Marathon photos...Twin Cities....Boston....Chicago

For expediency sake felt lumping my last three marathons together made sense.  The stages of marathoning are pretty similar regardless of the race...it´s the background that changes mostly. First, there is a pre-race photos.

I´m not sure what look I was going for, but this was about half an hour before the Boston marathon
















All the starts look pretty much the same.  This is Twin Cities, but could easily be a smaller Boston, or a much smaller Chicago.

The first 5-7 miles are pure entertainment.  You slide through various stages of determination, enthusiasm, self confidence and excitement

Make sure you check your watch so you know your exact start time (in Boston)









 

Give a smile to the camera (in Chicago) so you can remind yourself later that at some point this felt good and seemed like a good idea

Or enjoy some sprinkler relief (in Chicago) by a generous spectator


















Then, you settle into a routine of breathing and hearing yourself run.  You still enjoy the crowds, and “come to” as different turns offer different distractions.  Sometimes bands are playing, there are street performers, all nice ways to take your mind of the mileage. 

A look of focus comes across your face (in Twin Cities)















 



You might take a first hit of “Goo” or power gel (in Boston)

Around mile 15-18 you realize that nothing matters unless you run the next 11-8. Worse yet, it dawns on you that the smaller that second set of numbers will get, the worse you feel. So you do other things.

It can help to focus on your breathing (in Twin Cities)

Or, sometimes it's just best to settle in behind someone and just space out for a while (in Boston)

Around mile 20-21, you are sliding into pain. You know it’s coming. So I just stare at the ground.

Here, the Boston pavement is quite fascinating

More inspection of Boston.  I did look around some, by the way.  But, at this stage, you really are just focused on step by step.

Well well well, the Chicago pavement sure looks a lot like the pavement in Boston and Twin Cities.

Now here, in Chicago, the heat toward the end of the course was oppressive.  So I think my head was feeling a little heavier than in the other two races. 

Around mile 23 (for me at least) you realize you have two options.  Come to a nice slow stop, amble over to a curb, and wait for someone to come and put their arm around you and tell you it’s OK.....or, you finish strong.  One or the other.  In order to avoid  slowing down, walking, stretching, all you think about is finishing….thus, the look of conflict, confusion and pain on the face.

Chicago Heat.  Legs getting heavy.  Pursued by a woman in green. Must find finish line.

"Heartbreak Hill" in Boston completed.  Pursued by an Asian with glasses.  Must find finish line. 

There are few finish lines like a marathon finish line. As soon as you cross over, a fusion reaction of elation, relief and satisfaction mushrooms inside and every one of the 138,336 feet you just ran feel like an ascension from a deep pit....and now you’re at the top of the mountain. 

I beat my Boston qualifying time by 6 minutes in the Twin Cities marathon....so, I went to Boston

Boston was a perfect day.  Cool, no wind.  The winner set a new course record.  That wasn't me, but I felt as much.

This is truly a forced smile.  Chicago is a great course, but it was 58 at the start, and 75 at the finish.  That's a nice temp for a picnic, a bike ride, but way too hot for a marathoning. The body does weird things when it overheats. At the finish I stopped, slumped over one of the metal barriers, and peed on myself.















The finish of any marathon, just like the beginning, is very similar to others.  Relief and joy, and beer and ice.  I think this pic pretty much summarizes all the others.

The Calhoun Beach Run Club is how I got started in Minneapolis.  They run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday afternoons and Saturday mornings, rain, shine, snow, sleet, heat index warnings, whatever.  Below is the crew from Chicago.  Yes, 13 of us flew from Minneapolis to Chicago just to run 26.2 miles.  It is a bonding experience.  Some of these also ran Boston and Twin Cities, but this is the best shot of the group.



I think this pretty much does it for marathons for the present.  I am not training this winter for a spring race. I did 12 miles with the group last week, Jan  16, and the distances for marathon runners will only increase.  Maybe in the summer I'll choose another.  However....I will add one more photo in the next couple weeks. It will be from our Saturday mornings.  We meet at 8am...there is supposed to be a storm coming in, and think everyone would like to see what running in Minneapolis in February is like.  So, stay tuned....