From the staging area to the start line was about three-quarters of a mile.
"You're walking with your other runners shoulder to shoulder for almost a mile. You see this sea of people going down this hill, and then it turns," said Ward Tuttle.
Walking to the start line of the Boston Marathon was a final moment of anticipatory electricity before the race began, like the slow chug of a roller coaster as it slowly climbs the lift hill before releasing down the first slope in a rush of acceleration.
For Tuttle, an Estevanite and investment adviser at RBC Dominion Securities, his experience at the 118th Boston Marathon was an uplifting one he won't soon forget.
"I'd never experienced that. It built that excitement even more, and even the first three miles of the race, you're just body to body."
Tuttle, who turned 48 over the weekend, ran on April 21 with the roughly 32,000 other marathoners in the men's race.
After leaving their gear at the finish line, they were transported to the start. Runners were organized in four waves of about 9,000 people and those were segmented into between six and nine corrals.
Tuttle was a unique case as one of the runners at the marathon who did not qualify. Traditionally, runners qualified based on their age and race time. Tuttle's age group had a qualifying time of about three hours and 30 minutes, a point he said he wasn't at for the 26 mile ordeal.
"I maybe could run one of those this year, but through an affiliation with John Hancock, who is the main sponsor of the race, I was able to get an invitation to the race without qualifying," said Tuttle, who hoped to run a marathon time of about three hours and 45 minutes. "It was tossed out to me as an idea back in September or October, and in November I got the official word I had been accepted into the race."
With the sponsor's invitation, Tuttle had the winter to train. With the marathon in Regina held in the fall, he had all spring and summer to train. For Boston, he had to train throughout the Prairie winter. Not as amenable to outdoor running, he worked a mix of treadmill training and running at the indoor track at Affinity Place along with outdoor runs when the temperature wasn't too harsh.
"I've always run recreationally, and I would have to say I'm still technically a recreational runner. My interest in marathons started later on in life," he said, noting he started training in 2011 for his first marathon, Regina's Queen City Marathon in 2012.
"I loved it. It was really challenging. I did a few things wrong because I was a rookie," Tuttle said with a rueful smile. He didn't hydrate enough and ran a little too hard in the beginning. "All the textbook things I was told not to do."
He did push his way through and finished the race. Despite the few missteps, it wasn't a miserable experience but rather an exhilarating one.
"Once you've finished and you get that sense of accomplishment, you want the opportunity to run more. Once you do get over the line, especially this race was such a sense of accomplishment and really just an emotional time. All the runners around you give you a hug or shake your hand and congratulate you."
The relief of finishing comes after months or years of training and strategic planning, something Tuttle thinks marathoners enjoy as much as the race itself.
"In my opinion, to marathoners, the reason that it appeals to them is there is a definite strategy to running that distance. It's not just the ability to say "I'm going to run tomorrow 26 miles. It's a culmination of many months of training, if not years of building that base of miles."
The actual race involves a complex strategy and in-depth organization for the ultimate test of sticking with the plan. At what miles do you take on hydration, at what point do you add carbohydrates to store for later on and injury management, something Tuttle, much to his disappointment, had to cope with very early on in the race.
At Mile 5, the mild case of plantar fasciitis he had been battling flared up.
"It reared its head that day. It stopped me from maybe running the race I wanted to, but I still was able to run a pretty comfortable race overall."
Aches, pains and other bothers of the body are to be expected during a marathon, but having begun so early on, while not crippling, probably affected his race time.
"You expect to be sore after mile 18, 19, 20. You expect certain muscles to start to talk back and complain. When something happens in Mile 5, it's disappointing, but in my mind, I was making certain I could finish the race."
For Tuttle, he just had to manage the discomfort by being more mindful of the area, landing his foot in a slightly different way to make it as comfortable as it could be. With that change, he was able to complete the rest of the race.
After running through Boston for four hours and 13 minutes, he crossed the finish line, a little behind his goal of three hours, 45 minutes.
"When you enter downtown, which would be a mile and a half out, that's where you get a tremendous sense of the crowd because the noise with the buildings cascades and it comes right at you. About the last third of a mile, you take a sharp left-hand turn onto Boylston, which is where the finish line is, and once you see the finish line gate, you know it's happening and you're so energized."
Supporting him in Boston were his wife Lori Ann and son Jack, who were waiting for him near the finish line.
Tuttle ran in the final wave of the day, which largely consisted of runners from last year's race who weren't able to finish, following the bombing.
"Most of those were in my wave. Having the time ahead to meet with them and talk and hear about what happened to them, that was really quite powerful," said Tuttle.
"You knew it was going to be a very special occasion for that city. Everyone from the organizers to the police to just the owners of the stores along the way. They were doing everything they could to make sure it was going to be a great celebration," said Tuttle. "As soon as people knew that you were running, they wanted to know who you were and really made you feel welcome."
He said in the days prior to the race, all around the city, runners were thanked for taking part in the marathon.
As the Boston Marathon has a course that runs from one point to another, rather than circling in a large loop, it gives runners a chance to move through the many different neighbourhoods of the city.
"Each of those towns threw their own party. That was really neat. The signs on the course were hilarious and supportive," said Tuttle.
"I just felt blessed that I could participate. It was an uplifting experience. It really signified a moving forward for that city. They want to get back to normal."
With the runners in the Energy City, he's hoping the sport continues to grow and the running community gets a little stronger.
"There are a lot of very good marathon runners in Estevan who I've met and I hope it catches on in Estevan more and more. I'd love to see a running group in Estevan. It would be a great support system in place for runners."
