Barb and Kevin Run the 2008 Boston Marathon!

One week to the day of running the Boston Marathon, I am hiking in the Muir Woods in San Francisco with my friends Ian, Katie and Sonica. I am in the same sneakers that I ran the marathon in. I won’t talk about how I saw a huge snake and screamed like a girl. (God I still hate them from my days in Putnam) Mr. Nature Ian of course tried to run after it.I am still in shocked that I lived to tell the tale and there is life after the marathon. I still cannot get over the experience, from Barb and I picking up our numbers, to checking in to the hotel, to meeting all the amazing people, and feeling like a true athlete during the run. Our teammates from Team Hole in the Wall were wonderful to meet the night before. Matty also ran for camp, it was great to have his support. Also having Mike, Ken and Ray from the camp family throwing the event for us made us feel so special.Running Boston is a dream that I would recommend to anyone who loves Beantown. When I think of the Marathon I think of camp, love and support. ALL of the love I give at camp and in the hospital I got back that day. First of all Niki and Kristin were our best friends who came to support us for the weekend. It felt like we were getting ready for a wedding for God sake. Nephellie was also staying in the hotel and we all pow-wowed the night before and watched Pretty Woman.We may get old, but that movie never does. That morning our best friend from college Greg, drove up with his 3 kids from Simsbury, CT and found us on the route twice!! He had his own marathon that day. It was so great to see him in Natick and at my old apartment @1217 Beacon.We met Joey from NYC and he started the race with us.All of the waiting for the start was emotional, fun and the sea of people that had all trained and had their own personal journey to get here is so inspiring.We met Jennie at mile 3. She is part of Team Hole in the Wall and she and I run a the same pace, so we buddied up.It was a gift that Barb and I both had buddies when we separated at the 5k. Hearing people scream our names was hysterical - especially the kids. The route is packed and every couple of miles you see a friend, a camper or someone from your past. My friend Amy, a long time volunteer from camp had a big sign for me in Natick that said “GO FANCY” - too funny. I also bumped in to Dr. Jack from BMC. Right after that I was screaming when I bumped in to Theresa, a longtime friend and volunteer nurse who I have not seen since my birthday party 4 years ago. I then saw one of my campers, she was so excited. Then we would see other team members and parents of kids I work with. I can not tell you how great it is to see them out of the hospital!I had a beautiful run and remember being so excited at Wellesley with the screaming Wellesley girls! Then we were in Newton. Heartbreak was hard, I did get to see Heather Peach and the Mass Gen gang. One of my kids came around the corner and screamed. I was so excited to see her, gave her a quick hug, Ryan from camp saw me and started running with me and Jennie. They start flirting and I am like, “Excuse me, I am dying here!!!!!” love the drama. I can not thank Ryan enough for the support. I was walking at the end of Heartbreak hill hell and this guy and his friends yelled to me KEVIN RICE!!! YOU NEEED TO KEEP RUNNING!!!!! START NNNNOOW! I had no idea who he was, but I did.Just over the hill I see Niki and Kristin. Niki has Advil, Gatorade, and water…a one woman 7-11. I was in pretty good shape, we took a quick pic and I was excited to run through my town. Running down Chestnut hill Ave I was starting to feel a little sick, tired and exhausted, but I also knew I had 3 miles. My roommates and neighbors were at our street freaking out so that gave me a little push to get to Washington Square! Thanks David, Justin, Kyle and Jenny! (and Magoo super nurse supporting us from Mass Gen). I just wanted to walk. I pulled Jennie through the middle of the race and she was now pulling me through the end. “Kevin come on, we can walk later, lets run and raise the roof!”Coolidge Corner was a blur with seeing a bunch of friends form the gym, Nicole Lamontagne and crew, Megan Green! Kat and Julie! Archie from Children’s! Talya saying “How are you doing this?”It was all becoming fast and random. Fenway was of course packed and I did not walk at all until I hit the bridge below Commonwealth. Even there I looked up and this girl with a thick Boston accent yelled “Kevin, you just ran the FUCKIN BAWSTON MARATHAWN! KEEEEP GOING” It was just what I needed. As I turned the corner to head for Boylston I see Roxanne Horton screaming with a bunch of strangers for me. I swear she should be in Politics, no one rallies the troups like her! It was like having family at the end I was so thankful.As I turned onto Boylston the finish line looks like it is 4 miles away, you just can not seem to get there.In the last of it I saw Jill, Gabby, Sarah Coop and later heard Jared, Patty Ax, and Joe and David were there to see me finish. Crossing the line I was so relieved but also felt s little sick. Paula, camp Mom who I have known since 2000, grabbed me at the finish and said “I’ve been waiting for you.” She was volunteering at the end and I was so lucky to have her hold on to me and grab some water. I had about 4 minutes of being in real rough shape. Then I walked it off, calmed down, got my medal. checked my 86 text messages, all so funny, people tracking from all over the country and a couple nasty ones (thanks John, I would expect nothing less). I called to find out where Barb was and learned she was only 30 minutes behind me. Jennie and I hugged and were so thankful we met and could not believe we just shared that experience together. Special bonds you make with people can come so quick. After we parted I called Mom and Dad. Mom screamed and was amazed that it only took me 5:16. I am like only! I did think I would do 5-5:30. Finally I get to see Barb with Larry at the end with our friends Biz and Colby from camp.Barb and I are finally in the outfits I have always wanted to see us in. Out of all the matchy-matchy clothes we have worn through the years, nothing will ever beat the silver blanket and glorious medals.So I am overwhelmed by the support through the entire race. I wasn’t running, I was being carried by beautiful amazing people that make life so precious. As I write this, I am in San Francisco, looking at the ocean and taking in all the beauty of the west coast. As beautiful as it is. New England is home. One thing I learned through the marathon is that Boston is home. Boston is family and where my heart will always be. Yes the winters kill me every year, but the pace and the people make it where I want to be. This marathon started out as a way to celebrate a friendship and turned out to be a way to celebrate life. I would do it again in a second…40 lbs lighter would be nice though.Memere told me that they mentioned on the local Putnam radio station that I finished the Boston Marathon, although I was not an athlete in High School. Well how great is it that we can all progress and re-define what we want out of our lives, change things up, do things that make us scared. Challenge ourselves. I am going to run across the Golden Gate today in my marathon jacket and get excited to think about what future races to conquer. Thank you to everyone for helping us realize this dream. One of many to come. Barb I love you..since the egg toss it has been one Millie Vanillie song after another, The Mary to my Rhoda, The Fred to my Barney, The Gayle to my Oprah! What’s next?

