Day 1 Arrival in Boston (Thursday)
We arrived in Boston early on Thursday morning checked into the hotel the Kimpton Nine Zero. Since we arrived early in the day our room wasn’t quite ready so we headed out to start our touring. Boston Garden was almost directly across the street from our hotel and although the gardens were not yet in bloom it’s a great park with a nice walking path continuing along Commonwealth Ave. We wandered about for a while and decided since it was still early we should start our touring. We had already purchased a “Charlie card” for the ‘T’ (subway) for the week and decided our first stop would be Harvard. After arriving in Harvard square we joined up with a walking tour and spent the next 1-2 hours learning more about Harvard and the early days of the area. Our tour guide was quite “wordy” and although we were all quite tired form our read eye flight we learned quite a bit. Harvard definitely is a very different type of school--- we walked through Harvard yard briefly checkout out the Natural History Museum which we decided to save for another day. Walked around the area a bit more and grabbed a bit to eat before taking the “T” back to the hotel. Once checked in we napped for several hours before heading back out for some dinner at the Kinsale an Irish pub where our waitress set us up with a great list of the best things in Boston to see…..
Day 2 (Friday)
First up on Friday morning was to get our “Go” cards which were basically a discounted tour card that allowed us into many of the city attractions for one price. Definitely a great buy and easy to use. Once we picked up our cards we decided to take the Redline Boston Trolley tour to get a bit of an overall view of the city as well as to make our way out to the Marathon Expo. The Trolley took us through the city with our trolley guide telling us interesting bits and pieces about the city. We arrived at the Marathon expo, I quickly checked in and grabbed my gear prior to going through the various booths and checking out all the vendors. The expo was great, well organized and fun to check out. I of course had to buy a few “souvenir” items to commemorate my Boston Experience. After the expo, we continued our trolley tour and went out toward the waterfront and took a Harbour Cruise out to the USS Constitution “old Ironsides” and wandered around Breed’s Hill. Once again we reboarded the trolley and headed back to home base for a quick nap prior to a pre-dinner run. We ran out through Boston Commons and were able to quickly find access to the Esplanade a great water front trail for a brisk paced 35 minute run. We had a great dinner in “Little Italy” at Dolce Vita- a traditional Italian restaurant in the midst of the ‘Northend’ and of course following our dinner had to check out Mike’s Pastry for some excellent Cannoli—YUM! That concluded our second day and we headed back to the hotel.
Day 3 (Saturday) Museum of natural history (glass flowers exhibit) Harvard Square, on to the T and out to Sam Adams Brewery tour.
Day 4 (Sunday) The women’s Olympic Trials…… Fortunately the women’s marathon was a looped course and the first loop (the city loop) ran nearly in front of the hotel. We were able to see the women just at about the mile mark and man are there some fast girls. Maggie took an early lead which was quite impressive as most everyone was expecting Deena Kastor to lead the way. After watching the ladies pass by we again headed through the “Commons” to watch the women through the rest of their race. Maggie continued to lead the way and was looking strong throughout, despite the fact that Deena seemed to be gradually reeling her in and by the final lap of 4 it appeared that if she was able to keep up the pace, which she did, she would eventually find herself in the number one spot. It was great to watch these gals, Desiree Ficker looked great through the first couple of laps and was in the lead group however seemed to fade and couldn’t quite hold the pace as she gradually drifted back further and further each lap….. it was hard to keep in perspective that each of these gals in there own right were amazing runners and had some amazing credentials and stories behind their individual qualifications and journey to the trials. Take for example Joan Benoit who was running in her final Olympic Trials, amazing… what a great story and impressive lady! She finished her day setting a new marathon record for over 50 year olds at a blistering pace of 2: 48. We spent a bit of time at the finish line taking it all in and cheering all the ladies across the line. While there we actually spotted Lance Armstrong as he too was watching the finish and preparing for Marathon Monday. After the finish we grabbed a bite to eat, headed back to the hotel, relaxed for bit and I did my final quick run at the hotel gym. We had booked the pre-race dinner earlier in the day so had a bit of time before our reservation so decided to use our “go card” to take a quick tour through the Aquarium as well as to walk through Fanuiel Hall/Market place. Pre-race dinner was at California Pizza Kitchen for a chop salad and foccacia bread which I know works as a pre-race meal, almost as good as Mexican, and since we didn’t see much in the way of Mexican food in the city seemed like a good choice ☺ Went back to the hotel and set out my race gear to as to have it all ready to go on Monday morning.
Day 5 MARATHON MONDAY
I woke fairly early to catch my bus by 730, didn’t have the best nights sleep, not that I expected to prior to a big event but was actually pretty calm headed out the door. I kept thinking to myself how I really just wanted to enjoy the day, the experience, not go too hard but hopeful I would have the legs to run somewhere around 4 hours. Bry walked down to the park with me, again our hotel was perfectly situated and I joined the huge line of folks boarding the buses for Hopkintown. The lines moved along quickly and we were on our way about 7:45. The Boston marathon is an impressive event, I continued to be impressed by the organization, volunteers and the magnitude of efficiency. It was fun to go cruising through the city against traffic and through red lights with police just waving the ribbon of buses along. It took some time to get out to the start, having a great bus driver avert a near collision only once due to some crazy car trying to pull in front of another bus. Once out at the start it was really an athletes village, funny how some folks who had definitely been there before had blankets, air mattresses and gear just to hang out and relax prior to the start. I actually didn’t’ have too much extra time in the village arriving just over an hour prior to my start time of 10:30 in the second “red” wave. I quickly found a port-a- potty line had one last pit stop and took a few minutes to find a spot to stretch out a bit and place all my gear in the dry clothes bag, drop it at my bus and head for the start… just as the sun came out. I walked out to the start and with only a few moments to spare was in my start corral just before the gun went off and I started my run.
