One of my biggest fans supported me during this race. The best daughter ever- Ginny Lash! I can say that because she is my only daughter! I also have 3 wonderful boys and an amazing husband but they could not make it to Boston. Ginny and I had an amazing long weekends visiting colleges for her (lol!) and hanging in Cambridge and Boston. Best Celiac Spot hands done was Violette GF Bakery!
And this I did and I am so excited about it! I was in a mild Crohn's flare and I reached out to my Team Challenge Crohn's and Colitis Foundation peeps for help. I was thinking I should take an enema the night before the marathon. I have done plenty of those but never before running a long run or race! But I was in a bad state. Last 10 mile run the Wednesday before the marathon had me with bathroom stops 6 times I believe. I could not have that happen here. So based on some feed back from the Team Challenge peeps I decided to do an enema the night before the race. So glad I did. I still got up the morning of and ran .5 miles on the treadmill (usually do at least a mile) and then took my prescription strength Imodium after the treadmill run and also before I walked out the door to get on the bus. It was successful. Yes! I was not tapered for this race as I am training for Ironman Florida and although my amazing coach, Susan Airheart with Tri with Heart coaching, had me only running 1 mile on Saturday (after my normal IM training up to that) BUT I walked 10 plus miles on Friday and Saturday visiting schools with Ginny. And likely 6 niles on Sunday just trying to find celiac friendly gluten free food (yes there is a difference bw GF foods for those who decide they feel better on a GF diet and a person with celiac disease who have major GI issues if there is a trace of gluten in their food!). So I start the marathon and it was so amazing. I have done Boston many times before but I have always been a head case about it and crashed and burned. This marathon was just a long run for training for IM Florida. And guess what I did. I had my Boston PR (which is slower of course than my normal marathon times or else I would not be running Boston). Just running for fun. It got warm out there. I poured water over my head and down my back! I talked to lots of people along the way. Talked to the amazing volunteers. And the Boston Marathon volunteers are truly amazing. Had a pit stop. Danced to some music. Clapped for the people cheering us on. It was just AMAZING!!!!!!!!
