Spaghetti Sunday, Marathon Monday

I had an awesome weekend: five former cross country/track teammates from BYU showed up for the Boston Marathon. We got together on Sunday night to eat pasta and catch up. It was fun hearing about everyone's kids, jobs, lives. We used to run many miles together and mostly chat about boys and classes. Even though it's been years since many of us have gotten together, it feels like we just pick up where we left off and nothing's really changed except now we have more responsibility in life. On Monday morning, the runners headed out early and we headed over to a friend's place near Mile 24. We ate breakfast, watched live coverage, and I went for a run up and down a part of the course with Breanne. Scott was a trooper: he wore Phoebe and chased Bruce for most of the day while I got my annual marathon fix. Scott is awesome.

Random story about this sweatshirt: I bought it at an outlet store in Ohio for three dollars. When Bruce wears it, everyone always asks Bruce who his favorite player is - of course expecting him to say "Tom Brady" since he's the quarterback. Bruce doesn't even know that the New England Patriots are a football team. So when people ask that question, Bruce replies, "my mom."
Breanne ran at BYU with me and now lives a few hours south of here. She came to cheer, but not to race. See that glow? She's due in October. Laura has been running professionally on and off since college (only "off" when having her two kids). This was her first marathon and she got into the Elite Start with her stellar credentials. She ran great through the half (1:25) and then had problems with stomach cramps to the very end in 3:13. She said it was an awful run, but that the race and spectators and everything else was wonderful. Kristen ran a good race, finishing in 3:00:05. Asked if she was ticked off because of those five extra seconds, she said, "I couldn't have run five seconds faster." She was completely spent.
Jami was so nervous for the race. She checked the weather about every hour on Sunday (chance of showers? cloudy? breezy? It ended up mid-50s, partly sunny, no wind). She started out with Kristen, and then readjusted her pace a few miles into the race. For those of you who have never run Boston, it is a deceivingly hard course. On paper, it looks easy. It's mostly downhill, there are a few hills (although nothing near the ones we ran in Utah!), lots of motivating spectators. But it is a slow course. Still, Jami ran 3:15. Oh yeah, by the way, Jami has three kids under four years old. Where does she find time to train?!Laura, Kristen, and Jami ran at BYU while I was there, but I graduated the spring before Carlee showed up. She ran the 800 meters in college, but has since moved up in distance. This is her second marathon and she ran it in 3:17. Here's the most amazing part: she has a baby that was born four days after Phoebe! There goes my excuse for not running it this year... Ethiopian Teyba Erkesso had a huge lead when she passed us at Mile 24, but had to sprint at the finish. The runner-up was only three seconds behind her then. Still, Erkesso won in 2:26:11 and got to take home the $150K. Robert Cheruiyot blew the old course record away by more than a minute, finishing in 2:05:52. I thought that he'd won this race before, but I was confused. That's a different Robert Cheruiyot, my friend Mithu informed me. Robert Kipkoech Cheruiyot was the Kenyan who won four times before. This year's champ is Robert Kiprono Cheruiyot. Who knew that was such a common name?
After the race, we met up to swap battle stories and say our goodbyes. It was so fun to have a reunion weekend.

Anyone in for Boston 2011?