Sorry this is so late! Real life quickly took over once we finished the marathon…

What a weekend! One of the best of my life!

The weekend started off on Saturday when I drove up to Boston to meet Kevin and go to the Expo. Nicki Horton met us and we were at the Expo by noon. It was surreal. We belonged there this time! We’ve gone to the Expo in the past, but this time it was for us! I almost cried when I walked in. The whole thing was so organized that we were first led over to where we pick up our numbers. Again, we both cried when we were handed our numbers.

Then we went to a “try-on” room to figure out which race shirt was best. Then you’re led to the room where you get your race packet with all of the goodies. From there, you walk right into the Expo. Wow! Talk about sensory overload! The place was packed and we wanted to buy EVERYTHING! If it said “Boston Marathon” on it, we wanted it. Between the two of us, we probably spent about $500. We got great stuff though. We finally left after a couple of hours and we walked down Boylston Street to see what they were selling in City Sports. On the way there, I turned my ankle AGAIN! Luckily, no damage this time.

There were so many inspirational signs in the streets and runners wandering around and the weather was perfect and again, it was surreal. It really didn’t feel like we were about to run 26 miles in two days. In fact, it felt like we hadn’t run in about 3 weeks! I didn’t care. I was just so excited to be a part of this whole thing.

Saturday night we went out for Korean BBQ at Yasu with Nicki. Yum, yum!

We had to go back to the expo on Sunday to pick up the race poster once we heard it had our name on it. It was hard not to buy even more marathon stuff at the Expo!

Sunday afternoon we checked into the Boston Park Plaza. We had a fabulous room with 2 bathrooms! Very cool. We immediately hung up our race singlets and spread out all of our junk.

It take a lot of life support to run a marathon! We went down to the Team Hole in the Wall party and heard a great presentation from a camper and found out that Kevin, Nephellie and I were all in the top 10 fundraisers! Between the three of us, we raised over $20,000! We met a nice guy named Mike from Scotland who went over to the Pasta Party with us. Kristin Knies was our support person for the day. She was able to go to the pasta party with us too (thanks to our VIP tickets ). The pasta party was another wonderfully organized event. We all got plenty of delicious pasta and salad (with Newman’s Own Dressing!) and beer!

We went back to the hotel after a nice walk through the Public Garden to get our things ready for race morning!!! I have to admit, I wasn’t nervous at all. I was really nervous for the Hyannis Half Marathon, but I decided early on that I was just going to enjoy the marathon experience in full. I was more excited than anything. It was great! We got to bed around 9pm and we actually fell right asleep. We woke up around 6am and I tried to choke down a bagel, but I don’t eat well before any races although I should. We met Nephellie in the lobby and started walking over to the Common to meet the buses around 7:30. There was a HUGE line of people and again, it was unbelievably organized! We met another Team Hole in the Wall runner, Joey as we got on the bus.

