The 113th Running of the Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon took place today. It's hard to believe that its been one year, and yet only one year, since I crossed that finish line myself.


It's funny how much has changed in that year and what a place that day holds for me-- one that I never expected it to hold. On the one hand that day gives me so much pride in myself-- I ran my first marathon (to date my only marathon, but that's a temporary thing). I accomplished a goal I had written on my proverbial bucket list on one of the worst days in my life. It took me years to get there, but I toed the line of the Boston Marathon, and inspite of a fluke of an injury, I saw that to completion. I am now and will always be incredibly proud of myself for that achievement.

On a very different hand, that day changed me in ways I never predicted. I had always told myself that the day I got into the kind of shape that made running a marathon achievable, I was going to keep it up because that was the kind of shape I determined to be ideal. I'll go into more of why that mindset shifted later, but suffice it to say I got there and realized it wasn't ideal shape at all-- in fact it was quite far from it. The Boston Marathon wound up being a catalyst for all of these thoughts on health and fitness and wellness that have consumed the last year for me-- and by consumed, I mean precisely that.

The epiphany I had that began that day was that, as a runner, I was trapped in a cycle of running injury to injury and that had started to feel normal... and in keeping with all the other runners and triathletes around me. As runners we ran when we could and when we couldn't, we were in physical therapy, getting MRIs, getting enhanced shoes, orthotics, etc. to keep us going. While the foot cramp I experienced during the actual race itself was just a blip on the radar, this was my first race back from months of PT for IT Band syndrome. Almost every runner I know has been sidelined by IT Band issues. It was followed shortly by a pain in my hip flexor that was likely a strain or microtear of my psoas. In addition to those two bookmarks, I knew to expect any of a number of pains and debilitations-- tendonitis, plantar fasciitis, quad tears, hamstring tears, ACL tears, stress fractures, you name it... the list is long.

I love to run. I always want to run. I did PT and remember all too well being told I might not be able to run again and when injury set in again I knew I was going to do whatever I had to do to stop that cycle in its tracks. And so began Chapter 2 that this blog will chronicle.

So Happy Boston Marathon day.
And happy Chapter 2, finding health and wellness day.

And tomorrow, I promise to share with you how that journey unfolds.