TSFM Ambassador’s Boston Marathon Experience Pt. II
Contributed by Paige Govey, a 2018 Ambassador for The Biofreeze San Francisco Marathon. Photo credit: AP Photo
After carbing up and making it back to the hotel, the usual ritual continued: pick out what I’ll be wearing, pin my number on, and take the perfect Instagram shot. It was then that I realized I really had no idea what I was doing. All weekend we heard that “your number needs to be pinned to your outside layer,” and there I stood, staring at my “flat runner”’ on the floor.
It’s a huge pile of clothes: jersey, long sleeve, ear warmer, hat, gloves, bandana, SHORTS, socks, and shoes. How much would all of this weigh soaking wet, I wondered? I swapped things, made adjustments, wondered if I was crazy for wearing shorts, alternatively wondered if I was crazy for wearing long sleeves (I have NEVER run a race with sleeves on my arms).
Nothing seemed perfect, so I settled on a thin, long-sleeve top, with my jersey, hat, ear warmer, gloves, shorts, and of course, socks and shoes. Still not knowing which top layer would be my “outside layer,” I went to bed.
Sleepless is the only way I can describe my night. I don’t know why, but I didn’t let it freak me out (besides, it’s the sleep you get two nights before a race that really matters). I was lying in bed, begging whatever is out there (God, Mother Nature, Snowbird – he’s kinda like Big Bird, except for weather, where I grew up in Northern West Virginia; he cancels school on snow days, but I don’t think he has the authority to cancel Boston) to please let a miracle happen. To let us wake up to birds chirping outside instead of pounding rain.
Boarding the bus felt like getting on a roller coaster for the first time. Stuck. Committed to what was about to happen to you. As we were being driven 26.2 miles away, I realized that there was no turning back now. What had I done? Surely we are all crazy.
My sweatpants were already soaked and I had to hang my gloves near the air vent to dry. I was very jealous of everyone who thought to bring rubber gloves to put over their actual gloves (such a brilliant idea!). I told myself I’d never let there be a next time for these kind of conditions.
“It’s so cold. It’s so windy. The rain is relentless. This can’t actually be happening,” kept playing over and over in my head…
Stay Tuned for Part III!