Editor's note: Scott Driver, a 66-year-old Magnolia resident, qualified this winter for the Boston Marathon, a story covered in the seniors section of the Jan. 26 issue of the Magnolia News. During our interview for the story, I implored Driver to give me a call after the big date, April 18, when he joined thousands of long-distance runners in the world class race. He called, of course, but he also sent what I considered a fantastic narrative of both his cross-country motorcycle trip to Boston as well as a depiction of the marathon itself. As he wrote in an e-mail... 'the components of the experience have blended together in the last week or so and it seems like each day the memories, as they relate to the physical, emotional & sometimes spiritual feelings, are still evolving and becoming more defined and powerful...
It's April 2005, and now, after many months of training, planning and contemplation, I can truthfully say:
Cross country ride on my Harley Davidson: Accomplished
Run and complete the Boston Marathon: Accomplished
I must differentiate between the two experiences, as they were so very different - physically, emotionally, spiritually and personally.
Getting there
The ride... hang on as we are about to head East and spend five full, chilly days at 85 mph for 10 to 11 hours each day, stopping for gas, lunch and a motel at dusk.
Ordinarily I would have made a "nature calls" stop or two each day, but it was so cold nature wouldn't have known how to call if I had stopped.
Left Magnolia early Sunday morning, April 10, met a great buddy, Mac Bledsoe, in Missoula, Mont., and we rode together to Butte that day. Had a "Montana" steak dinner and a few hours of conversation: the kind of conversation you can only have when it's one-on-one without the interference of other people, activities or obligations.
I quit talking at 1 a.m., and suspect Mac had gone to sleep a little before that. Mac is the most experienced rider I know, with his brother Mike being a close second, having ridden several 100,000 miles on his Harleys over the years. He told me he had, before leaving Kalispell, put the 40th new rear tire on his bike.
Several Harleys and 40 tires represent well over 300,000 miles of riding. He and Mike were doing burn outs on country roads in Ellensburg, Wash., where we grew up (I am a few years older than they, so didn't get to enjoy those early years of riding) while still in high school.
The next morning I headed East on Interstate 90 at 85mph, so the trucks wouldn't run over me; it was 20 degrees. Mac headed towards his home in Kalispell - no helmet, nothing over his ears, no windshield... well, you get the picture... one tough guy, but I suspect 300,000-plus miles of bug splatters might have affected his judgment over the years. 20 degrees!
Rode through Wyoming to Rapid City, S.D., and bedded down for the second night. As I was approaching Rapid City, I noticed that the ground as far as you could see was white with a few inches of snow, and assuming 20-20 vision, you could see for about 50 miles.
It had actually snowed the night before, so thank goodness the road was dry and bare and the sky clear.
Left early the next morning and there was a heat wave... it was 30 degrees for the first few hours.
On through South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, a piece of Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and then into Massachusetts. Three thousand-plus miles with no problems whatsoever. Warmer weather would have been nice but, hey, with six layers of clothes on, I'll take cold and sunshine any day over rain or snow.
One of the days on the road a heavy snow storm caused major problems for Denver, and just a few days ago I read that there was heavy snow in part of the Rockies... I was more fortunate with the weather than I had anticipated.
It was just getting dark when I rolled into Albany, N.Y., and, after five, 300-mile days, I thought it would be wise to spend the night rather than putting in another two hours or so of night riding to get to Boston.
Rode on into Boston Saturday morning, 60 degrees, blue sky, very interesting city, checked into my hotel, unloaded my "stuff" and rode to the Boston Harley dealer - fourth largest in the world, I learned - to leave my bike for it to be shipped to the Eastside Harley Davidson dealer in Bellevue.
One way on I-90 was definitely enough. A wonderful, enjoyable, long, ride....
Settling in, warming up
Took a cab to the airport and met my wife Martha's flight, then an early dinner and to bed. Physically, I experienced no aches, pain or discomfort, really... "butt" I can say that the afternoon of the fourth day, I noticed that I was repositioning my fanny every once in a while on the bike.
As I woke up Sunday morning, it hit me that in 24 hours I would be running the marathon I had planned for and anticipated for so many months...
Yes, it was a long motorcycle ride, but the truly physical challenge, my purpose for being in Boston, now had to be dealt with.
I found myself to be a little nervous regarding several aspects of the Boston Marathon - aspects I had not encountered with the previous six marathons I had run.