The first couple of miles were pretty crowded but overall not too hard to get into a bit of a rhythm, the crowd was great and I tried to keep it at an easy pace so as to not go out too fast. I tried to take in the sights of these small towns as we wound our way back into the city clicking off the miles, looking back it seems like a bit of a blur….. I was wondering if it would be weird to be out running not having any one else on the course that I was running with, I mean there were 21,000 plus others but I wasn’t looking for any one or running with anyone other than the thoughts in my head. As I clicked off the miles, I was amazed at all the crowds cheering and the people lining the course. There was music and bbq’s, Boston RedSox updates and of course many many aid stations. I mostly stayed in the middle of the road as I was running with my Gatorade and gels and didn’t want to stop until later in the race, unfortunately it seemed that I may have been a bit too hydrated as about mile 6-7 I had to make a quick pit stop. As we made our way along the course I was looking forward to mile 17 where I would see Bry and my parent who were planning to come out and cheer. Once I reached that point in the race my legs were starting to feel pretty heavy although I was still keeping my pace and the idea of seeing them along the route as well as looking for them in the crowd took my thoughts away from the heaviness in my legs for a while, despite the fact that they were out there, we never saw each other…. Me them or them me… oh well, they cheered with the best and were out on the course early enough to see the leaders I pushed on and figured I would see them at the end. For about the last 6-7 miles there is a lot of support along the way and although heartbreak hill is definitely not easy I told myself “I live in Seattle” there are much bigger hills on my weekly runs and I keep plodding along despite heavy legs. Once in the city I had my sights set on a sub 4 hour time, this had been in the back of my head all week, truth be told, although I was not going to be disappointed with any time if I knew I mentally was in it and giving it my best. Although there were a couple of ‘longer’ walks along aid stations near the end, I was able to finish strong and felt very pleased with my effort. Not a PR, I didn’t expect one, but sub 4, felt good, wasn’t injured, had fun and mentally didn’t give up. I am pleased with how my marathon ended and I feel I didn’t go so hard as to have a negative effect on my upcoming tri season. Meeting all my goals for this event!
Day 6 Tuesday Earth Day
The Nine Zero hotel, prides itself in being green and as part of the Earth Day celebration offered Free bicycle tours on Tuesday morning. We met the guys from UrbanAdventours at 930 and took a great easy spin around the city. Mostly we saw sights we had previously seen however it was really fun to be on a bike, loosening up my legs a bit and enjoying another sunny day in Baastan. We also got our first view of Fenway and took pictures out front with the Ted Williams statue. Later Tuesday afternoon Bryan, Dad and I went back out to Fenway Park. We first had to go to Cask and Flagan a local pre-game hangout to have some snacks and the boys to have a pre-game Beer. Once appropriately hydrated and nourished we spent a bit of time walking around the park and, of course, had to do our part to contribute to RedSox Nation and purchased some new baseball hats. It’s amazing and very cool to see the kind of support this team has…. I’m not sure if its because the RedSox have such a rich tradition or have been around for much longer than our home town Mariners but this city Love’s their team! It was so much fun to be a part of and it seems that everyone, I mean everyone had some sort of RedSox team gear on! The game was great and despite being out in the center field “bleachers” we had a great view and it was a great game! RedSox 7- Angels 6 ☺ ( I may have to adopt this team and become an honorary member of RedSox nation, almost enough to encourage me to move to Boston as it was really a fun time.
Day 7 Wednesday
The forecast was for 80 degrees, and being from Seattle where its not likely to be this warm for another couple of months, Bry and I decided to find a nearby beach to soak up some sun. As we had by this time gotten quite proficient at using the “T” we headed out toward the JFK library, which we didn’t’ see- or have intentions to on this trip, and spent our afternoon at Carson Beach. It was a nice beach, just outside the city and had all the necessary amenities… those being sun, sand and water… we didn’t swim or wade but it was fabulous just relaxing and basking in the sun! After our time at the beach we headed back into the city to pack our bags and enjoy one more night out. Our final destination, Boston Garden for Game 2 of the Celtics first round play-off game against the Atlanta Hawks. The garden although new is also steeped in tradition and the rafters hang with 16 World Championship banners, along with quite a few banners of the Boston Bruins (we didn’t get the trifecta of Boston pro-sports this week, but watched the games on TV if it counts), the crowd was great and Celtics game was fun with a resounding victory. I would have to say that this town LOVES their sport teams and it was fun to be a part of, never once did I feel like an outsider or tourist as I had adopted these teams for the week. I would have to say though, if given the choice I would go back to Fenway over the garden as the crowd there was so much fun and the atmosphere and tradition at Fenway was awesome.
All in all we had a great week, packed with sight seeing, marathon fun, sports tradition and getting the flavor of Boston, the locals were friendly and the city was welcoming and the weather well, it was fantastic.
