 |
| Kyle Durham |
Below is the account of my journey to qualify to run my very first Boston Marathon. I was so excited by my first qualifying time in the spring of 2013 that I completed five more marathons before the year was over. In November at the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon, I got my marathon time down to 2:47:09. Not surprisingly, the cumulative damage from those races was more than my body could handle. By February 2014, I was lucky to string together two days of running without injury. All of my Boston preparation efforts from 2013 left me with nothing left for Boston itself!
If this had been any other marathon, I hope I would have done the sensible thing and dropped out. But this was BOSTON. I had literally spent a decade dreaming about competing in the legendary Boston Marathon. I wasn't willing to abandon that dream when I was so close. And so I pushed onward. I took lots of rest days, I slowed to 8-minute pace, and my longest run was eight miles. I might not arrive in top condition, but I was going to make it to that starting line.
