Boston (Page 3)

Here's an update on Ron:

For those of you who don't know Ron's amazing story, I've copied it below from the 30runs in 30 days thread!  He is just awesome!

I started running by chance really. I bought a treadmill and vowed to not let it become a cloths hanger to lose some weight. After I retired from the Navy I quit smoking and got fat, close to 250 pounds. I started walking on the treadmill and after about two months, I could barely walk a mile at a slow pace at first, I found that a slow jog caused my legs to cramp up less. There was a 5k in town in about two weeks so I called an old Navy buddy who runs marathons and told him what I had been doing and if he thought I could run the 5k. I had only to managed to run 1/4 mile at a time at this point and was still above 200 pounds. He said I could do it and to sign him up, he would come out and run it with me. He showed up at about 2 in the afternoon and as old Navy guys will do, we started drinking beer right away and did not stop until my daughter who was running the race too came out in the garage and asked us if we were going to bed, it was 3:30 in the morning. We managed to get up and make the starting line, I ran the whole way, still drunk, is just under 29 minutes and I was hooked. That was mid March of 2009.

I ran 4 half marathons that fall and my first marathon the following spring a year exactly from the 5k. I hated running in the Navy too and would only do the 1.5 miles we had to do twice a year. I joked I was in the 3 mile a year club. I found that I really enjoy running and how it has transformed me as a person both on the inside and out. I am probably in the best shape of my life and if I ate better, not going to happen, and drank less beer, not going to happen either, I would probably be in even better shape. So now in less than 4 years I have run 11 marathons and 2 ultras, Qualified and ran Boston once and plan to return next year. First marathon was in March of 2010.

Here is an article my local paper did on me after my 50 miler. The only thing really wrong with the story is I have lost over 100 pounds not 80.

http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/562419/-A-choic...

And he is just a gem of a human to boot.  Go RON!

BT BOSTON UPDATE:

Brad:

Nate (who mentioned he's been struggling with some IT band issues):

Adrienne:

Ron:

Cathleen:

Sending you all lots of positive thoughts for those Newton Hills!

Yes, this is true, though I do  wonder why she decided to lead so early and for so long. 

i giggle every time i see someone stop their watch on the finish line and imagine their official finisher photo...

Brad missed sub-3 with a 3:02:07... but he still ran sub 7 minute miles for a marathon. AMAZING!

The emotions of this day had to be pretty dang strong. I can't imagine running against (or with) that all day. My hat is off to all of the racers!

I welled up a bit seeing Meb well up during the National Anthem.

Congratulations to all of the runners today, especially to those in our BT family.

It looks like there were some tough miles out there.  The course is humbling.  It can make you unpack your demons mile by mile.  And there is no longer 800 meters than Boylston.  I'm looking forward to hearing about the day's events and reading those race reports.  

Kudos and hugs to all of you! xo.

I agree, the sustained speed is just amazing.  I can't click off one sub 5:18 mile, and Jeptoo averaged that for the race.  One year I got on an elevator with a group of  Kenyan marathoners the night before the Chicago Marathon.  It became very, very clear why I would never ever run like that; I could have fit two of them inside of me.  They're so tiny!

Sometimes I'll take the gym treadmill up to 11mph for a minute or so at a time (in a speedwork progression)--and I am completely spent at the end of that.  Many of the gym treadmills don't even go over 12mph, and Meb (and others) ran that speed over 26.2 miles.  Crazy!

That's very cool.  I've been wondering how last year's events and the emotions would impact everyone's day.

Big time congratulations to you for BQing at Boston.  That's quite an accomplishment!

Enjoy the rest of what sounds like an incredible day! :)

Plus he's bony!

Great link and great comments about just how fast it was run this year for the women.