First-timer Jenny Hitchings of Sacramento says she's been told she should be proud to take part. 
Sacramento Bee/Randy Pench

Hills to conquer

A flatlander worries about the ups and downs he faces in his first Boston Marathon

By Sam McManis -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PST Thursday, March 23, 2006
Story appeared in Scene section, Page E1

Eventually, the post-race dopamine clouding your judgment wanes and you totally freak out.

What now?

You realize you are in no way prepared for the April 17 running of the 110th Boston Marathon - the Super Bowl of marathons, the grueling, 26.2-mile course with such ominously named topographical features as Heartbreak Hill, Hell's Alley and The Haunted Mile.

They, presumably, know what they're doing.

Then there's you. You - oh, OK, let me fess up and switch to the first person, I - have no clue. And, in the months leading up to the race, my anxiety has risen even higher than the mileage I'm logging on the gloriously flat roads of Davis, my place of residence.

It hasn't helped matters that I've been reading up on how scary this race can be. To wit:

* From Runner's World magazine: "Boston, the world's oldest marathon, isn't just tricky; it's diabolical."

* From an aid station worker quoted in a Boston Globe story on Hell's Alley, which comes before the better-known Heartbreak Hill: "I've seen hyper-thermia, hypothermia, hypo-natremia, heart attack, diabetic emergencies, falls, sprains, blisters, diarrhea, vomiting. I've seen it all on this hill."

* And this from former elite marathoner Grete Waitz, describing her first Boston race: "I was that badly hurt in my quadriceps that it was 12 days before I could jog 20 minutes. ... My husband had to help me in and out of the bath."

There is good reason, it turns out, for my concern. Most Sacramentans live in pancake-flat areas where hills resemble speed bumps. In Davis, the biggest "hill" - seriously - is a freeway overpass. Sure, I can drive to the hills of El Dorado County or Vacaville to get some incline, but, you know, I've got a life and a job.

Then again, Boston's rugged terrain - downhill most of the way but with all its hills in the race's later stages - doesn't care about what obligations you have. If you don't prepare, it makes you pay on race day.

What I needed, badly, was advice from fellow locals who have run Boston before or are, like me, training for their first foray in the historic race. Sacramento alone boasts 34 qualifiers, 15 are from Davis, 10 from Folsom, and dozens of others hail from scattered suburbs.

Plus, I figured, learning about hill training might help other, non-Boston-bound runners who want to add ups and downs to their daily workouts. But, truthfully, I really just wanted reassurance that I can survive Boston. So I went down the list of entrants and started cold-calling.

Best experience is doing it

"This is my first Boston, so it's new territory for me, too," she says.

Moncrief had been trying to qualify for Boston for several years. She finally did it this year. Her secret this time: "GU" and weight training.

GU, for the uninitiated, is the instant carbohydrate supplement that comes in foil packets.

Note to self: Pack GU.

"Water isn't enough," she says. "I had sports drink and GU. It's made a big difference. At first you think, 'Oh, I can't do that.' But pretty soon, you're doing it. I can do a two-hour run now and not feel sore."

Prepping for Boston, though, means adding hills in her two-hour trot. But Moncrief has a full-time job as a court reporter and can't always head for the hills.

"I try to do the Hughes Stadium overcrossing at Sac State at least once a day," she says. "I try to find whatever rises I can around here. But my mother lives in Auburn, so I'm thinking of going up there to train.

"People tell me not to get too freaked out by the hills at Boston. Maybe work out on weights. A stronger upper body helps me on the hills. If you have a weakness on downhill running, you've got to do the weights or exercises that'll help your quads."

Moncrief's neighbor, Jenny Hitchings, 42, just happens to be one of Sacramento's top master's runners. Hitchings, too, will be competing in her first Boston Marathon. Her teammates on the Buffalo Chips, a local running club, have also told her not to be intimidated by the hills.

Still, Hitchings, who ran the CIM in 2 hours, 58 minutes, 20 seconds, is logging 70 miles a week and running the same hilly trails her ultramarathon friends routinely trek. She was the top master's finisher (1 hour, 25 minutes) at the Shamrockin' half-marathon on March 12.

"You've got to do it to help your strength," she says. "I run a lot along the (American) river from the fish hatchery to Folsom, and the Chips regularly do a 16-mile loop in Rescue (near Cameron Park) that's basically all uphill."

Talking to Boston veterans is one thing, Hitchings said. But there's no substitute for experiencing the race yourself.

"I actually heard it's not a beautiful or fun marathon," she says. "I've had more people tell me it's the worst marathon they've ever done in their lives. Worst meaning that the course and the weather were bad. It's not really a gorgeous course, either.

"But they insist on going because of the mystique. It's something to be proud of qualifying to go. Boston Marathon - everybody thinks you're this really terrific runner. And the good thing is, as we get older, it doesn't take that much to qualify."

No getting around it

So this guy is no slouch. Early's assessment of Boston: "It's hard."

Uh-oh.

"One year," he continues, "I blew up in the heat. It was ugly. I wasn't having any fun. It's challenging, terrain-wise. But counteracting that is the boost you get from almost a million spectators."

