First and foremost, I have to again thank iFit for giving me this amazing opportunity! I admit - there are times leading up to the race that I felt like an imposter. I mean, I'm FAR OFF from qualifying for the Boston Marathon. And I wasn't raising money for a charity, like my friends Adam and Linzie. No, I had been given the amazing opportunity to run this race simply by clicking "Retweet" on a tweet from iFit - and being selected as the random winner!
But I wasn't going in to this willy nilly. No, I trained my a$$ off for this race - more than any other race I've gone into. You read my training each week on #TrainingTuesday - I increased my weekly days running and my overall weekly mileage. I added speed workouts and hill workouts to make sure I was ready. Not to mention this would be my FIFTH marathon. I was no Barney Stinson. But still, even arriving in Boston, I felt like a fake.
It was the most amazing thing to be able to share this race with two of my BRFs - Adam and Linzie. I loved reading Linzie's post this morning with his marathon recap. And as Linzie reflected, the desire to be at the start line of the 118th Boston Marathon started on April 15, 2013, when terror struck our finish line. Yes, the finish line of the Boston Marathon belongs to runners the world over. We work hard to get to Boylston - no matter how we get there - and to have that accomplishment shattered by two bombs was unthinkable. Sure, a few years ago when I saw my co-worked Meghan rock her Boston Marathon shirt I got the itch to do it one day. But I never dreamed this year would be the year. Even last year when I made my plan after Chicago to run every World Marathon Major - Boston was at the end of the line, after qualifying.
In the fall when Adam was selected to run for TeamBIDMC (raising money for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center) we were all SOOO excited for him. His story was so moving, it was no wonder they chose him for one of their coveted charity spots. Linzie had the desire to be at the start line too, and applied for many charity options, trying to find a spot with a team he could get behind. Sadly he wasn't chosen - although multiple times he was the told if they had just one more bib, he would have gotten it. As a running family, we kept an eye out for how to get a bib for Linzie. Even the day that I won my entry, I had a brief thought of "how do I give this bib to Linzie?" Luckily that same week he was chosen by the Boston Bruin's Foundation for their final bib. And the journey to Boylston for the three of us was on.
I am so proud of the work Adam and Linzie did raising a combined total of almost $20,000 for their charities!! And thank you to those of you who helped get them to that number. We had an epic weekend and now it's time to turn our attention to the details of the weekend.
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