Early this year, several CRR runners were slated to go to the Boston marathon. Upon hearing of this, and of the team competition at Boston, we loosely banded together as the Calgary Roadrunners' team for the event. We were all optimistic leading up to the race, as the training weather in Calgary was uncharacteristically mild through February and March. Our intrepid band of athletes (most of which were regulars in the CRR cross-country circuit last winter):

From left: Kevin Dumba, Adrian Becklumb, Phil Ukrainetz, Bruce Dalton, Ed Bickley. Missing: Gene Steacy

Arriving in Boston the Saturday before the race, excitement reigned throughout the town and the planes were filled with fellow Canadians making the trip for the marathon. The weather reports were a little ominous (predictions of record high temperatures) but these were easy to laugh off in the pre-race events.

Our original planning had been to meet as a team at various events up to and including the race, but few of these plans came together as we all played the role of the 'independent runner'. Nevertheless, Gene, his wife Susan, Kevin, Gaylene Pridham, and I hooked up at the airport and navigated the Boston transit system into downtown. We were staying at various places (I was rooming with Bruce, Lindsay, Adrian and Penny; Kevin and Phil were roommates at a different locale; Gene and Susan were staying at still another hotel) so the plan as we split up was to meet at the runners fair the next day around noon.

Sunday dawned clear and warm. Bruce, Lindsay, Adrian, Penny and I wandered down to the marathon finish line at 8:00am for the "Freedom Run", a 3-mile fun run through downtown Boston. We all started at the back of the pack and ran easy (except for Lindsay, who couldn't contain herself past the first half-mile and sprinted off out of sight). It was a nice jog, although noticeably warm (another worrying omen about the Monday to come).

After the run, I wandered down to the first of our planned 'team meetings', at the runners fair. The fair was the usual fun & chaos with thousands of people competing for space in too small an area. I lined up to have Khalid Khannouchi sign my race number for good luck and picked up all sorts of great-looking running product samples (most of which ended up in the garbage when I got them back to my room). At noon, it was time for our team meeting, which ended up being Gene and I as Bruce and Adrian had gone to the fair the day previous and Kevin and Phil were busy back at their room trying to set a record for 'most hours slept on the day before a race'.

Fonr Left: Ed Bickley, Adrian Becklumb, Bruce Daltion. Missing: Phil Ukrainetz, Kevin Dumba, Gene Steacy

After walking about 10 more miles shopping for souvenirs for my family that afternoon, it was time our second planned team meeting at the pre-race pasta party. The pasta party in Boston is pretty good by most race standards and this year was no exception. We went early to avoid the lines (which were never very bad) and indulged in a healthy dose of various types of pasta, desserts, and pre-race speeches and hype. During one of our trips for food refills, we happened upon another Calgary runner with the same (Ekiden) shirt as what I was wearing, another Calgarian, Barbara Kuester. The place was full of sociable Canadians, many of which were drawn to us because of our Red & White CRR 'maple leaf' jackets. There was lots of talk about how hot the next day was going to be but, at this point, this was just 'a concept'; the reality had to wait for the next morning. Upon leaving, Gene, Susan, and I ran into Bruce and Adrian (again because of how visible our CRR jackets made us), who were just arriving. At last report, Kevin and Phil were back at their room catching another last-minute nap.

Race Day (aka 'Da Agony of Da Heat')

As predicted, the temperature started to rise early the next morning. A team meeting was to take place in the bus lines at 7:45. We spotted Kevin and Phil (those CRR jackets again) in the crowd and posed for a picture but we were stymied in our efforts to find Gene. On the buses to the start, we were opening the windows to keep the bus cool (most years, this would be unthinkable). The buses dropped Bruce, Adrian and I promptly in Hopkinton and we set up a camp in the town commons by the start line. Team meeting #4 was to take place in front of the start line but, as usual, this didn't come together. As the race start time approached, the temperature climbed into the high 80's; we were breaking a sweat just standing in the corrals waiting for the gun! Still, optimism reigned as Adrian, Bruce, Phil, Kevin and I discussed what we thought were realtistic target mile paces. Gene was nursing an injury and had been taped up by 'Dr Phil' (Ukrainetz) but was in for a tough slog in even the most optimistic thinking.

The anthem was sung, the F-15's flew over, and the gun sounded. The first 2 miles were a flurry of bodies, all trying not to trip over each other. Even so, given the downhill slope, Bruce and I were running too fast. We slowed down around the third mile but it was immediately apparent that this was going to be a tough day. I was feeling the heat from the pavement through my shoes and it was beginning to seem like some kind of 20,000 person group sauna was in progress (which it was). Adrian started pulling away from Bruce and I (we didn't see him again) and we became aware of how uncomfortable both the down- and up-hills were already getting. We actually started to see some runners walking on the course before the 6 mile point! By the half-way point, I was in no mood to listen to the cheering girls at Wellesley college or the thousands of other spectators along the route; the only things I was aware of were (i) how hot I was, (ii) how hard it was to keep moving and (iii) how many people were going by me.

While I was run/walking the remainder of the battlefield/course, Phil went by me looking steady and strong, then, a bit later, Kevin followed (also looking comparatively steady and strong). By the late miles of the race, it seemed to me that more people were walking than running at any given time. I struggled in for an all-time Personal Worst marathon time (look it up on the internet if you really have to know). Adrian had a spectacular run (2:54), finishing 175 overall and 5th Canadian resident. His run was made all the more impressive by the fact that it came just 3 weeks after he ran a strong marathon in the heat in Dallas! He was followed by Phil, Kevin, then Bruce, all of whom ran fairly steady and intelligent paces in the heat, but much slower than they were capable of in better conditions. Gene was running with one leg, (which may have been a blessing on this day), as he had torn a ligament in his foot 3 weeks previous and was struggling with a severely pulled groin from compensating too much for that injury. He was feeling great at 15K but then, despite the great advice of "Dr. Phil" and taping jobs on his foot and groin areas, he was forced to pull out with a torn groin. He spent the rest of the afternoon as an eye-witness to "the carnage of the hundreds who were poring into the first aid tents".

Post-race, the ambulances streamed out of the finish area and the walking wounded limped through the food and baggage lines as best they could. Our last planned team meeting/picture session didn't come together (by now, this wasn't a surprise) and we all made our way back home on our own. Overall, the team was not as competitive on the day as we would have liked or expected, but on a brutal day but we ran and represented the club as best we could. We finished in 28th place in the Men's open team results.

P.S. Despite the stories above, the Boston Marathon is probably still the best race in the world, certainly one of the most gratifying experiences that exists for a runner and I'd go back tomorrow if I could just move my legs right now.