"I can tell you ran the Marathon by the way you're walking." - Homeless man on Boylston
Miles Ran: 517.98 Dollars Raised: $3,662.46 (THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO CAME TO MY UNO'S EVENT!!! (The check finallyyyy arrived...))
It's taken two days for my emotions to sink in and make me realize what I just did.
I got myself together this morning and made my way to work where I was greeted by so many excited, happy faces that wanted to hear all about the race. Retelling it a few times and hearing peoples' reactions brought such a smile to my face. I really wasn't that sore today, but mainly let myself fall into my desk chair, and used my arms to push myself up.
At lunch I went to meet my friend Jen who had originally been my running mentor a year ago. It was SO nice to catch up with her, and talk to someone who could completely empathize with the experience I was talking to her about. If she hadn't put me in touch with Rick, my experience would be nowhere near as amazing, if it would have happened at all. On my way back to the office I was racing time and had no cars in front of me on the Riverway for the majority of the time, so, I'll admit, I was flying. Of course I came up over a small hill where the speed limit had just dropped to 25 MPH and there was a nice cop to meet me in the middle of the road with his radar gun and direct me to the side. Here's the conversation:
Cute Cop: License and registration.
I hand it to him with a "what are you gonna do to me?" look on my face.
He looks down at me, and my medal.
Cute Cop: So. You ran the Marathon on Monday?"
Me: I did! Apparently I couldn't stop myself from wanting to continue to go fast..
Me: I did! Apparently I couldn't stop myself from wanting to continue to go fast..
Cute Cop: How'd you do? Are you sore?
Me: 4:19! Yes, I'm a little sore today. Have you ever ran one?
Cute Cop: No.. I always wanted to, I just do a few miles.
Me: Oh you could totally do it! I was NEVER a runner before a year ago!
Cute Cop:...so do you drive down here often?
Me: No sir, very rarely.
Cute Cop: Well right before this overpass it changes to 25MPH.
Me: I..uh..woiejngsklfnsoskjfnsfwoihjf
He hands me back my identity.
Cute Cop: Congratulations.
Me: THANK YOUUU!
My medal got me out of a speeding ticket? SWEET!
When I got back to work I was elated to see that my jacket had arrived! Isn't she pretty?!
After work I went down to acupuncture where Jessica told me I was the last of her patients to tell her how I did--so I was excited to tell her all about it, and happy to hear that ALL of her patients finished! I think that's quite an impressive success rate! She played such an instrumental role in my recovery, I had to write her a thank you note telling her how much I appreciated all of her work. I'm going to start tapering down with her to see how my foot can do on it's own.
As I walked down Boylston afterward I felt like I was looking at it through a new lens. I don't think I will ever look at Boylston or Beacon Street the same way again, without remembering what it was like being cheered on my thousands of people, family and friends to succeed.
When I got home I came to a strange realization: I finished in 4:19 ON 4/19! So weird! Now if only I could find a Marathon on March 30th...
What made the tear gates really flood was talking to my grandmother again about how much she and my grandfather loved being a part of my special event, and then seeing this one photo that was taken of me during the last leg of the race down Boylston. It's probably too small to see the details, but I remember exactly what I was thinking by the look on my face.
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I'm almost there.. This is it.. Man, I'm going to actually do this.
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