By Marian Nash

In October 2006, I was 40 pounds overweight and a professional couch potato. I had lost weight before but I slipped back into old habits: eating lots of food and not moving from the couch very often.

I was frustrated with myself so I decided to do something about it. I started with the eating and went back to Weight Watchers to get that under control since that is how I lost weight the first time around. The weight started coming off slowly.

At the beginning of 2007, my friend and I set a goal in a meeting to run a 10K. We thought a 5K wouldnít be enough and a 10K would be about right. Here is where my journey really begins. I started walking about 30 minutes a day on a treadmill in my basement. When I started feeling stronger, I added inclines, a faster pace or more time. When the weather got nicer and my confidence built up, I moved my wogging (walking/jogging) to the great outdoors.

At this point I had lost the 40 lbs I set out to lose and my friend and I ran a 10K that summer. I had so much fun and caught the running bug. I also started working for Weight Watchers to help others achieve their weight loss goals.

Being the overachiever that I am, my next goal was to run the Portland Marathon in October of 2007. I searched for a training plan and followed it religiously for the next 16 weeks. I met my goal and crossed that finish line with a smile on my face and a gratifying pain in my legs. I remember hearing a lot of buzz about ìQualifying for THE BOSTON MARATHONî and asking ìWhatís the big deal?î My ear got chewed off for that question. It was apparently THE MARATHON anyone who runs marathons has their sights set on. I still wasnít sold, although I did want to run other marathons.

My goals at that point were to get faster and to hurt less at the finish line, so I found a training plan that would help me meet those goals. In 2008, I ran the Wenatchee Marathon and the North Olympic Discovery Marathon and. My times for both of those qualified me for the Boston Marathon. I was a little burnt out after that and decided to take it easy for awhile.

That didnít last long. In 2009 I started training again, running the Tacoma City Marathon and then the Inaugural Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon, both in the late spring/early summer. I entered a lottery to be in the St. George Marathon in Utah, where I was chosen and ran a personal record.

People kept telling me ñ you qualified for BOSTON, you have to run it! So I bit the bullet and registered for the Boston Marathon. The training began, once again.

I followed a 16-week training plan out of Runnerís World Magazine that consisted of hill work, interval training, tempo pace runs, long runs and easy runs. I ran 5 days a week, two of them including strength training. It takes quite a bit of running to get ready for a 26.2 mile run. The time flew by and before I knew it was time to make the trip to Boston to find out what all the hype was about.

The Boston Marathon is always held on Patriotís Day, which always falls on the third Monday in April and is a holiday in Massachusetts. It is the oldest annual marathon in the world. The race starts in a town called Hopkinton and finishes in Boston. To run in the Boston Marathon a runner needs to meet a qualifying time that depends on the runnerís gender and age. As a woman between 45 and 50 years old, my qualifying time was 4 hours or under. I qualified with a time of 3:40:40.

My husband, youngest daughter and I traveled to Boston on Friday. We arrived late Friday night and headed straight to bed. After waking up on Saturday morning and getting some breakfast, we headed to the Expo so I could pick up my bib number, walk around, get free stuff, and, of course, some not so free stuff. It was extremely crowded; every runner seemed to have brought an entourage. After we had enough insanity, we explored Boston a little bit. Unfortunately the weather was cold and rainy; in fact they were saying that dreaded word ìsnowî on the weather forecast.

Sunday was a ìtake it easyî day. The weather was sunny at times and cold, rainy and windy at other times. I tried to go to bed early since I had to wake up to be on a bus to the start line at 6:30 a.m. No sleep was to be had and I was up and out the door at least 30 minutes before I needed to be, leaving my husband and daughter to sleep.

Through Runnerís World, I signed up for a package which included a bus ride to the start line. The bus had toilets on it and we were allowed to stay on the bus until our start time. The ride was exciting. All the bus riders got to know each other and we became friends with each other, some of us exchanging email addresses. Somehow our bus got behind the buses carrying the elite and wheelchair athletes, so we had a police escort. They stopped all traffic for us. Even so, the ride to the start was 45 minutes long. The thoughts of not being able to finish started going through my mind. If it took that long to drive to the start, how was I going to run that distance? I trained for 16 weeks but the doubts were still there. Running marathons is very mental.

Runners all have little routines they do before a race. I always have peanut butter on a bagel or a peanut butter sandwich two hours before starting, then a banana 45 minutes before. My tracking chip was on my shoe, my bib was attached to my clothes and I had four nutrient gels to take during the race. I was unsure of whether to wear long sleeves or short sleeves; it was sunny out but there was a cold wind. I brought a jacket I could toss if I ended up being too warm.

The time had come to head to the start line. One more stop at the bathroom and my seatmate on the bus and I headed to the start line. I was in Wave 2, which started at 10:30 and I was assigned corral 16. My seatmate and I agreed to start off together and see what happened from there. Itís always nice to have someone to run along side for a little while.

We joined the sea of people heading to the start, lined up and the gun went off. It was finally time to make the long awaited journey.

My goal going into the race was to finish in under four hours since that was my qualifying time. I tossed my jacket right away because it felt pretty warm with the sun shining. One of my gels fell off of my belt soon after I started running. My seatmate and I lost each other in the crowd of people before we even hit the second mile. Looking in front, there was a rainbow of runners. The sound of feet hitting the pavement was like music. This was happening; I was running the Boston Marathon!

There was not one mile during the marathon that didnít have spectators cheering for the runners. People were set up on their lawns with grills and lawn chairs. Some people had set up their own food stations for runners with cut up oranges or ice pops. Kids were lined up to get hand slaps from the runners. It was so much fun high fiving the kids along the way. Each mile there were more and more spectators. The girls from Wellesley College were lining the street near their school holding up signs for free kisses. At some points the cheers were almost deafening. The energy was amazing. I was wearing a shirt with my name on it, so people were yelling my name, which definitely helped me keep going. Each time I crossed a time mat, every 5K of distance, I thought about my friends who were following my progress across the country.

As my legs tired, I thought about stopping and walking portions but then I would see another runner that would motivate me and keep me going. There was the man in a wheelchair pushing himself up a hill with his one working leg. There was the blind runner who had a guide leading him so he would stay on the course. There was Team Hoyt, the father who pushed his disabled son the whole distance in a wheelchair. If you havenít heard of Team Hoyt, Google their Web site; very inspiring! There was the military unit who marched/ran in formation the whole 26.2 miles and other individual military men and women wearing full backpacks the whole distance.

The finish line was approaching and the crowds of spectators were getting thicker and louder. Every so often Iíd see other runners slow down and walk and I just thought “You made it this farókeep running, there are only miles left. Once you pass the legendary Citgo sign there is only 1 mile left to go.”

What a horrible and great feeling all at the same time. That last mile is always the longest mile. Your legs are moving but it feels like the finish line is moving away from youólike you are running through quicksand.

Two more corners and the beautiful sight of the finish line was in view. It was a great feeling to cross that line and know that all the weeks, days, hours of training and hard work paid off. My finish time was 3:46:46 which I was thrilled with. I had qualified to run the marathon again next year if I wanted.

Now I know what all the hype around THE BOSTON MARATHON is about. It was definitely worth the training and effort.

Marian Nash is a Lake Tapps resident, Weight Watchers leader, and writer Daniel Nash’s mother. She is 46.