Michael Bayer
Race Bib 7291
At Boston my legs gave out at mile 10 and my stomach at mile 13. I took all the Imodium and Pepto‑Bismol I carried with me but was still feeling quite ill and got progressively worse. In marathons I generally hold a constant pace through about mile 18 or 19 then gradually slow down and lose about 3 to 8 minutes over the last 6 to 8 miles. I lost a whopping 34 minutes in the second half of the race as pain, fatigue, & nausea forced me to walk up all the hills and many other places, too. Soon after crossing the finish line I just sort of crumbled in the street over a sewer grating and attempted to relieve my severe nausea. The medical staff scraped me off the street, got me into a wheel chair, and stabilized me enough so I could crawl into a cab to get back to my hotel. Had my two sisters from San Francisco, Joyce and Pam, not been there, I would have never made it to the cab. At the hotel I poured out into the gutter for some more cookie-tossing while my sisters contemplated how to get me up to my room. A police car just happened by and the two officers gently dragged me up all the stairs to my room, where I lied on my back and moaned for many hours while my sisters “fed” me Sprite for the nausea and helped with ice packs on my legs. It was during this time that I decided that this race, my 10th marathon or ultra, would be my last long road race. I would still do an occasional slow Sunmart 50 km trail run, but I was done with marathon road races. I was finished … I was done … no more. Little did I know what was to occur in just 20 days and in December, but those are different stories.
The Boston Marathon experience was fantastic despite my less than stellar performance. Spending the whole weekend with my sisters, Pam & Joyce, was priceless. Discussing race stories over lunch the day after with Sue Wheeler and Terry Allen was special. Click Here for some photos of my trip. The photos are not necessarily in chronological order.