Boston 2007 (part 1)
Last weekend, as most of you know, was the 111th running of the Boston Marathon. After years of trying, I finally qualified at last year's Flying Pig. So, I was pretty excited about my first Boston experience as we began the trip Saturday morning. My wife Kathleen and son Brennan made the trip with me. Fellow runner Jay Brewer and his wife Sally went, as well. This was Jay's second time running Boston.
We flew out of Columbus and had one lay over in New York before we finally arrived in Boston Saturday evening. I have to say that Brennan was great. I was a little worried about traveling with a five month old, but luckily there were no issues.
After landing in Boston we checked into our hotel and headed out for a quick bite. Having only been in Boston one other time, I wanted to find a restaurant that featured a menu with foods that best represented New England. We found a quaint little place within walking distance of the hotel. If you are ever in Boston you should check it out, it's called Applebee's.
After dinner we just went back to the hotel and called it a night.
The buzz around Boston now was about the weather. The forecasters were calling for a major storm to hit the area Sunday afternoon and continue into Monday morning. They were predicting cold temperatures, 3 - 5 inches of rain, and winds of 20 - 30 miles per hour with gusts over fifty. Perfect. Weather played a large part of my training all winter, appropriate that it was going to be a factor in Boston.
Sunday morning Jay, Sally, and Kathleen went to church while I stayed back and got Brennan ready for the day. We all met up at the marathon Expo. The Boston Marathon Expo was about ten times the size of the Flying Pig's. I think everyone decided to go at the same time. It was very crowded and difficult to get around. We picked up our race packets and I bought the obligatory souvenirs - tee shirts, hat, jacket, etc.
We left the Expo and went outside to get some pictures on the finish line. The rain had arrived. By this time it was only lightly coming down, but it was going to get worse.
After the Expo we jumped into a cab and headed for Fenway Park where we had tickets for the Red Sox game. We got there to find that the game had already been cancelled. I am a self-proclaimed baseball nerd and was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to go inside and see the ball park. We walked around outside Fenway and grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant.
With nothing else to do, we went back to the hotel. Looking back, it was probably a good thing that the game was cancelled. I was off my feet all day and the rest was good.
Weather alerts were breaking on TV all day. At one point CNN reported that the marathon powers-that-be were considering cancelling the race. I realize that the news occasionally exaggerates the facts in order to boost ratings, so I'm not sure they were seriously thinking about not running the race. But, just the thought of stopping it should be some indication of the conditions. The race had been run 110 consecutive times. It had been run in extremely cold weather as well as in temperatures over ninety degrees. It had been run during times of war, for Pete's sake. There was no chance they were going to cancel the race.
The rest of the day was spent laying around and 10:00 was lights out. The night before most races is usually hard for me. I'm typically nervous and rarely get much sleep. I can't explain it, but I was calm and fell right to sleep. I awoke a couple of times Sunday night to check the weather. Looking out the window, I found the rain pouring down almost sideways. The wind was whipping. There was a time when it sounded like the roof was going to be blown off the the hotel. Things were not looking good and I started to prepare for the worst.
Up next... Race Day!
We flew out of Columbus and had one lay over in New York before we finally arrived in Boston Saturday evening. I have to say that Brennan was great. I was a little worried about traveling with a five month old, but luckily there were no issues.
After landing in Boston we checked into our hotel and headed out for a quick bite. Having only been in Boston one other time, I wanted to find a restaurant that featured a menu with foods that best represented New England. We found a quaint little place within walking distance of the hotel. If you are ever in Boston you should check it out, it's called Applebee's.
After dinner we just went back to the hotel and called it a night.
The buzz around Boston now was about the weather. The forecasters were calling for a major storm to hit the area Sunday afternoon and continue into Monday morning. They were predicting cold temperatures, 3 - 5 inches of rain, and winds of 20 - 30 miles per hour with gusts over fifty. Perfect. Weather played a large part of my training all winter, appropriate that it was going to be a factor in Boston.
Sunday morning Jay, Sally, and Kathleen went to church while I stayed back and got Brennan ready for the day. We all met up at the marathon Expo. The Boston Marathon Expo was about ten times the size of the Flying Pig's. I think everyone decided to go at the same time. It was very crowded and difficult to get around. We picked up our race packets and I bought the obligatory souvenirs - tee shirts, hat, jacket, etc.
We left the Expo and went outside to get some pictures on the finish line. The rain had arrived. By this time it was only lightly coming down, but it was going to get worse.
After the Expo we jumped into a cab and headed for Fenway Park where we had tickets for the Red Sox game. We got there to find that the game had already been cancelled. I am a self-proclaimed baseball nerd and was disappointed that I wasn't going to be able to go inside and see the ball park. We walked around outside Fenway and grabbed lunch at a nearby restaurant.
With nothing else to do, we went back to the hotel. Looking back, it was probably a good thing that the game was cancelled. I was off my feet all day and the rest was good.
Weather alerts were breaking on TV all day. At one point CNN reported that the marathon powers-that-be were considering cancelling the race. I realize that the news occasionally exaggerates the facts in order to boost ratings, so I'm not sure they were seriously thinking about not running the race. But, just the thought of stopping it should be some indication of the conditions. The race had been run 110 consecutive times. It had been run in extremely cold weather as well as in temperatures over ninety degrees. It had been run during times of war, for Pete's sake. There was no chance they were going to cancel the race.
The rest of the day was spent laying around and 10:00 was lights out. The night before most races is usually hard for me. I'm typically nervous and rarely get much sleep. I can't explain it, but I was calm and fell right to sleep. I awoke a couple of times Sunday night to check the weather. Looking out the window, I found the rain pouring down almost sideways. The wind was whipping. There was a time when it sounded like the roof was going to be blown off the the hotel. Things were not looking good and I started to prepare for the worst.
Up next... Race Day!
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2 Comments:
Wow, what a story. Can't wait for part two. I guess the "powers that be" wanted to make sure you had a good story for you tell tell Brennen.
Were you as big a baseball nerd as my husband? Playing strato?
Arrgh!
You've got me all excited to read the next part. This is like the beginning of a great novel - It was a dark and stormy night.
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