(Sunday Paper, Year VII, Issue 17)

A number of times this week someone has asked me how the Boston Marathon was and my reply has been “IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!”

And I think when you ask someone how it was running a marathon and that is their answer it might come off as sarcastic.

And I almost can’t believe it myself.

But that’s exactly how I felt about running the marathon this time around.

I just enjoyed it so much.

Two things right off the bat.

Number one is, you can find what I wrote after running the marathon in October at this link. I think it’s hilarious that in there the concluding thought is that I won’t be putting my name in the lottery for a spot with Team Framingham in 2022. Haha. Whoops.

The other thing is that in last week’s post I told you that I was hoping to run the Boston Marathon in less than five hours. Whoops. But only barely, really. My time was 5:03:48. (It was 5:05 and change in October.)

Back in October I was a little disappointed with my time. It was not a great run - my legs were pretty shot halfway though, but I somehow found a way to finish.

This time? I don’t think I could have run much better.

I trained really well. I paced myself really well. After I wrote those 6-mile chunked goal times last week I realized that I would need to make it through the hills with some oomph in my step in order to make it to mile 26 in less than 5 hours.

And during the run I knew I wasn’t going to have that oomph.

And I’m fine with it. I’m a 5-hour Boston Marathoner and I am proud of it.

It’s a hard run.

But on Monday, boy was it also a really fun run.

There are a few things that factored into my enjoyment on Monday.

Just knowing what to expect made a huge difference. I took the first few miles very slowly, keeping my weight off my quads, and six miles in I allowed myself to get caught up in the excitement of Framingham without losing control.

In October I think I had stress in my legs on Monday (race) morning - or I should say, I was stressed, and I think stress tends to tighten my legs.

That didn’t happen on Monday.

My foot, which I kind of hurt during this training period (long story, but if you follow the Instagram page [@johnnyrunsalot] you know I had to ice it and wrap it a bit the past couple of months), tingled a bit at mile 7.5 and I was worried that was going to be a nagging problem…but that was the last time I thought about it.

I think I did the right thing by resting most of the last week of training.

(It’s a good thing Matt didn’t have a big concert the weekend before the race this time.)

I took in what was happening around me - the inspirational runners, the crowds cheering on complete strangers (and also loved ones, which were both cool to see), and the Wellesley students.

October’s race was great - but it wasn’t until Monday that I appreciated just how pared down October was. Everything was multiplied a bit this time. I’m really glad I got to experience a regular April Marathon Monday.

This was definitely my strongest run of this training cycle.

I think if I ran the Boston Marathon two more times I might be able to sneak that time under 5 hours. But I’m not necessarily feeling a strong urge to do that.

I improved my time this run, and that’s not nothing.

Kathy and the girls were on Boylston Street close to the finish line, and that was even more special than I thought it was going to be, to see them as I was finishing.

Right after I saw them the PA announcer called me out over the speakers - I heard “There’s John Sucich of Framingham” right before I crossed the finish, and that was cool.

When I came across the finish I saw some of my cheer cards from the app posted on the videoboard that was set up further down Boylston.

If I never run the Boston Marathon again, I will have incredible memories of my final one.

But I don’t know if this will be my last or not.

I can say with certainty I’m not going to put my name in for the 2023 lottery.

That’s because I’m going to try a different marathon on a different course and see how I can fare on a marathon course that doesn’t have such punishing hills.

I will also run some more half-marathons. I love those.

For now, though, I’m just going to keep looking at the many pictures I have from the 2022 Boston Marathon.

I joked a lot about doing this again just so I could smile for the camera more this time.

Last time so many of the pictures captured me wincing in pain or looking miserable. I wasn’t 100% miserable…but I was more than 50% miserable.

This time, though, I didn’t even have to mug for the cameras (even though I did a few times). I was smiling for so much of the race, appreciating it and enjoying it.

You can see it in the pictures - they make it look like I’m enjoying myself.

Because I was.

It was so much fun.

Notes

*So here’s the deal. I’ll save the regular features for next week. I’ll leave you with this note:

Thank you to everyone who donated. I can’t believe we hit the magic $4000 number again this time around - we actually surpassed the fundraising from October. If you didn’t give but still want to (I am sure I will not do another fundraising marathon run for at least a full calendar year, if ever) you can contribute to the Wonderfund fundraising at this link. This edition of Team Framingham is in second-place all-time as far as Team Framingham fundraising. It would be cool to surge this last week of fundraising and finish at the top of the list.

You can also follow me on social media for other random Boston Marathon pictures or posts - Twitter is here, the Facebook page is here, and the running Instagram is @johnnyrunsalot.

OK. Here’s a finish line picture, and then next week maybe we’ll do a photo gallery-type of post because there are a ton of pictures to share of me having a great time running 26.2 miles.