Hello Everyone,
Well, we didn't think it was going to happen, but Jose decided to go ahead and run the Long Beach Marathon despite his calf injury he has been battling for the past 8 weeks now. He felt pretty good and had trained a little, but not like he normally prepares for a Marathon, so our expectations for qualifying for Boston were not as high as they would have been had he not had this injury. But, off he went Sunday Morning at 3:50am...on his way to Long Beach. I was considering staying home at first, (hard to believe) only because it is quite a long drive with the kids and I wasn't sure if he was even going to be able to finish the race. But after he left around 4am, I had a dream that he was being hauled away on a stretcher and I wasn't there to be with him. Yikes. I guess I was really worried about his leg, so I decided to go for it. Got the kids ready and I was on the road by 7:30am. I figured I could easily still make it and see him finish, should he be lucky enough that his leg would hold up. He was going to call me if he had to pull out, but I just took a chance. Plus I had this hunch that he was going to try really hard despite everything to still qualify. I know how bad he wants this and once this man has made up his mind about something...well, let's just say, he gives it his all and he usually is able to accomplish it.
The drive was long!! Jose hadn't called and so I knew I would see him shortly. Finally got there, parked and walked to the finish with the kids. I was situated in a good spot where I could see him coming around the last corner towards the finish. I checked the time, it felt like, every few minutes. At one point, I started pacing knowing he only had 5 minutes to make it.....3 minutes.....2 minutes...oh, come on....where are you?......1 minute...no Jose....It was a minute passed the cut off time, and who do I spot coming around the corner? JOSE!!! Oh my god, I thought, he is going to be so bummed out that he is going to miss this by just a few seconds....But I thought it depended when the chip time stated he had started, which is always a bit different and so I started screaming......"Come on...you can still make it!!!" You still might have a chance honey....SPRINT!!!!!!!! He looked defeated already, but when I mentioned he could still make it, something sparked up in him and he started sprinting.....but unfortunately, it was not fast enough....he missed qualifying by 1 minute and 38 seconds...talk about a BIG Bummer!! I found him laying in the grass, just so bummed out. Tears in his eyes...I felt so bad for him. Even though he did awesome and did get another PR of 3 hours 17 minutes, which of course is great. We are so proud. But, for those few moments he was in pain. Physically and mentally. He had given it his all he said. He was scheduled to come in at 3 hours, 5 minutes but at mile 23 he got a major cramp and he had to pull over 6 times to stretch it out. That cramp cost him the Boston Marathon. Darn cramp. We figured after talking to some other people, that due to Jose's calf injury he had probably ran a bit differently than he normally does, putting too much pressure on his other leg, which at mile 23 gave in. It said: Heh, buddy, what are you doing to me? I can't take this anymore!! Hahahaha
Well, I am sure we will be talking abou this for a while. He is in good spirits and already talking/thinking about which marathon to run so he can qualify then. Qualify he will, the questions is WHEN? Thanks for reading and for all of your support :0)
No comments:
Post a Comment