Once you have achieved your goal, it is time to set a new goal. But for now, after successfully completing my first Boston Marathon, it is “mission accomplished” and some rest time for me. This is TL;DR post so please free to skip the read, I won’t mind. But then it is just 3 minutes read, so may be hang on and share my victory with me?
How did it go?
Amazing! That word pretty much summarizes it. An unforgettable experience! This run was a like a dream and I don’t want to come out of this dream. I want the pain in my legs and my body to linger around for a little longer so I can continue to hold on to this feeling of victory for a long time! This is exactly how I had wanted my first Boston Marathon to be.
- No stopping and no walking
This was my 3rd marathon and I was finally able to “run” the entire race, the ENTIRE race. Except for a pee break in between (must have consumed at least 4 liters of water), filing my water bottles a few times, and taking time to hug friends and family, I ran this whole damn thing! - Finish time of 4:33
I wanted to get it under 4:30 but I knew if was a tough race. To tell you the truth, I managed okay on the 4 newton hills. I think I had mentally been thinking and preparing about those 4 hills so much that I didn’t realize when the 4th was done but 5 more miles after those hills were difficult. According to Strava, my run time was well under 4:30 so there we go, goal achieved! - Enjoying the race
This was Boston Marathon! One of the 6 major marathons of the world. The crowd had so much energy that I kept going on, no matter how tired I was. So many kids looking out to get high fives, so many signs asking us to tap to get energized, so many signs telling us that the path forward is just a small hill, or the worst is already over etc., that the race seemed like a simple run. We enjoyed every mile, cheered for each other and had so much fun! - Family and friends
I was so stoked to see my family at the finish line. I was worried, if they will be able to get to the close line or not, as there were 1000s of people there. But being able to touch their hands right before the finish line (there were barricades so no hugs) and hear them scream for me felt so great. My daughter actually texted me right after, “You FINGGG did it!”. And my younger daughter was so surprised that I wasn’t mad at her for using a cussing word rofl;) And they were pleasantly surprised to see their picture on the back of my t-shirt. Here is that moment captured by Vini. You can see me getting emotional towards the end. - Perfect picture for the finish line
I did my first marathon with Vini in 2018. I ran the last 5 miles of my second marathon in 2019 with him and I did my Boston Marathon with him. We held hands together many times during the race. We bumped fists often during the race. We gave high fives to kids all through the race and stayed together and motivated each other every time we were low. Seeing our friends and family every few miles was a big morale booster. At the end, there couldn’t have been a better picture than both of us raising our arms together for victory. I am so glad he was able to join me even though he didn’t have enough time to train.
What’s next
Rest. At one point, I wanted to finish all the 6 major marathons of the world before I can’t run anymore but this one was an eye opener. The training was tough, fundraising was stressful and from logistics point of view, running all major marathons is going to be a LOT of work and a lot of planning. And don’t think I am ready for that right now. So, I am putting that dream of mine on the back burner (for now) and soaking in and enjoying this victory.
Thanks!
This wouldn’t have been possible without support from my friends and family and the Spaulding Rehab. Brandin Tumenski was there with his family at mile 11 to capture my run. He gave me a tight hug without worrying about the sweat :-) Vini’s family met us at around mile 16 and Elliot was there in Wellsley. I almost missed him in the crowd but thanks to Vini for pointing him for me! Lisa Radley and Bart Rys were there at mile 19.5 when we needed the push the most and captured a beautiful finish line video (that made me cry later on). They actually managed to capture a video on TV of us crossing the line. And the icing on the cake for me was my family. As I turned on Boylston street, frantically searching for them, I was afraid of not being able to find them as it was crazy crowded. That minute or so of panic of not being able to see them was torturous but finally seeing them scream and pushing their hands out above the barricade to give me high five was emotional. Yes I did cry there and if I had a chance to hug them, I would have cried pretty bad (kind of in an embarrassing way for my kids).
In Everbridge, we have a private channel for fun named blu-peed-mdr (please don’t ask me what this means), and the moment I crossed the line, messages started pouring in on that group and other DMs. I didn’t realize so many of my friends were tracking me and rooting for me. That was a nice surprise!
To all my supporters on my fundraiser, huge thanks to you. I almost made it to $7500. I have tried to personally thank all of you except when the donation was anonymous or I didn’t have your contact. If you donated anonymously to stay anonymous from the world (and not from me), can you please let me know so I can please (pretty please)thank you? There are a couple of names on my fundraiser who I don’t have contact information for, so if you haven’t heard from me, can you please reach out to me? My journey will be incomplete without thanking each one of you.
Finally the pictures!
Nothing is better than those pictures to show the emotions and fun we had running this marathon. Enjoy some pictures and unedited videos. Some of the videos will appear silly now, but at that moment it meant a lot, so sharing it “as is” with friends and family.
