Boston: Logistics and details

Logistics: I'm not a race-travel or Boston expert, and this is only my second Boston, but just to give you an idea in case you're planning to do Boston at some point, we did a few things that worked well. One was getting a $21 weekly pass for the T. We did all of our travel on the T, so that was a great deal (and when we left, we still had a few days on the cards, so we gave them to a couple at the airport). We also chose to stay in Cambridge, and I thought that worked very well. Travel was simple, we were right by a T stop, and it wasn't as hustle-and-bustle as downtown. Nice and laid-back and calm compared to the congestion and mayhem downtown. We stayed at the Porter Square hotel, and it was ok - it was definitely a good low-cost option, but the rooms are really small. Luckily, we were upgraded to a suite, but if we'd had a room only, it would have been pretty cramped.

As far as race day logistics go, I went in with a less-is-more view, but I could have done better here. I got on the bus in my race outfit with an old sweater on top, gels already tucked away, and I carried my gummy, cold oatmeal (which I picked at, as usual) and a water bottle. That was it. The only problem was that race morning actually had a lot of little moving parts, so I was a bit stressed out about that.

The big one was my super special private athlete's village. Now don't get me wrong, having someone offer you a house to stay in - complete with breakfast! - pre-race is absolutely amazing. But also anxiety-inducing. I had to get in contact with them once I got to Hopkinton, so I spent the whole bus ride asking to use someone's phone. I finally found a runner with a phone, but it randomly shut down as we neared the start, and she had to reset it (it had gotten wet in the crazy weather early). I ended up getting back on the bus and borrowing the driver's phone to text the family. Well, then I walked to our pre-arranged meeting spot - in desperate need of a bathroom, I had been on a bus for an hour and forty five minutes! - and no one was there. After about ten minutes, the police officer at the end of the road approached me and asked if I was waiting on the guy with the red Honda. Yes, I was! Well, he'd been calling them all day for runners, so he called them again, and was able to get in touch. Phew. They came and picked me up, but at that point I was really rushed to make it to the start. I used the bathroom, ate a croissant, tried to wring my still-wet socks out, and then headed back to the start. Except - because I was getting driven there, I had to wait for the rest of waive 2, and everyone being in different corrals, there wasn't much sense of urgency. Once we were dropped at the start, we had much farther to go than we thought - almost a mile, as we had to make a big loop around closed areas - and I barely made it in time. Not complaining about my incredibly gracious hosts at all, but - if you are the type who likes to be in control of your race morning, this kind of arrangement may not be worth it.

Then, once I got into the corral, I was frantically looking for Jeff and Van. We'd planned to run some of the race together, which I thought would be helpful, but I also didn't want them wondering where I was and letting that stress THEM out! I couldn't get to them by the gun, but I ended up working my way up to Jeff after all. I didn't see Van until he had started walking later in the race. Basically, I botched all my meet-ups.

I didn't use gear check, and I went straight to the family meeting area after the race, and that worked out well. David found a shorter security line so I didn't have to wait too long. In the future I might go ahead and check a bag so that he wouldn't have to go through a security line to have his backpack searched.

Race outfit: I went with our new crop tops for the race, since it was projected to be warm, and it was the right call. Two problems - one was that the large Boston bib hung over the edge. We should have screened the team logo higher! The other problem was...I had worn mine once before, and washed it, and it completely fell apart in the wash. So I ran with a crop with a ripped out hem and dangling threads!

Race shoes: I ran in the Nike ZoomFly SP. I got these shoes on clearance for a cool $41 - can't really beat that, and I thought the plasticky upper might repel water a little in case it rained. My only concern was that their smooth, flat laces come untied easily, but the only time that happened was immediately pre-race. I didn't have any shoe issues. In fact, overall my clothing had no issues. This might be the only race I remember in which I had no chafing and no toenail problems at all!

Race nutrition: After not eating enough before Hunstville and bonking hard, I spent the day before Boston overeating like crazy. I mean, I ate so much. Huge pasta lunch with bread on the side and a giant salad, enormous Thai dinner, several cookies at midnight, and some other snacks I'm sure I forgot. I basically tried to eat a whole extra meal's worth of calories to make up for the meal I'd miss (lunch) while running Boston. I don't know if this would work for everyone, but even though I was stuffed and forcing myself to eat, it worked for me. On race morning, I brought oatmeal with honey on the bus with me, but as usual, I couldn't really eat much. I did eat a mini-croissant about 30 minutes before the race. During the race, I had four and a half gels (couldn't really stomach that last one) and had a small sip of Gatorade at every water stop. I definitely did well with my nutrition: no bonk, no wall, no stomach cramps.

