Marathon 2016

Boston Marathon 2016

Ken Poole – Boston #20, Total Marathons #50

BAA2016

Not the best run for this old guy. Got to Natick a little winded @ Union Sq. (Thanks for being there Al & Joanna), then on to Wellesley and managed to survive the ladies @ the College only to feel the ‘burn’ at the halfway mark. The long downhill into Newton Lower Falls took its toll on the quads as it does for everyone. The uphill begins here crossing over 128 @ the Newton-Wellesley Hospital and onto the ‘turn @ the Firehouse’ and the traditional beginning of the ‘hills’. It was here that one of the wheels fell off and by the time we reached the top of Heartbreak @ Boston College, it was a struggle just to keep going. We survived the ‘Dead Mile’ — that terrible stretch of road with the trolley cars on one side with many stops and the graveyard on the other side.... More runners drop out along this stretch of road than any place else. I thought I would be one of them this year. Everyone keeps looking at the grave stones just to make sure your name is not on one of them. Finally managed to get to Kenmore Sq. and the last turn onto Boylston and the finish line....... amen.

This was number 50 and the slowest so far. I don’t know if 51 is in the cards....I have to think about this a little more.

While preparing for this great adventure I ran a 23 mile run across the Intercostal Waterway and the infamous Butler Bridge. I have been running this course for almost 3 years and have never encountered any opposition. This time the Florida State Police stopped me and said:

“You can’t be running on this bridge. This is an Interstate.”

I said: “Why not? There are no signs indicating otherwise.”

“You can get arrested, put in Jail and fined...that’s why not!”, he said.

So I said: “ What’s the fine?”

Getting angry he said: “$64 dollars.”

“Well, that’s not so bad”, I said.

Then he said: “How old are you?”

I thought a moment, then said: “75".

He said: “Shouldn’t you be sitting on a porch somewhere?”

I thought another moment and said: “Well having just run 23 miles maybe sitting on a porch would feel pretty good.”

We tossed the ball back and forth a few times and he promised not to arrest me if I promised not to run across the Butler Bridge anymore. He let me complete the run unmolested and I spent the rest of day sitting on a porch thinking about the 120th Boston Marathon only 3 weeks away.

I’m writing this memoir while still sitting on the porch.