As inspired by a friends recent blog post http://kris-lawrence.com/ , I figured I would do a Pre-Boston Marathon report. As most of you already know, Team Tim (Tim Brown and myself) recently qualified for the Boston Marathon by running a qualifying standard time at the recent Shamrock marathon on March 18th.

Since the Shamrock, we have been doing a “recovery/taper” for Boston. There are only 28 days between the two marathons, so I have had to carefully recover, but also maintain fitness. To do so, I have been spending a lot of time in the pool, minimizing hard surface running (only one run per week on concrete or asphalt) and a good amount of walking and stretching.

It took a while for it all to sink in, but now with the Shamrock buzz behind us, it has finally hit me that we are less than 5 days away from toeing the line of the most historic running event on the planet, THE BOSTON MARATHON!

The Boston Marathon started in 1897 as is the longest running marathon in the world. The race runs from the town of Hopkinton and finishes 26.2 miles away on Boylston Avenue in downtown Boston. Spectators are at record numbers (500,000+) every year. Check out wikipedia for some more Boston info http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Marathon

Yesterday, I even got a call from Uta Pippig (3 time Boston winner with a PR of 2:21). She is the Team Hoyt Boston Charity Foundation team coach. She called me and broke down the course, mile by mile, telling me where I can make up time and where I should stay conservative. She literally walked me through the entire course. I would say that she has some pretty good first hand knowledge of the route 😉

The rest of this week will be spent relaxing and tweaking/tuning Tim’s race chair. Since I won’t have bike support at Boston, I have to prepare for every possible scenario.

Crystle and I, along with our good friend/runner Thomas Hicks, will be driving up north on Friday evening. We will spend the day Saturday checking out the expo and also attending a Team Hoyt dinner/banquet. Then, Sunday will be a day spent relaxing, taking in Boston, the BAA 5k (supposed to be a fast field) and the guest speakers at the expo…Then some early bedtimes for an early race morning.

Since Tim and I will be  running with Team Hoyt and the charity group, we will have our own bus that takes us to the start line in Hopkinton. Once we arrive at Hopkinton, we then have a house (provided by a friend of Dick and Rick) to hangout at until the race start time. Because we will be taking off with the 9:17 a.m.: Push Rim Wheelchair Division, we will have a significant head start on the elites. If all goes well, the elites won’t catch us until around mile 20-ish or so.

With the difficult part (qualifying for Boston) now out of our way…Tim and I are hoping to just get into the excitement of Boston, let our hair down and just fly!! We have a goal in mind, but are keeping it under our hats for now….as everyone who has run a marathon knows, anything can happen. But, no matter our finishing time, this is going to be one hell of a grand experience and one to remember ALWAYS! I would like to think that Boston will become a yearly thing for Tim and I (or other Team Hoyt VB rider/athletes). But, if by chance it is our first, last, and only Boston Marathon, we plan to go out with guns blazing!!

Watch the video link of Dick and Rick Hoyt. This is a recent interview they did a few days ago in preperation for their 30th Boston Marathon.

http://boston.cbslocal.com/2012/04/10/dick-and-rick-hoyt-preparing-for-30th-boston-marathon/

If you don’t get inspired and motivated watching these two men, then you have some issues! These guys are true heroes and are now legends at Boston. Their names are in the same breath as Bill Rodgers, Uta Pippig, Joan Benoit, Clarence DeMar, etc. Their Boston PR of 2:48 minutes is sickening fast for anyone, let alone for a runner and rider/athlete team.

Tim and I will have the priveledge and honor of running with these two amazing men on their home turf of Boston. I doubt any other person on the planet knows the 26.2 miles from Hopkinton to Boston better than these two.

As I close, I want to thank you all. I want to give a huge shout out to Team Hoyt VB, Kathy Boyer, Dick and Rick Hoyt and Dave McGillivary for letting Tim and I onto the team and for allowing us to run Boston this year. Tim and I would also like to thank all of our families/friends and all of our Virginia Beach running community for all of your support and continued support. Big thanks to all of those who donated to our Team Tim fundraiser…without those donations, we would not be going to Boston. With that said, the 30 runners and rider athletes that are making up the 2012 Hoyt Foundation Charity team, have raised $175,000+ (and counting) that will go towards the needs for special needs children/adults.

Oh, and for those who want to follow us via text, twitter, etc. Tim and I will be wearing bib # 5998 and our friend Thomas Hicks will be wearing # 5999.

Again, THANK YOU ALL!!!

Race re-cap to follow