TREK USA New England Relay

Day 1 – May 9, 2008

Start:  BAA Boston Marathon Finish Line – Boston, MA

Finish: Beach to Beacon 10k Finish Line – Cape Elizabeth, ME

Wicked Fast Runnah

After a good night’s sleep peppered with episodes of waking up from excitement, I find myself toeing the FINSH line of the oldest, most prestigious marathon course in the world.  The Boston Marathon is the only one I know of that requires you to qualify at another marathon.  You must run REALLY fast just to have the privilege of running again here.  It is so sacred among runners that it is referred to by one word…Boston.  As in “I qualified for Boston”, “I’m training for Boston”, “I’m running Boston.”

It is my dream and goal in this sport to one day qualify.  As of today I am not close.  At all.  I would have to run a marathon 1 ½ hours faster than I ever have to do this.  But I keep doing my best.  Also, it is less for women  and every 5 years, the age group qualifying times go down a bit and.  Like 5 minutes.  Hmmph.

Last year I was running in the Country Music Marathon in Nashville, TN.  At mile 16, I remarked to the a fella I was running with that all I needed to do to qualify for Boston was maintain the pace that I was on until I turned 80…and change genders.  At that point an elderly lady passed me and said, “It’s not that easy, sonny!”  True story.

So, with little fanfare, photographer Lily Feria snapping away and support biker Captain Ron Kramer leading the way, off I went.  True to form, I went out too fast.  Now every runner knows not to start too fast; for it almost certainly means implosion later in the run.  For me, that means fast now, sssssllllooowwww in a few days.  After all, this is 1,300+ miles.  Anyway, last year I averaged 14-15 minutes per mile.  This year, it is 10-11.  I guess losing 35 pounds and weight-training every day does that.  Now, all these Boston-based TREKkers are saying that this year I am a wicked fast runnah.

My opening leg took me on part of the Olympic Ladies’ Marathon Trial Course.  This meant going over the Mass Ave Bridge.  This bridge is measured in ‘Smoots’.  All along the bridge, there is the measurement painted on the concrete of how many Smoots have gone by.  The MIT Lambda Chi Alpha pledges repaint it every year.  Why Smoots?  What is a Smoot?  Well, it seems that in 1958, Lambda picked Oliver Smoot because he was the shortest member and his name sounded ‘scientific’.  At 5’7” tall, they laid him down, and marked off how many Smoots the bridge measured.  It is now well-known in Boston that the Mass Ave Bride measures 364.4 smoots…and one ear.

For most Boston Marathon runners, seeing the giant Citgo sign means 1.5 miles to go.  For me it means 1,302.5 miles to go.  Oh well.  I gots me some new shoes!

So off I go on another adventure.  Running, biking, and traveling with a bunch of fine folks.  Today I meet 2 new runners to TREK that will run with Director, Billy “The Coach” Sheehan from last year and me.  They are both intimidating great runners.

Julie is a fast, incomprehensibly friendly, supermodel-looking attorney who has completed 38 or so marathons.  And so modest that I had to draw that out of her.  If she only owned a Ferrari dealership, she’d be BAR-BAR-BAR.  But BAR-BAR-7 is pretty much at the top of most any list I ever saw.  So, I retained her.  I figure I’m due for a lawsuit soon, anyway.

We also were honored with Karen.  Karen is impressively fast.  Impressively attractive.  Impressively intelligent.  Impressively bright.  That was until halfway through the day when I found out that she was 15+ years older than I would have guessed!  And lemme tell you that most people don’t usually get dolled up for a relay run to hell and back.  She kicks butt in all kinds of races…wins some…age group awards…Ironman competitions…wow! 

I thought last year’s collection of dead animals (not really, Martha, they may have been stuffed) was bad.  Today’s theme is skunk-de-li-icios.  Holy moley the RV still smells from the slew of dead Pepe le Pews we ran by.

We also ended by all running the Beach to Beacon Race in beautiful Cape Elizabeth, Maine.  It is the great Joan Benoit’s race.  She was going to run with us but is injured.  It was great, anyway.  We had police escorts and the royal treatment.

What an awesome start.  Only 1,233,155.82 smoots to go!

Larry

PS: If you haven’t yet, please donate to help this cause I am running for.  Together, we can change the minds and lives of our children to be healthier and happier.  Any amount helps.  If you have already donated…DO IT AGAIN!

Click the following link to help…

http://www.active.com/donate/trekusa/larryherman