This is why I didn't wear sunscreen.

Race mess-ups: I definitely needed sunscreen, and the thing is, I had two opportunities to apply it: I brought some sample sunscreen packets to Boston, but didn't bring them to the race because the forecast was so dark and rainy; I got a second chance at my hosts' house before the start, where other runners were applying it, and declined. I got a pretty red sunburn!

I should have made more concrete plans to meet Van and Jeff in the corral. I rarely race with someone, and don't think you should pin your race on it, but I think all three of us would've done better if we'd worked together.

Other, more experienced runners have told me that I should have run a more aggressive first half: that the Boston course is not conducive to an even or negative split. May be true!

I was really disengaged with the crowd for this race. It was crowded, I was often in the middle of the road, and honestly the crowd just sounded like a dull roar. I think I could've taken better advantage of crowd support to push me along.

Boston marathon, continued: the race

Starting from the back of wave 2, corral 1, I was instantly enveloped in crowds. It was packed at the start. I refused to weave about, but it was tough not to. Lots of people poured past me for the first few miles. Without getting caught in the surge, I managed to work my way up to Jeff. Together we covered the first 5k in 21:36, which was perfect. It was great to have Jeff nearby, and we chatted a little. The weird thing about this race is that I almost didn’t talk to anyone besides Jeff. Last time I ran Boston, I talked to other runners a lot, and also interacted with the crowd. For some reason, this race I felt very isolated from everyone else. Maybe I was too preoccupied with my race, but I do think I missed out on the energy the crowd has to give you. Of course, part of this was because I didn't want to ruin David's photos. See, David is taking a photography class, and this week's assignment was "Narrative photography". He was supposed to tell a story via pictures, and of course the Boston Marathon was a great opportunity for that; however, one of the required photos was an action shot, and he was nervous about getting a good picture. He wanted me running the race, not clowning for the camera. So I resolutely ignored anyone I heard cheering my name, in case it was him wielding a camera (results below; do you think he passed the class?!)!
 I could feel myself braking hard on the hills and wished I had a better method for downhills. I forgot to take my watch off auto lap, but for the first few miles, it stayed pretty accurate, despite the crowds (tangents were hard). We passed 10k in 42:42 and Jeff and I agreed: “Perfect”.

 At that point, something crazy happened: we started catching the slowing runners who had passed us earlier, and then we started catching wave 1. From that point on, I was running with a mix of wave 2 and wave 1, and the whole rest of the race felt like I was struggling through seas of people running at a slower pace. This was probably because my wave and corral position was based on a 3:09, when my goal was now ten minutes faster, and in a race the size of Boston, that could put thousands of people with a slower goal pace in front of you. The race never opened up for me and remained congested the entire time. This was by far the hardest component of the race for me (I realize that all my photos show an overcast, totally empty course, when I'm claiming it was a crowded, sunny course. My husband is a magic photographer I guess, ha ha. My official photos more reflect my perceptions, but I can't post them here because I'm not about to pay for them!).

Slowly, Jeff drifted ahead. The weather still felt ok to me: by no means cool, but not hot. It was 64 at the start, with an expected high of 69 during the race. But I knew that the humidity would take a toll on me, so from the very first station, I was grabbing Gatorade. I took a sip of Gatorade at every single station on Monday! By about mile 10 or 11, I realized that I might have lost touch with Jeff for good, and I was also working too hard on both uphills AND downhills. My lack of hill experience was obvious. I hunched over to crawl up the hills, and slammed my feet down to brake on the other side. The profile of Boston really is a nice net downhill, but I’ll be darned if that doesn’t somehow make it more challenging. I definitely need practice on handling both ups and downs efficiently.

I hit the half in 1:29:34, right on pace. My plan was to start easy and pick it up in the easiest spots in the second half, but to do so measured by feel rather than by pace. I figured that, with the harder second half, that would result in an almost even split.

Around me, I thought I was hearing my name. Maybe there was another Grace near me - or maybe people on course actually knew me! I was definitely hearing “Power Miller” - hah. It must be hard to read our jerseys when we’re running! I definitely got a lot of "Miller"s but - I'll take any cheering, right?! The crowds were huge and loud like always, but for some reason I just wasn’t zeroing in like I did when I ran in 2012. I think part of the reason for that was the congestion. I was usually in the center of the course, working my way past people. I didn’t actually recognize any spectators on the course, not even David or the other Powermiler spouses.

