 The bus ride from Boston to Hopkinton took forever. I arrived with just enough time to do the final prep, Vaseline, get bag on the bus and final porta potty trip. The wind was strong and gusty as we walked to the corals but the temperature was my kind of running weather. Memories of Boston 2004 came flooding back, feeling depleted by the half as the temps soared to the mid eighties. What a
terrible race. Word came down the line that the gun had gone off. Gradually the runners moved forward. A little over ten minutes and I'd crossed the start line. The pace picked up slowly until I was doing "my" pace.
I held back as much as I could on that long downhill from the start. Tucked in behind two young women as we headed into Ashland. My goal was to do as close to a ten minute pace as possible but I'd left my watch in my car. Not a huge disaster as I rarely run with a watch. But maybe I'd need it, as it's so easy to go out too fast at Boston. Well I'd just have to listen to my body and watch my breathing. I lost my pacers at the first water stop and continued to pick up others along the way. After the 10k point I had difficulty figuring my mile pace as the distance was posted in kilometers. I wasn't sure if the clock time was for the 10 am wave or the 10:30 wave. I decided to forget about time and just run what felt OK for me.
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Along the way I ran beside burger-man (a guy with a huge pillow around his waist), several men in tutus and a French couple in national dress. A young woman dressed as a bride stopped for a photo op with two guys wearing Speedos. There was lots of music and an Elvis impersonator in Framingham. I laughed at the Wellesley women advertising free kisses and the guys taking up the offer. As we got closer to Boston the crowds were so dense and loud I missed several friends who were shattering their lungs trying to attract my attention. My family greeted me at mile 16 wearing "Team Parsi" t-shirts. Cheering me on at the top of heartbreak hill was my coach Cathy Utzschneider and Liberty Club members. As I descended the next hill my calves were cramping. By the time I reached three miles to go my chronic foot problem had resurfaced. Shortly afterwards a friend paced me for about a mile. What a good distraction. With two miles to go both legs were cramping. I knew if I stopped I mightn't start up again. I told myself "you can't stop.'' I covered that nasty stretch of Hereford Street and faced down the endless length of Boylston. I counted down the traffic lights and next came the finish line banner. I'm sure it was my imagination but I fancied I sprinted to the finish. Carrie Parisi finished in 4:27:02 and placed second in W70-74 age group.
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