Food: In every prior marathon, I got up a couple hours before the start, had two or three bowls of cold cereal and 1-percent milk with toast. My wife drove me to the start and was at the finish to drive us the four or so miles home.
Piece of cake; no uncertainties.
As the Boston start is at noon, what the heck do you eat for breakfast, which will provide fuel to get you from breakfast at 6 a.m. until 4 p.m. or so, during the 26.2 mile run? Twenty pancakes?
The best I could come up with was my three bowls of cereal, then an energy bar (I don't like the flavor or consistency of any of them) at 9, 10 and 11 a.m.
As the marathon starts, approximately 27 miles from Boston, all runners - about 20,000 in all - must board school busses in downtown Boston between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. in order to be transported to the "athlete area" at the Hopkinton High School. It's here that you hang out in a huge tent until 30 minutes prior to the race start.
As there are twenty 1,000 person "corrals" which runners wait in during those last few minutes, it takes a while for the last few corrals to cross the start line after the gun goes off. An electronic "chip" on each runners shoe string registers the actual time you pass the start line, as well as every 5 kilometer run and the crossing of the finish line.
Heartbreak Hill
One purpose of the chip system is to prevent cheating... yes, occasionally a runner has taken a short cut over the years and most always is caught and disqualified.
I, along with 18,318 other runners, have crossed the starting line and are heading for Boston! Of course, none of us knows now that 770 runners won't make it to the finish line.
I have run six previous marathons without experiencing any pain during the run other than an occasional hamstring "twinge," but find myself thinking during the first few miles: How tough could "heartbreak hill" really be, assuming that the many miles of downhill running could only make the marathon easier. Will the fact it is near 70 degrees and my training took place between 40 and 52 degrees affect my stamina much. Or will the 3,250 miles on the motorcycle affect me?
Questions to which answers would only be revealed in their own time over the next 26.2 miles.
I learned that heartbreak hill is actually a series of several hills that extend for five miles and, for sure, you are more than pleased to reach the crest of the last hill and know that the remaining five miles are either down hill or flat.
About running downhill... it truly does give a runner a breather to have some downhill portions of a marathon; however, in the Boston Marathon, there are 12 miles of downhill running throughout the course, and due to no skiing this winter nor running a mile or two at a time of downhill during my training, my quadriceps were not happy at all after several downhill miles.
The 70 degree temperature definitely added to the difficulty of the race.
The energy and emotion generated by 500,000 spectators, standing nearly shoulder to shoulder and up to three or four deep for the entire 26.2 miles of the marathon, left an indelible impression on me. The 4- and 5-year-old kids throughout the course holding out their tiny hands, palms up, offering a slice of orange... a thousand young women along the course for three blocks at Wellesley College screaming so loud you could hear them several blocks before they came into sight... thousands and thousands of people with their arms outstretched inviting a "high five" or low five if they were only 5 or 6 years old... people in their wheelchairs lined up for a half a block in front of an Adult Care Facility, some of whom couldn't raise their arms, so we runners went to them, raised their arm and gave them a high five... and on & on & on...
During the last few miles of the marathon, emotions run deeper as your expectation of successfully completing the marathon is becoming a reality. Barring any physical disaster, you know you will be a finisher.
The number of runners lying in or by the street and being tended to by paramedics begins to increase... more runners are alternating running and walking at this point, and the expressions on runners faces vary dramatically from smiles of satisfaction to tight lips and stoic expressions, with tears quietly running down their faces as they struggle with the last miles.
A few of my own tears showed themselves when downtown Boston came into view perhaps three miles from the finish. And again when three blocks from the finish, when I could observe runners actually crossing the finish line. And again when I had finished and a volunteer was removing the electronic timing chip from my shoe...
And more... when Martha, my wife, and I finally found each other in the family area at the finish.
Next year when I run the Boston Marathon, I am already qualified. I will fly to Boston and arrive rested, will have made a couple of important changes to my training program and will have the definite advantage of knowing much more about the course.
This year I achieved my objective of completing the marathon and taking it all in. My objective for next year will be to improve my time significantly and finish strong... When I was running this morning I finalized, in my head, my training course for next year.
The entire experience, as well as the support from family and friends, means more than I can describe. It was an absolute blast!
Scott Driver lives and runs in Magnolia.[[In-content Ad]]