I had taken two gels in the first half, and kept up the sips of Gatorade, and I was glad to have the electrolytes when all of a sudden - the sun popped out. Bam, just like that, it was blindingly bright out. I was so thankful I’d brought my sunglasses! We were heading into the hills now, and to my dismay I saw Van on the side, walking a water stop: a terrible place to be at mile 15, poor guy. Up the next hill I realized that I was closing back in on Jeff. I took advantage of the downhill to catch up to him. “Alright Grace, go girl,” he said - and that was the last time we spoke during the race! I thought he was right behind me, and he was for a little bit (I could hear other “Power Miller” cheers just a few seconds behind me!), but around mile 17 I realized when he didn’t answer me that I’d dropped him somewhere behind.

I had to really work now. This race was getting hard. It was warm and sunny and the hills were feeling more difficult than before. Despite the forecast, we had bright sun for almost half the race. I told myself to take my gels and Gatorade, focus on my form, and try to engage my glutes (sadly, my race photos clearly demonstrate just exactly how bad my form was at this point!). By now, there were not many people around me who weren’t struggling. I climbed heartbreak hill slowly, thighs burning, but at the top another runner tapped my shoulder. “Thanks for being my rabbit and getting us to the top”. I checked my time at mile 20 and realized that breaking three would be extremely close and would require a huge amount of late-race effort. I had about thirty seconds to make up. I hoped the downhills would get me there, but my legs were feeling totally shot. I realized that I’d underestimated the course : the early downhills really do chew up your legs for later miles. The last few miles were very tough: I was practically dodging walkers or slowing runners every step, and my legs were on fire. At every mile, I saw my pace fall short of the speed I needed to break three. I was able to use the long downhill to squeeze out a 6:37 for mile 22, but after that the 6:51's and even 7's kept popping up. I knew exactly what I needed to run, but my legs couldn’t respond to what my brain commanded them to do. I made the final turns and gave every single bit of effort I had left, crossing the line in 3:00:21. I had made up nine seconds. It wasn’t enough.

I almost collapsed just after the finish. My legs were toast and I was terribly disappointed. I definitely thought I had a shot at 2:59:59 and I came up short. It was close enough to regret it! But still: a big PR, and I was pleased with my effort. I ran a 47-second positive split, and if I had only been able to overcome that, I would have broken three. I tried to take the first half easy, but I just didn’t leave enough in the tank. I miscalculated - not the pace I needed for the last few miles, but the effort distribution needed to hit my goal. My splits show how totally spent I was: the best I could come up with for my 0.2 sprint at the finish was 6:22! Bemusedly, I realized that I had almost exactly hit my V-dot predicted marathon time of 3:00:43.

If you look closely you can see me at the bottom left, being helped by a volunteer in orange. That's my almost-collapse, preserved for posterity by my neighbor, who took a photo of her TV and texted me! Ha! 

Right after the race, I met another runner, Melissa, who had just missed 3 much like me. She and I chatted - she was running only her second marathon, having run a 3:09 to qualify! Amazing progress! I wished we’d run together and maybe tried to work for that sub-3:00. What a tough cookie! And then I headed straight to the family meeting area. David met me in about 30 minutes, having somehow found a short security line. The sky had suddenly become overcast again, and the wind whipped up, so I was glad he’d brought my jacket. He’d seen me twice on course, but apparently I was way too into my race to notice him or anyone else who told me later they’d cheered me on! But still - I feel like I subliminally absorbed the cheers and they powered me to a PR! I definitely regretted not being more into the crowds, atmosphere, and other runners - that’s the whole point of Boston. If I could do anything over from Monday, that would be it. Just kidding, it would be running 22 seconds faster, ha ha. But if I could do TWO things over...

This is a runner who is disappointed in her time.

We headed to our hotel where David - who had skipped lunch - helped me eat my race food (you know, a protein bar...bananas... Hawaiian bread). I realized I was nice and burned since I'd neglected sunblock, but I didn't chafe and my toes/nails felt fine. As for my hamstring injury - I could barely walk the moment I stopped running. It's amazing how your brain can override pain during a race, but the minute you stop? It takes over! I definitely need the time off post-race to heal up!

The Powermilers Slack group was chattering, and we decided to meet up at a brewery.
The race reports were mixed. Wayne had PR’d, breaking a years-old record by 40 seconds; Tarak had a breakout race with a 2:48 and negative split (prior best over 3); Daniella and I had big PRs. Our men’s open team was fifth overall with 2:31/2:32/2:37. But others had struggled in the heat, and we had several who experienced muscle cramping. I was hoping for better team results, but I couldn’t hope for a better team.