The bus left Boston at 8:08am and it was a looong ride. It made us a little nervous thinking that we had to run back to Boston after such a long ride. We got to the Athlete’s Village in time to get in line for a port-a-potty and then walk right to our corrals to walk toward the start line. It was perfect timing!

Then the gun went off (although, we were too far back to hear it) and it took us about 11 minutes to cross the starting line. Once we did it was surreal! Loads of people cheering and shouting our names and we were RUNNING THE BOSTON MARATHON!!! It starts as a BIG downhill. That was nice. The first 6 miles were a blur. We were too busy smiling and slapping little kids’ hands to even notice that we were running. It was great!

Nephellie and I ran the whole marathon together, which was great. I don’t think I would have made it without her. Thank you, Nephellie! We met some of her friends at mile 14 and then we met my family (mom, Brian, Mary and Larry, Jr) at mile 17. For some reason, when I saw them, I burst into tears. Larry ran the last 10 miles with me. That was great. He had “LT” on his shirt and everyone loved yelling “Go LT!”.  I also saw our friend Greg (with his 3 kids - God love him) in two places on the route!  What a trooper!

According to my pace tattoo, I was ahead of my 5:30 goal pace until a little past the half marathon mark.

After that, I just kept getting slower and slower. Maybe I didn’t eat enough? I had a half a bagel and a Clif Bar on the bus and that was it. I never ate any Gu or Gels or anything during the race. That’s something I would do differently if I ran another marathon.

Heartbreak Hill was a killer!

(the sign says “Mind over body. Body over hill) I think I walked up most of it. I thought I could run to the finish once I got to the top, but once you get to Boston College, you realize that you have quite a bit of the race left to go. Eventually, I saw the Citgo Sign - a welcome sight.

I knew I still had a few miles to go, so I kept slogging on slowly. Then as we approached Kenmore Square, Nephellie made a run for it, but I was seriously running out of gas. At this point, my goal was to be able to run the entire distance down Boylston Street, so I continued to walk periodically to conserve energy. Even at the “1 Mile to Go” mark, I had to walk - Ugh! Finally, we turned up Hereford Street, then turned onto Boylston Street and there was my family again! I can’t believe they made it from mile 17 to the finish to see me! From what I heard the subway was a nightmare!

Boylston Street was everything I hoped it would be. People yelling my name, the finish line off in the (far, far) distance and the thought that I had just run the Boston Marathon swirling in my head. I thought I was going to start crying once I got on Boylston, but I was just so glad that it was almost over that I didn’t know what emotion to feel. Just for the record, Boylston Street is a VERY long street. I held my camera in my hand and just kept snapping pictures. I didn’t want to forget this moment.

Finally, I made it to the finish line and I tried to look alive for the finish line picture. I’m not sure I succeeded, but who cares? I was so thankful to be done and I forgot to look at the clock and I forgot to turn off my watch. No biggie. According to the official time, I finished in 5:50:02. Most important part of that sentence - I FINISHED. And still on two feet, I might add.

Some very nice man put a shiny blanket on my and a very nice woman gave me a little sticker to keep it on me (I’m telling you, they thought of EVERYTHING). The blanket said “Shiny on the outside, Victorious on the inside” AMEN! Then I walked over to the chip removal area and they had a little wooden block that you put your foot on while someone else unties your shoe for you and takes off the chip. At the same time someone put the medal on me and took a picture of Larry and I. It was great. Then we kept walking and they gave us food and water and directed us to the baggage buses and it was all very smooth and terrifically organized.

I called Kevin and we met up with each other on Boylston and took a picture for the record books. We were both ecstatic. It was an amazing experience and I’m so glad I did it and I’m so glad I did it with Kevin.

I finally met up with my family and we went up to the hotel room so I could sit - man, was I tired! Mary, God Bless her, helped me take off my shoes and I had 2 CRAZY blisters! I started to feel them at mile 5. Let me tell you, 21 miles is a long time to work up a good blister. I tried to convey what an amazing day it was to my family, but I’m not sure I was even making sense. Eventually, they left because they had their own marathon to do just to get back to their car and drive to CT. I took a shower and tended to my blisters and laid down in bed. Kevin finally came back and got ready to do dancing at the Roxy. There was a big marathon party there that night. I wish I could have gone, but I couldn’t put shoes on! I got room service and finally re-filled my tank and I felt human again.

