This was my 11th year pacing and my first-year pacing without Kim. He was still dealing with his back issue. We were hopeful after Chicago but towards the end of the week we knew it was best for Kim not to run. We went the Expo on Friday night to participate in the panel conversation for pacing, when Liz from HMF said “As a mom, I am telling you – you are NOT pacing Kim. He was in a lot of pain, both physically and emotionally. I know it was tough for him to not pace after so many years. I reached out to a lot of runners to try to find a replacement but didn’t want to move forward until Kim gave the final decision. Finally, he gave the okay to get a replacement the night before the marathon. Molly Lorenzo, from our marathon training program, had mentioned to Angie that she wished she was running the full and not the half. When I asked her, she immediately said “yes”. Keep in mind, this would be her 3rd marathon, and she had just run Chicago 5 days earlier. We went to registration and changed her bib from the half to the full. It made us feel better doing this officially as we respect Hartford Marathon’s rules regarding bandit runners.
I slept really good that night and woke up to my 4 am alarm. I parked in the Travelers building for the first time in all the years that I ran Hartford. It was so much better than having to use a cold port-o-let in Bushnell Park!
We walked to the park in the dark and headed over to registration so Kim could give his bib back. After some kind words from Debbie, we headed over to the carousel to meet Molly. Kim gave Molly a quick pacing 101 talk. I can’t even tell how much I admired this woman; she wasn’t even nervous. In fact, she had green and blue glitter on her cheeks to match the Eversource Hartford Marathon colors.
Our Fleet Family gathered for our group photos that was scheduled for 7 am sharp. After, we headed up to the statue on Capital Ave for the pacer team’s photo. I was nervous and quite emotional unlike Molly, who seemed cool as a cucumber. 7:45 we walked to the corral, and I said goodbye to Kim. I was shivering! It was hard to tell if it was from the cold or just the nerves of pacing without Kim. I’ve paced ½ marathons alone before, but never a full marathon.
Finally, we started running and the crowds seemed much thicker than usual. Angie was in front of us and somewhere in mile 1 she said, “I’ll pave the way for you”, which she did very gracefully. It was hysterical. She was filled with energy.
We headed up Farmington Avenue and into West Hartford. I saw so many friends cheering for us. There was Henryk with his LOUD cowbell, then Jose taking photos. I kept checking my watch and we were on target. We were keeping a steady 9:38 pace when we reached the mile markers. We headed out of West Hartford and back into Hartford. The half marathoners split from us, and we headed to the Riverfront. It was cool to look across the water and see the half marathoners’ runners on the other side.
As we got into East Hartford the mile markers seemed like they were farther and farther from when my watch chimed so we had to adjust our pace to make sure we were on track. This meant our pace went from 9:38 to 9:35 pace. I explained this to our group. So when reached the mile marker our time should match the time on our pace bands.
We saw the leaders coming in and they were moving! I couldn’t believe that the leader was so far ahead of the other runners. I remember turning onto King Street and saying to Molly, “I don’t remember this street” until we merged back onto the Old South Main Street. Then we saw more runners. First, we saw Steve, he was flying and had the biggest smile on his face. Then, I said to Molly, “I bet we see Eric next”, and sure enough we saw him. He looked so strong. Then more runners came through. This is my favorite part of the course. Getting to see the people we coached come through smiling and giving them high-fives.
I think it was around mile 17, I said to Molly, “my stomach is not feeling so great, I need to find a bathroom”. I made a comment about not finishing and Molly, with her sweet soft spoken voice, “We started this together, I am not finishing without you”, so my stomach ache went away and we continued on our 26.2 journey. Around mile 20 our friend Stanley showed up saying “I need my Fleet Feet family to get me to the finish line”. I could hear his labored breathing, so I did my best to keep his mind distracted. We played some games to distract him, like “look ahead and pick something and let’s run to it” for a bit. Then I sang the ant song for the group. As we approached the bridge I said to the group “Okay, this is what we’ve been waiting for. We’ve allowed you a little buffer of extra time for the climb up the bridge. Let’s shuffle and keep moving”. Then Molly said, “No one is going to walk on the bridge”! She was just what everyone needed. Then, Stanley said, “Where is Fernanda”? She should be here! As we crested the bridge we saw our Fleet Feet family cheering for us, running with us in sections to get us over the bridge. Let me tell you, this support system we have is like none other. There was Richard, Kerry, Samata, Patty, Audrey and then like an angel there was Fernanda. We always say, “no Kool Kid left behind” and we mean it! We got over the bridge and then I saw MaryAnn with a pink wig holding a sign “Congrats Jeanne on your 100th marathon”. This is when the emotions started to kick in. I thanked her and kept running to the finish. Samata ran next to Stanley and pushed him to get him to the finish line. Our friends were on the course cheering for us! It was epic. I turned the corner to the finish line and saw Tara holding a sign “Congratulations on your 100tth Marathon” and then the tears started. I was running and crying! We got closer to the finish, and I heard the announcer giving me a shout out. Kim, Diane and Angie were waiting with more signs cheering as I crossed the finish line. It was the BEST 100th marathon EVER. I gave Molly the biggest hug. She was a GREAT pacer. I am just in awe of her. We got our medals and turned to see Kaitlyn, another running daughter smiling. I hugged her and she told me she ran 3:42! I was so proud! I knew she would kill it. She had run so strongly during our training runs.
We got our gear check and headed to the VIP tent to watch our runners come in. The announcer was so funny as he kept congratulating me. Then, he called us out one more time wishing us a Happy Anniversary along with thanking Molly for her incredible job pacing.
We walked to the beer garden and got to see more friends. Brian, the race director’s father, came by in his golf cart and offered to give us a ride to my parking garage. He even got us some mums to bring home. I have to say, Hartford is not one of the major marathons but it’s special. It is at the top of my list of favorites of my 100 marathons. I can’t wait to run it again next year.