Alcohol may have been involved. Also, I LOVE Michele's (Paul's wife) sign! 

No doubt about it, the Powermilers got me that PR. Sure, iron helped (hugely). But running with this group of fast guys and girls is what motivates me and makes me try harder. Want to get fast? Go run with people faster than you. I’m excitedly looking forward to future PRs and finally breaking three with this group.

Boston: Pre-race

I’m sorry I didn’t post some goals and pre-Boston thoughts here, but I just got pretty busy tying up loose ends before our trip. Actually, as the weather forecast kept changing, I wasn’t even sure what my goals would be!

By the day before the race, it looked like the rain and wind would have lessened by race time, and the temperature would be mid to high 60’s throughout. It was also forecast to be cloudy and humid, with humidity in the 90’s. The wind would be a crosswind for my wave, but its impact would be negligible anyway, as the winds were light at ground level. That sounded fine to me. While we were blessed with great weather for most of our Boston training cycle, I’m no stranger to heat and humidity, so those conditions did not seem bad. Since before the race we heard all about various likely weather - torrential rains, cold air, hot temperatures, wind - I packed two options, our new team uniform crop top versus a singlet and arm warmers. I also packed a hat and sunglasses. Who knew what the weather would be race morning?

I was pretty sure I was in 3 hour shape going into this race. How I came up with that was based on my tune-up 10k. I ran that race in 39:06, which, plugged into the Jack Daniels equivalent calculator, predicted 3:00:43. Part of me thought I could actually run faster than that: after all, that 10k had been un-tapered, and I felt like I’d left something in the tank. But part of me also figured I would probably run slower than that, because the 10k was on a fast course in perfect weather and basically ideal conditions, compared to the challenging timing, weather, and course that Boston presented. I decided that those two factors basically cancelled out, and if I got decent weather - anything short of last year’s hurricane - I would shoot for sub-3.

The Powermilers had a group of twenty qualifiers, and nineteen who chose to race. During this training cycle, I started out running with one other girl near my pace, but as training progressed and I got faster, I ended up all alone for most weeks. Then I moved up to do my weekly speedwork with Mike, Jeff, and Van. They are all faster than I am, with faster goal times, but I could usually hang on for workouts, generally falling off on the last rep. They were all projecting times under 3, between 2:56 and 2:59. Because I would always lose them on the last rep, I had some trepidation in placing my goal so close to theirs, but I also knew that a 3:05ish effort at Rock n Roll had felt more like a hard workout than a race. So 3 hours sounded reasonable.

We did a tour of the Tiffany glass windows in Arlington church

I spent the day before the race doing way too much walking, but overall it was a good day. I started my morning with a 3-mile jog (including 8 strides) from our hotel in Cambridge. We stayed in the Porter Square hotel and it ended up being perfect - right at a T stop and very easy travel without being crowded for the race weekend. And the neighborhood was cute. I was just jogging along, looking at the little shops, when I heard my name. It was Audrey, from one of my favorite blogs, Hurdling Ham! I was jogging in her neighborhood! I stopped and got to catch up with her (we met when she raced RnR New Orleans) and we wished each other good luck for the race. I loved that serendipitous meeting! After my run, David and I attended Palm Sunday services at nearby St. John the Evangelist, then headed downtown for the rest of the day. We had a busy, busy day but fit a lot of fun activities in. We hadn’t thought out ANY logistics for the next day, so we went to the hotel bar for a happy hour Old Fashioned to plan for the race and work out all the timing and meetups. I knew that would push dinner pretty late, but that was the plan - eat late, race late. Unfortunately we ate MUCH later than we thought we would. The Thai restaurant we went to was packed, clearly understaffed, and we waited for our food for an hour after we sat down. But it was just what I needed - protein, rice, veggies - so it served its purpose.

On race day, I slept until almost 6, waking at 5:53 without my alarm. The weather was horrible! Storms, ferocious wind, and cold rain. But later it would clear up, and it would be close to 70, so I wore my crop top and shorts, skipped the hat, and brought sunglasses - just to block the wind, I thought. I did not expect sun because the forecast was for almost complete cloud cover. I was wearing my ZoomFly SPs , which I mostly like, except that the laces are slippery and flat and come untied all the time. But they do ok if triple knotted and tucked in, so I took my chances. I threw a throw away sweater I’d taken out of our Goodwill pile over my crop top, grabbed my oatmeal for the bus ride, tucked five gels into my shorts, and we headed out.

