Sunday in Boston

It has been a great day in Boston, just an extension of a wonderful weekend! We had a great relaxing day yesterday as well. My day included visiting Fenway Park for a baseball game, which was a lot of fun.

Today Kedra and I went to church at 8:30 with Gregg, Mary, and Harper. Afterwards we walked around for a little while. The weather has been amazingly pleasant. We came back to our apartment for a little while to hydrate and carbo load. Then Kedra and I went back to the city center to meet most of our friends.

We had a great lunch in the Italian section of Boston, followed by a trip to Mike's Pastry, which was packed. Long lines waited for the tasty treats being served. Carbo loading is fun!

The weather continues to threaten to take all the fun away. Here's the latest warming:

Update to Entrants in Tomorrow's Boston Marathon®

Sunday, April 15, 2012 as of 4:30 p.m.

Running any marathon involves risks

• The weather conditions that we will be seeing on Monday, April 16 will involve even more risk. It will involve an increased element of risk to all participants due to the heat. Only the fittest runners should consider participating.
• We have put in place a broad array of services and support for our marathon participants, but the risks that will be presented on April 16 will be higher than normal.
• Therefore, in cooperation with the Boston Marathon's Medical Team, it is our recommendation that anyone entered in the marathon who has not met the qualifying standards for their age and gender strongly consider not running, and that they strongly consider deferring until next year.
• Another essential factor to take into consideration is whether you have ever run a full marathon in weather conditions involving hot temperatures-and that can mean temperatures even lower than those that may be present on Monday. Do NOT assume that any experience you have in running a cooler marathon will be a reliable guide in making the decision in whether to participate or defer. You must factor in the heat.
• Everyone who does choose to participate should strongly consider running significantly more slowly that they normally would plan to run a marathon. We have extended the opening of our finish line in support of this recommendation.
• For the overwhelming majority of those who have entered to participate in the 2012 Boston Marathon, you should adopt the attitude that THIS IS NOT A RACE. It is an experience.
• MOST IMPORTANTLY-everyone needs to take responsibility for their own safety. Ultimately this is an individual sport in which individuals must take responsibility for themselves.

Boston Athletic Association

Most of you know that I have a little history of not being a great endurance athlete in the heat. That's going to change tomorrow! Ha ha. I will be careful, I promise. The temps will be flirting with 90 around the finish line.

My goals have evolved:

Qualify for next year by running 3:30
Have a good run and feel decent the whole way
Run the whole way without stopping
Run to live another day

Jimmy Sowders says it pretty well:

This is the place all runners dream of reaching. They just don't usually dream it will be close to 90 degrees. But the marathon is like life and life is like a marathon, it's about the journey. You lay out a plan and then you are thrown a curve, you have to just try to foul it off.