Early advises patience at the start, which quickly drops from a 472-foot elevation to about 300 feet.

"At CIM, there was a group of us who trained with Boston in mind," he says. "We all agreed that we'd start 30 seconds per mile slower than our pace for the day and hold it for the first three miles. You'll want to do Boston the same way. You'll feel like you're walking and everybody around you will be going by. Let them go. You'll want to get to Wellesley (College) at the halfway point in good shape.

"Whatever you do, don't go out too fast. The downhills will kill your legs."

Ah, yes, the downhills, which dominate the first and last five miles of the course. Veterans say they are tougher than those four hills that hit at Mile 20.

Preparing his quadriceps for that pounding is a concern for Mike Farrell, 39, of Sacramento. Farrell will run Boston for the first time. Actually, though, he's more concerned with the American River 50-mile Endurance Run (a 50-mile race along the American River) he'll run two weeks before Boston.

When it comes to hills late in the course, the AR50 has one that makes Boston's "Heartbreak Hill" seem like a gentle rise.

"The last two miles is a climb from the bottom of the canyon (in Auburn) to the top of the overlook," Farrell says. "That's in miles 49 and 50. After I finish that, I just want to run Boston for the experience. It's the Super Bowl of marathons. I expect to run it with a smile on my face."

But Farrell knows that smile might be a grimace on someone like, well, me. That's why he advises runners to do year-round hill work. He's a prosecutor for the state attorney general's office and squeezes in runs during lunch. And, yes, even in downtown Sacramento, he finds hills.

"I do the I Street Bridge hill, six to eight repeats," he says. "My building has 18 stories, so I run that once a week, too. That's quite a workout."

That's insane to some middle-of-the-pack Boston qualifiers, however.

But no reason to obsess

Perhaps sensing my unease, he takes on the soothing tone of a therapist.

"Just enjoy the trip," he says. "I make this a race where I enjoy it and badly want to finish. So I run conservatively and don't worry about my time. I don't have time for heavy training. I have kids and a family. You just try to balance it. It's something I look forward to - as opposed to paying taxes in April."

I feel even more confident after talking with Jim Geary, 59, a Sacramento lawyer who'll be running his 11th Boston Marathon. The race, he says, is "more of a fraternity party." The only pressure he says he feels is from his wife.

"Every year she gets together with her former college roommates, so it's kind of mandatory that I qualify every year," Geary says. "Once I had to fly to Vegas in February to get a qualifying time."

Geary trains in the hills of Folsom but, every year near the end of Boston's course, his quadriceps betray him. He accepts it as part of the experience.

"I still have not come remotely close to having the legs to continue running well once I finish that last hill at BC (Boston College)," he says, "And I still have five miles to go."

Don't focus on the pain, Geary says. Just enjoy the spectacle.

"There are 20,000 dyed-in-the-wool crazy people out running, and the crowds are jammed the entire way," Geary says. "But Wellesley is the real reason I run it. It's the all-women's college at the halfway point and you run through this gauntlet of women, shrieking. You feel so good at that point. In fact, I talked to some of the guys around me and said, 'Hey, let's circle back.' It's a lot more enjoyable than what's to come."

Just finish, baby

"For a long time, I didn't go to Boston, even though I qualified every year, because I thought it was just another race," Early says. "Then I finally went and found it wasn't the case at all. It was special. There's so much history. It feels like the entire state of Massachusetts is lining the course. And they won't let you stop."

So, worse-case scenario: Maybe those spectators can carry me to the finish line.

Where to find hill runs in this great big valley

Here are three runs that several have recommended:

Rescue Run

Directions: Exit Highway 50 east at Cameron Park Drive. Course starts at the shopping center on the corner of Cameron Park Drive and Green Valley Road in Cameron Park.

Course: Start running east on Green Valley Road to the village of Rescue (2.8 miles). Turn left (north) on Deer Valley Road. Run about four miles to Starbucks Road. (If you turn left on Starbucks and head back, it's a 10-mile run.) Continue on Deer Valley another three miles until it hits Green Valley Road. Turn right for a quarter-mile. Loop around an unpaved parking lot and loop back to Deer Valley Road and retrace to Starbucks. Turn right and head back to Green Valley Road.

Nimbus Fish Hatchery to Folsom Lake

Directions: Exit Highway 50 at Hazel Avenue. Go left and turn on Gold Country Boulevard. Park near the American River Trail.

Course: This is a newer section of the American River Trail and it's the most hilly. There are rolling hills and, closer to Folsom Lake, steeper climbs. Many runners do six to eight hill repeats near the end of the trail at Folsom before turning around and running back to the hatchery.

Lagoon Valley Regional Park in Vacaville

Directions: Take Interstate 80 south to the Peña Adobe exit. Follow the sign to Lagoon Valley (to the right). Travel for 0.2 miles. There is parking.

Course: There are many bike paths and hiking/running trails from which to choose with gentle and rolling hills.

Source: Buffalo Chips Running Club

About the upcoming Boston Marathon, race veteran James Flanigan of Davis advises, "Just enjoy the trip." Sacramento Bee/Hector Amezcua