David walked me to the station under an umbrella , which was useless. We were drenched immediately. He rode with me and walked me all the way to bus boarding, trying to keep me dry, but the swirling rain and wind meant that my shoes were saturated before I ever got to the buses. I kissed him goodbye, found a bus, and took my seat.

Here I am with two other friends of my friend Kate: all of us taking shelter at the home of the Calkins. What a sweet family and a great idea! We had food, water, Gatorade, bathrooms, even vaseline and moleskin available. It was a little mini athlete's village...without the port-a-potty lines!

The bus ride turned out to be... interesting. My driver and a few other buses got lost, all following one mislead bus, and we rode that thing for an hour and forty minutes! Luckily I was early, and our driver navigated us to athletes village by some back routes. And it gave me time to sort of dry off, along with meeting some great runners with wonderful stories (like the guy from the running group called something like "The north side stallions" and he made them change the name to "striders" or something less of a turn-off to women! And now they have several women running with them!). Once I got to the village, I borrowed a phone and texted a friend of a friend. She and her husband live near the start, and host their own “athlete’s village” each year. She kindly reached out to host me, and the prospect of a house and a real bathroom was very appealing!

I followed her instructions to our meeting point, and her husband picked me up. There were a dozen runners at their house already. As I arrived, the wave one runners were getting ready to leave. I had enough time for a bathroom stop and to eat a croissant before I also got a ride back to the start. This was such a great perk and I just love the word-of-mouth running community that made this possible!

I actually cut it way too close getting to the start. I was in wave 2, corral 1, and didn’t realize how hard it would be to get up there. I wanted to meet up with my training partners Jeff and Van and pace with them for some of the race (Mike had a faster qualifying time and was in wave one). But with a minute to the start, I had to choose - squirm up to where I saw Jeff, or stay in the back of the corral and retie my shoe. Obviously I picked shoe! No sooner had I tucked my laces under then we were off. My Boston marathon had begun!

Oh, yeah, and the crime part

For some reason, in my last post, I forgot to mention that I was also the victim of two athletic-related crimes during this training cycle! Which probably means that they didn't impact me too much, so shouldn't have been included anyway. But they're stories worth telling, so...
(Many thanks, by the way, for the kind thoughts on my last post - I am grateful).

Crime number one occurred on a Monday night, when my schedule requires me to run from downtown at dusk. I chose to run on the Lafitte Greenway, which is a new bike/pedestrian path from Midcity to Downtown. It's lit, so I thought I'd be safe, despite the sketchy neighborhoods it runs through. But actually, I was attacked by a gang of kids and teens. Without getting into too much detail, there were some decoy kids and older teens were hiding in the tall grass and brush in the "Louisiana meadow" area of the green space. Apparently this is a favorite spot for attacks on pedestrians, as it not only offers cover, but is also outside the crime cameras range. I was struck by one of the ten or eleven year olds, hard enough to cause me to actually fall over - more from loss of balance (I was totally surprised!) than from force, although it was quite hard. To the gang's surprise, I leaped to my feet and lunged toward the perpetrator, and they scattered in surprise. I gave chase, a response I can only blame on my body choosing "fight" over "flight", but most of the kids jumped a fence. But after I turned away, they immediately returned, this time preying on a group of kids who had just peddled up, and stealing the youngest one's bike. Now the oldest kid of the group was swinging a baseball bat. But I was still riled up, and I silently ran over and snatched the bike out of the thief's hands! At this moment a car passed on the nearby road, and the gang again scattered for cover. The biking kids and I huddled together and we were surrounded by this gang of about 12 kids and teens. Luckily, another pedestrian soon approached, and I used his phone to call 9-1-1. The gang vanished for good when the police arrived, and they escorted the biking kids (who were so sweet, they had actually biked over because they saw me get punched!) and myself safely to our destinations. Because I chased these kids, I forced them into an area with a crime camera, so NOPD does now have them on film, which might help their enforcement efforts (although another very similar attack happened there just a few weeks ago, so I doubt they've gotten very far). I still have to run on Monday nights from downtown, but now I either go down Rampart to Esplanade or deal with the traffic and go down St. Charles. No more Greenway for me!