The next morning, we met Nephellie for breakfast in the hotel and we all wore our medals. We were all walking rather slowly. It was great to see all of the runners wobbling around the lobby of the hotel.

We took a cab back to Kevin’s apartment and I made the long drive home to CT.

Summary of the experience: One of the best of my life. I’m very proud of Kevin and myself for setting a goal and actually seeing it through to completion. We also raised a lot of money for a great cause. I want to thank each and every one of our sponsors to helping us to the finish line. I thought about everyone who had given us money or who had given us words of support and it really helped me during the difficult moments of the run. We have to most amazing and generous friends and relatives. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

The big question: Would I do it again? It’s been almost 2 weeks now since the marathon and I’d have to say…. I might. It was an incredible experience and I’d like to see if I could change some things about training, etc to see if I could do it better. We’ll have to see if the opportunity presents itself again. Stay tuned…..

Next race: Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco in October with Mary Naumec. Can’t wait!!

Thank you all again.

Love,

Barb

Here are some pictures in my Flickr account. They’re not all named yet, but you can get an idea of what an amazing time we had at the marathon.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/barbwatts/sets/72157604684695643/

I promise, long race reports are coming!

Well, we finished!  We’re Marathoners!!!!  We’re amazed and thrilled and quite sore.  We are both working on our race reports now while we recover.

We want to thank you all once again for your amazing support and all of the great texts during the race - they really helped!!

We will have much more on this blog in the next few days.  Keep checking!!!

Love,   Barb and Kevin

OK, so it’s really down to the wire now. 3 days from now, Kevin and Barb will be able to call themselves MARATHONERS!!!

The Marathon is on Monday 4/21. The wheelchair racers start at 9:25am and the elite runners and those with lower bib numbers start at 10:00am. Wave 2 (that’s us!) starts at 10:30am. The Boston Marathon will broadcast every 5km split to its web site (www.bostonmarathon.com): Here’s how you can track our progress:

1) Go to www.bostonmarathon.com

2) Type in our bib numbers or our names: (Kevin Rice: Bib number: 23764 — Barbara Watts: Bib number: 23761)

That’s it!

If you’re so inclined, feel free to send us text messages. We’ll read every text message, but we probably won’t be able to respond until Monday night. (we’d rather not put our phone numbers on the web, so if you got our last email, or phone numbers are in that message).

Once again, we really can’t thank you all enough. As of today, we’ve raised almost $14,000 for The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp. That’s almost enough money to fill a whole cabin with campers!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you,

Love, Barb and Kevin

Come back here on Tuesday or Wednesday to read our race reports!! They should be a doozy!!

So the past couple of weeks have been insanely busy. I had the camp’s Big Apple Circus and my annual birthday that same night (the other circus). I facilitated Young Cancer Survivor Weekend at Minnie Pearl in Nashville with Next Step and Bill Kubicek (he is always amazing to watch and work with!) and my Boston Hospital Outreach Team got an award at Boston Medical Center last night. I am so proud of my group of hospital outreach specialists and all they do with our families in the hospitals. We love BMC and are very honored! Cora’s Dad, Tom is in from Seattle so we went to dinner with the Basille’s after the award ceremony. AND during all of this, Boston is gearing up for the Marathon and I am having major Marathon anxiety! I do not feel ready at all. I lost a couple of inches in my waist after all this, but now it is the point where you have the “coulda woulda shouldas”! Nashville was great. Spent time with a lot of my Minnie Pearl friends and I saw Elyn, Clint and Anna from camp! Clint and Elyn are at Vanderbilt Med and Anna is a senior! Clint is in his fourth year and rotating through Oncology. Another camp person on his way to helping the world. Met Elyn’s amazing girlfriend and ran from my hotel to school to watch his soccer game. I ran twice in Nashville, felt good. But as you all know, the problem with Nashville is the food! Our retreat consisted of our Chef the “Sticky Bun Queen!” plus 24 awesome young cancer survivors and a beautiful staff from Minnie Pearl: Adelle, Rodney, Katherine, Susan, Meghan, Ms. Mary… I just love em! Bill and I were in charge of the games, he runs the support groups and I do the crafts. Bill is the master. We had a blast playing and hanging out with an incredible group of survivors.It is always a special time in Nashville. I can not believe I love the South.. Oye. The gravy and biscuits makes Daddy’s french fries back in Putnam look like health food!Nephellie and I ran the other night down heartbreak hill and back a bit. We both felt great and just imagined what it would be like to feel that good on heartbreak hill. I remember when Nephellie and I first ran 5 miles together and it was so hard, and now it is actually enjoyable to do a 5 mile short run. I am honestly in pre-marathon shock that I am really actually going to attempt this. I have not been this scared in a long time. It is really affecting me…for the better. I think it is one of those challenges, that if I accomplish it, it will be a switch to do even more with my life. I still do not feel like I did my best to prepare, life happened, and now it is here. I also constantly get asked if I have practiced for the marathon, because I am not what people picture what a runner looks like. YOU KNOW WHAT PEOPLE? SHUT THE STICKY BUNS UP! (cue Paula Abdul voice from short-lived Bravo show) I HAVE WORKED MY ASS OFF!!! I am sorry that I do not meet your thin jackrabbit runner standards! Yes I am running for the camp and the kids and all of my other friends that are battling serious illnesses, but I am also running for all the FAT people out there and anyone else that has ever been told or felt inferior because they are different or do not meet people’s standards of what they think I should or you should look like. Get a life! or better yet, get a pair of sneakers and get your sticky buns out there and stop judging me!I am going to channel all of my frustration of racist, homophobic, fataphobic, stupid people when I get to Heartbreak Hill. Ok, so the teacher, Barbara Henry, first teacher to teach Ruby Bridges in an integrated school in New Orleans on November 14, 1960 spoke at our awards ceremony tonight, it was pretty amazing. I think it made me jump on my soap box. This is what marathon crazy does to you. It is an emotional roller coaster. Barb and I will blog as much as we can this weekend. She is coming up on Saturday and we will hit the expo. Of course we will be taking advantage of anything marathon. I am going to run my final run tomorrow. Around the reservoir 1.78 miles, where this dream started.See you on the other side…..

AAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!

(although, the weather looks OK )

So I went back to an orthopedic doctor (one who specializes in running) yesterday because my ankle has been hurting me a lot since the 20 mile run and he took a look at the X-rays I had taken a month after my fall.  Turns I had (maybe still have?) a slight fracture on my ankle.   There was also a slight tear on the tendon and as a result I have tendonitis.  Hmmm…  I guess I’m lucky I finished the 20 miler at all.

After the marathon, I will do some non-running activity for a while to let my ankle rest and heal.

Fingers crossed that there are no issues during the marathon.

Hey everyone,

I’m putting together a collection of quotes to help Kevin and I through these last few weeks of training and to hopefully help us through the last few miles of the marathon. (one quote I heard the other day (maybe not so motivating) “At mile 23, you’re half done!”).

I found some good quotes from old Nike ads like the following:

Life is about who you love and who you hurt. It’s about how you feel about yourself. It’s about trust, happiness, and compassion. It’s about sticking up for your friends and replacing inner hate with love. Life is about avoiding jealousy, overcoming ignorance, and building confidence. It’s about what you say and what you mean. It’s about seeing people for who they are and not what they have. Most of all, it is about choosing to use your life to touch someone else’s in a way that could never have been achieved otherwise. These choices are what life’s about.

Here’s another one:

All your life you are told the things you cannot do. All your life they will say you’re not good enough or strong enough or talented enough; they will say you’re the wrong height or the wrong weight or the wrong type to play this or be this or achieve this. THEY WILL TELL YOU NO, a thousand times no, until all the no’s become meaningless. All your life they will tell you no, quite firmly and very quickly. AND YOU WILL TELL THEM YES

Send us anything you’ve got.  They don’t have to be as long as these.  They don’t even have to be a famous quote.  They can just be a few words from you.  I’m going to print them on little cards, so I’ll be sure to include your name if you want to send us a personal message.

You can send the quotes in the comments section of this blog (they won’t show up immediately because it goes to my email first) or you can send us an email (runners@barbandkevinrun.com).

Thanks everyone!  For everything…

Barb

At the start of the race my pants were falling down, lovely. I threw out my beloved batman hat and gloves at mile 4. I started walking a bit at mile 15 and it was a walk/jogathon until the end. BUT we finished. This is not easy folks. I am going to do my best. My legs felt great. I need to get my head in the game. I hated the cold, hated having my ipod, and had two many layers. I was in a bad mood from the get-go. Silver lining: met some really nice people at the event and in the end I took 3:56 to do it, but who really cares, I did it. Thank you to Kyle, Niki, Greg, Suzanne, Kristin, Mike and Magoo..all who I ranted and raved to on the phone about it last night. You all said the nicest things. The support will get me through. I gotta get the love back, I think it will happen by race day. Man-it-up, toughen up and GET IT DONE! It will be an experience of a lifetime no matter what. AND again my 5+ hours of Marathon madness is nothing compared to what I have watched kids go through in the past 8 years. Barb and I will do this! The scenery was beautiful. The run was mentally a @#$%%.