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Boston Marathon--my biggest collapse ever

April 16, 2012 (Morning)

Exercise Type: Run

Comments:
Damn awful.

9:30am they announced it had just hit 80* degrees, race start was at 10am. In 2012, I had run only three times in weather above 70* degrees (all below 74). Of those three days, one day was in February and two in March. I was not ready for this weather....at all.

Adjusted my race plan from sub 2:30 to just have fun and get through with a positive experience. Even though in the worst days it should be inexcusable for me to not PR based on the shape I was in, I lost all care for shooting for a PR even.

I decided I would run the first 5k based on feel. If it felt right, I may go out at planned race pace just to see how it feels and then let me body settle in to what it wants to do to preserve and survive. I had put so much work in, wasn't going to sell my self short before the gun even went off.

Mile one: jockeyed for position and around swarms of people. Saw my split of 5:37 and knew then that would be the last mile split I would intentionally get. Second mile I was still jockeying around people but not nearly as much--really had to fight at points the first two miles to be able to run my pace because I was surrounded by so many people.

At 5k they had a clock which I caught. Everything felt fine and easy but knew I wouldn't last if I kept this pace. So I eased back to get more on exact goal pace.

Hit 10k, didn't get a time but knew I was where I wanted to be. Everything felt right, was really relaxed. Breathing was really easy, running was effortless, legs felt like I hadn't started. (turns out 10k was on-point around 5:41-2 pace).

Around mile 8 I no longer could ignore the heat. It was absolute torture and all the shade was over for the remainder of the course. I was also throwing at least 1-2 cups of water on myself each mile and was taking 2-3 cups of water per mile up to this point. Being drenched in water had to add at least 10 pounds of weight to me between how drenched my jersey and shorts were--nonetheless my shoes were completely waterlogged. This really became a problem around mile 8 because my feet were sliding all over the place inside my shoes from my shoes and socks being so soaked. I didn't have good balance and the problems with both of my feet started hurting due to just trying to grip the ground.

Mile 8 I decided I only wanted to run a fair half marathon around 76 minutes, then the second half I was going to cruise in easy at a comfortable pace. I figured cruising at a relaxing pace if I keep on for the first half I may even have a shot still at PR'ing, which even at the time I thought was ridiculous.

Mile 10 came around and all I was thinking was that I wanted to walk once I hit half marathon. Heat was just brutalizing and killing me. I was taking water everywhere I saw it, multiple times and 2-4 cups per mile but I just couldn't cool down. Legs still felt real easy, breathing was extremely relaxed and effortless, and I felt perfectly fine--but my body was just feeling toasted of energy from the heat.

Made it to half marathon in around the time I was thinking. Heat was being a killer, I was being gapped by people I had been running with during the last few miles. I wanted to walk but I was surrounded by walls of people and thought that I didn't want to be a wuss. I also didn't want to lose time as I was shooting for a big positive split half but yet still PR.

Mile 16, all down hill from here. Legs were becoming shaky. I felt fine, felt completely conscious, breathing was still easy, but I couldn't support the weight of my body on my legs anymore. It was a four lane road and I was beginning to stumble through two of the lanes to stand. It was getting really ugly. I felt it happening and knew what was going on. I wanted to laugh and make fun of myself for what was happening because I was so right-minded, but I just couldn't control what my body was doing.

Mile 17 til the end I would have at least one person trying to pull me off the course each mile. People told me "you should think about stopping", "we have chairs here, come sit", "are you ok?" which was happenning from 15 on. But mile 17 on people were literally wrapping their arms around my body shuffling me to the side or grabbing me by the wrist trying to pull me over. My head was still there though and I would make some joke so they wouldn't think I was a lunatic and I would keep running. The stumbling also got significantly worse and there were walking bouts solely because if I had attempted another running step I would have fallen over.

Just before Heartbreak Hill I had a walking bout due to fumbling legs. I put my hands on my knees and used my arms to pump my legs forward toward the hill. A woman ran up to me with a Gatorade because I don't think she thought I was going to survive and make it to the water station 100m away. This was the biggest sell I had to do to stay on the course. She kept telling me that "I was done, I wasn't allowed to go anymore, and it would be unsafe". She was literally walking me and pulling me off the course. I talked with her for a few minutes hands on knees--then eventually told her, "I'm going to run up that hill, and I'm going to fucking love it". Then I started running....piss poor jogging up the hill.

Around mile 23 I really had to focus in order to keep my body upright and not fall over or have my legs fall while I was running. Then I hit a wall of kids which I can only assume were from Boston College cheering. They started a huge chant of "2-6-6! 2-6-6!". A wall of people just cheering, yelling my number. Sure they were probably doing it because they had bets on how far this idiot would get before he died on the street, but it fired me up. Unfortunately that burning desire was matched by internal organs also feeling on fire from the heat and dehydration.

I made it to the finish, was glad to be done. I tried to walk through the chute unnoticed and without anyone coming to my aid. But eventually I either fell on someone or forgot who I was and then immediately got sent to medical in a wheelchair. Spent three hours there getting my vitals constantly check, multiple blood works done, and three bags of salene injected in to me before I could leave. So thankful now that I wound up being brought to medical because had I not, I would have been in the ER later that day in much worse condition.

Final note: The water at all of the stations could only be described as hot. It started as leuk warm the first few miles, but by mile 5 it was already unsettlingly warm. The water wasn't boiling of course, but I can't even call the water on the remainder of the course warm as it would be an incredible understatement. There were points where the water literally tasted hot and almost felt like it was burning. Wouldn't be surprised if a lot of the water I took was ineffective solely due to the temperature of it. Note--hot water does not cool hot body temp.

Splits:
5:37
5:41
5:39
11:24 (two miles)
5:43
17:24 (three miles)
5:59
6:06
6:02
6:12----mile 13
6:14
6:23
6:13
6:43
7:22 (uh oh)
7:13
7:43
8:10 (stopped, long conversation to convince people to not pull me off the course)
6:46
6:45
6:56
7:07
7:05
1:34 (last .2)