Crime number two is less dramatic and more a moving violation than a real crime, ha ha. But just two days after being punched by a kid on the Greenway, a pickup truck frustrated with traffic jerked into the designated, protected bike line and struck me as I biked to work. Luckily only his mirror hit me, but I flew...like twenty feet in the air (having the sense to drop the bike before I landed, or that would have hurt a lot!). We were right outside Audubon park, with many pedestrians around, and there was a collective scream as he hit me. Luckily, he was honest, and stopped and gave me insurance info. I was in terrible pain, but it was just bruising and swelling. I couldn't move my arm or neck for a week!

I was a little bruised. 

So yeah. That's how this training cycle has gone. Oh, but I do have a follow up! My doctor scheduled my surgery for May 2nd, so no sooner am I back from Boston and recovered, then I have to have surgery. I am mostly eager to get this done. The women reading here know what it's like to be a female runner and have to deal with a period sometimes, even worse if it is during a race or a workout. Well, imagine that except ten times worse, and almost nonstop for six months. Yeah. At this point if the doctor told me, "Oh sorry, we also had to take off your left leg" I'd be ok with it. The pain (I often throw up from pain), the inconvenience and embarrassment, and the anemia are not something I want to live with any more, and I am lucky to live in an age where an outpatient procedure can solve the problem!

Tumultuous training

Phew. Wrapped up a marathon training cycle, and for once - I took no time off for injuries! I felt like my fitness and speed improved, but man, was this ever a tough cycle. Not in terms of running: I actually think the training plan was a little easier, since I was grouped with the low mileage bunch, a decision I wholeheartedly agree with. Rather, outside factors made the last few months especially tough.

• I lost my grandmother unexpectedly. She was in her late 80's, but was in good health, and had actually begun traveling recently. Her sudden stroke was a sad shock. Our sense of loss is compounded my complicated family relationships that made it difficult to form and maintain a good relationship with her (no fault of grandma, who always answered the phone with "Gracie! My darling!" no matter how thorny relationships with my mother became). My grandmother and I had a lot in common, loved each other dearly - and besides that, she was an icon to me. She represented a lifestyle that embraced beauty, something my childhood sorely lacked, and gave me so much to hope for as a child. 
• I also have been, as you all know, struggling with not just ill-health, but the trepidation the accompanies a long wait for a diagnosis. Receiving an ultrasound report that shows an unidentified mass that could be a carcinoma is, well, distressing. Especially when you have to wait a month for an appointment. 
• Plus, let's not forget why I went to the doctor to begin with... I feel terrible all the time! 
• And meanwhile, I am still on thin ice as far as my iron goes. I continue to lose iron at an incredible rate, and have to be diligent to maintain normal levels (as of last week, my hemoglobin has recovered, but my ferritin remains low and my blood work shows lots of baby RBCs and platelets, as my body works frantically to replace the ones I keep losing).
• My duties both at church and as a board member of the Power Miler Track Club really picked up in the last month. Both services are ones I am happy to undertake, but let's be honest here - free time would be nice, too! I wouldn't call these late hours and extra events stressful (in fact, both are things I truly enjoy), it's just that a packed schedule with no down time isn't really the best way to refresh a tired, training body. 

These various inputs in my life have certainly made this training cycle challenging, but a lot of good occurred over the last few months, too. 

• I finally began to benefit from the iron I started taking last fall. My iron stores were so low that it took quite a while before I began to feel improvement, but when I did, it was AMAZING. I am no longer constantly out of breath. I don't faint when I stand up. I am not quite as cold all the time. I can run long distances without getting light-headed. And finally, I can reap the benefits of training without feeling so exhausted that I am doing more harm than good. 
• I do have a treatment plan for the endometrial mass that has been causing so many symptoms. After a visit to a gynecological surgeon, I decided to undergo a biopsy/hysteroscopy. I'll have the biopsy analyzed while I am in the OR, and the surgeon will then complete the surgery as guided by the pathology. Unfortunately, the mass just isn't identifiable any other way - it's not a fibroid, but what it actually IS is not apparent from imaging. But at this point, I really don't even care. I feel so bad so much of the time that I was practically begging the doctor to take it out. I'll schedule this for after Boston. 
• Hey, I got faster! I don't know exactly how Boston will shake out, but it's undeniable that I have had a good training cycle. I had no idea how much my anemia was hurting my running, but now that I am on iron, I am running better than I ever have before! 

My hope for Boston is that I can put all of these outside factors aside and run well, despite the stressors, or maybe even channel them. And of course I'm worried about my health, so I also hope that race day isn't one of the days I wake up feeling terrible! It's just a week away, so I'll find out how I handle the day soon enough. Looking forward to it!