need to qualify to run it – you first must run a marathon in a given time or you don’t get to race. There are some (20 %) that run for charities, but the rest have earned there way in by qualifying in another marathon. How tough is it? Well, only about 10% of all the marathoners run fast enough to qualify. The Boston Marathon has the second fastest overall times of all marathons in the USA!
My assignment on race day was at the starting line in Hopkinton 26.2 miles West of Boston. The race is a point-to-point race that finishes in the city of Boston. I was at my station at 5:45 AM – in most of MA we get the day off as a holiday (Patriot’s Day), so here I was in a cold tent mixing Gatorade and filling cups for when the runners would show up in 2 hours. The race starts at 10 AM and this year we had cold, damp weather – about 42 degrees and steady wind coming from Boston.
Most of the runners skipped my table and stood in line for coffee – it was that kind of day. While standing at my table of 300 cups I watched the runners pass by me to get the hot coffee and they had that look.
Normally before the race there is a mix of people, some had run marathons before, while for others it was there first time. The First Timers were always so excited, often to the point of not being able to control there bodily functions. But most of the time, they simply could not contain themselves and talk with anyone that will listen just to release the stress. After many weeks of training, First Timers will be truly tested since during training you never typically run a full 26.2 miles – not recommended; it is just wears you out, so you end up topping out at running 18-22 miles. So the First Timers don’t know what to expect at 19 or 20 or 25 miles; they had never been there before.
At Boston, there are virtually no First Timers, so the look is different. The mood is sober, very little laughing; just hushed talk could be heard in the coffee line. Those that did take Gatorade always said thank you with a look in there eyes of “I made it, to the most elite race in the world” and they also said; this is serious business. The look showed me they were going through the race in their minds, “Don’t start out too fast like before, save it for Heartbreak Hill, don’t get too caught up with the pace of others, run my own race, dammit and raise your hands when you cross that finish line!”
Since the Gatorade was not so popular, I was re-assigned to The Gear Buses at 9 AM. At the Gear Buses, you take any gear the runners shed right before the 2 wave start. Often it is the clothing you needed for the 2 hour wait since it was so cold out, but won’t need once you start running. Each runner has their bib number on a plastic bag and hand it through my school bus window. Each time I get a bag, I say, “Good Luck and don’t forget your bag will be at the finish line in this bus, bus 57.” I know they will not remember what I said because now the mood has changed.
I am pretty sure at 15 minutes before the start, you could walk up to any runner and say, “I love you and I want to have your baby!” and they would most likely reply, “Okay, fine” and walk away. At this point, you are in a daze and I sometimes can’t even recall those 15 minutes. The fear is showing, but this crowd has experience and this is the greatest marathon in the land so they walk away from my bus to the coming battle of 26.2 miles. No one looks back, only forward to the starting line.
At 10:20, ten minutes before the start of the second wave, it becomes a ghost town near the buses. Only empty cups rolling around, some abandoned sweat shirts and sweat pants lie on the ground and the bank of Port-A-Potties are empty. For me, the race is over before it has started and I do not like it at all, it leaves me empty and frustrated and jealous. Next time I will be wearing a bib too.
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