Here are my positive takeaways from the race:

*The race expo was well-stocked and easy to navigate (despite the heavy traffic lining he entrance to the adjacent parking garage). We met some cool people who worked for Janji– I will have to check out their Boston location! Expo was a good experience overall. It didn’t hurt to be staying at the hotel across the street.

*I purposely left my headphones at home for the first time racing in years and I enjoyed the experience of running without music much more than I thought. I was able to take in the scenery, the spectators, other runners conversations and also focus more on my personal thoughts. Many runners don’t run with headphones, but I often have them “just in case”. Given the hot weather I knew that headphones would only be a distraction and slip off. Given the amount of water I dumped on my head at every water station, no doubt they would have been ruined. So physically and mentally- it was a good decision to leave those Yurbuds at home.

*The race was fully stocked with water and nuun at least every other mile. I LOVE nuun and loved drinking a lot of it throughout this race. This was the first race I have run where nuun was the drink option other than water.

*Although spectators were sporadic given the course route (through neighborhoods and parks), the spectators that did show up were super enthusiastic and motivating. Thank you to everyone that came out!!

*After I finished, I downed a bag of pork rinds, which were a surprisingly amazing addition to the finish-line goodie bag. I then downed another bottle of water and kept running. I needed to run a couple more miles, so I ran back along the course. After a mile or so I realized that Mark was nearby given his splits so I sought him out. I found him near the final water station and ran side by side until we crossed the finish line. It was very fun to cross the line twice and memorable to run with my love in his last Austin mile.

I don’t have any major complaints about the race but I feel like the race directors could do a better job finding a route in such a beautiful city. There were major sections of the race through parts of the city with strip malls and warehouses. More selfishly, the first three miles of the race were quite uphill. In addition to the humidity, this made hitting my target time harder than expected. I ended up at 1:50, but was hoping for 5-10 minutes faster.

I ran my first Boston marathon in April 2016. This hometown race has been a lifelong goal of mine, and as I toed the line on the warm mid-morning day, I felt nothing but grateful for being there at that moment.

An announcer called over the loud speaker, “This is not the start of a long run in the middle of February. This is what you’ve been training for, your prize!” I quickly reflected on the Sunday when I ran 16 miles inside on a track because it was -9 degrees without wind-chill in Boston. I also visualized the months of training that were now behind me, predominantly focused on training for my goal race of Phoenix in February. I smiled at the experience of training for these races, and acknowledged that regardless of Boston’s outcome, the last few months had surprisingly been fun. I also developed an acceptance of being uncomfortable, which is an essential element of marathon training. Over time, I even started to treasure the discomfort; it continued to inspire and push me through each workout and this adaptability carried over in other areas of life.

Early on in the race, I knew that it was not going to be my day to PR. Usually when my mind wanders that way, especially so early on in the race, I fill my head with motivating running mantras and other tips and tricks to push me through. But this time, I let go of all goals and the noise in my head that rang with disappointment, and ran my own race. Instead, I focused on the roars from the sidelines—those of my wonderful friends and family as well as all of the other incredible spectators along the course. That united passion from the sidelines is what makes Boston a truly amazing marathon experience. If I had equated my finish time to my race day, it would diminish the spirit and blissful memories of the day.

There was so much happiness in fulfilling this goal of mine- such is the spirit of human nature. I just can’t wait to run this race again!!

*Throughout the race, it was very evident that we were running a marathon at Disney World. Characters lined the roads throughout much of the 26.2 miles. Hugging Goofy at mile 19 was something I won’t soon forget. What a boost!

*The course was very flat, great for a PR if the weather is right! It was on that day, but much hotter the second time I ran in 2014. In general, the only hills are the highway overpasses.
Water stations, food, and candy were plentiful throughout the race. Disney doesn’t hold back on this—I think they have stations at every single mile.

*You run through all of the parks, and each is very exciting (making the somewhat boring highway stretches between parks fade from your memory pretty quickly). I’ll never forget running through the front door of the Magic Kingdom castle at dawn.

*The live animals in Animal Kingdom kind of scared me at first, but when I realized we were not actually in the wild, I calmed down. I think this has to do with running fatigue.

*Making friends with other runners along the course (if you are able to speak) always helps get you through some of the more challenging miles. Camaraderie is already there, so it’s easy to start the conversation. I met my “person who you call friend because you’re running at the same pace throughout 26.2 miles and want to get your mind off of running” at mile 2 and we hugged after we crossed the finish line. It was pretty special.

*Towards the end of the race, I looked out towards a field that was lining the course and saw Zorro on a horse. I wasn’t immediately sure if it was mile 21 talking or actually Zorro, but let’s assume it was the latter since we were at Disney after all.

*Crossing the finish line with a BQ (even sans Garmin that day!) at my first marathon was actually pretty darn cool. Suddenly the impossible– running a marathon– became possible. I was so happy to have accomplished this physical challenge and couldn’t wait to do it again.