The Story of the Boston Marathon

This post will be kind of like a prequel and sequel to the actual running of the Boston Marathon, as I cannot speak to anyone's experiences over the 26.2 mile course save for my own (and the race reports pretty much do this).

As Sean, Laurel, Jennifer, Rita, and I were standing in line waiting for one of the zillions of school buses to take us from Boston to Hopkinton (I seriously think they use ever school bus in MA), Rita's gear bag tore completely in half. All she was doing was holding it, and the bag wasn't really even that full, and it split horizontally... I've never seen anything like it. So, we gathered up her things and stuck then in a trash bag, and hoped that they would have extras in Athlete's Village. Soon after that, we got on a bus, and drove and drove and drove... did we really have to run all this way?!?

We finally got to Athlete's Village and started looking for our teammates. We had seen Kirby the day before and agreed to meet in the back left corner of the left tent. It seemed like a good plan, but we soon realized the flaw in our logic... "back" really depended upon which side of Athlete's Village you entered on, and people were entering from a bunch of different places. Also, the tents didn't so much appear to be on the right and left from our perspective. So, we decided to stand at the first corner of the first tent we came to (this was also our best guess at what the back left left really was). Luckily, it was also Kirby's best guess. We talked to him for a bit, found Rita a new gear bag (they saved them from the 2008 marathon?!?), and sat and stretched. We kept our eye out for other RRO's, and soon found Kimberlie and David. Then, I saw my name go by on a pair of compression socks, and I called out to Dave and he came over to join us (yes, this was really how I identified him). While the rest of us drank water and ate cereal or energy bars of various sorts, Dave drank and Amp and a "day old" pastry from Cup-of-Joe (which by now had to be at least 4 days old)... to each his own I guess.

They called the first wave, and Kimberlie, David, Kirby, Laurel, and Sean left. A half hour or so later, they called the second wave, and the rest of us left. On our way to the start line, John Flynn met up with us. Then, we ran 26.2 miles. Then, we made it through the mile long finishing chute (I am not joking) and over to the family meeting area.

As I approached, I could see my family and Sean and wished I could get there quicker to say hello. 26.2 miles is a long way for me to run without talking (the one person I tried to talk to turned out to be from Italy and didn't understand a word of English). I finally got there, and coach asked how the race went. I told them how cool it was that Jennifer and I got to start in the second row of the second wave, although I might have gone out a little quick and paid for it later, and asked how everyone in the first wave had done. Sean told me that Kirby had run great, as had Laurel, and Kimberlie, and David, and... Finally I asked him how he was feeling and he held up his foot. The toe box of his shoe was completely soaked in blood, and he informed me that someone had stepped on his toe around 18 miles. Rita and Jennifer joined us... Rita said she might have gone out a little quick too and Jennifer said that the finishing chute is really long. But, we were all happy that we had made it and could now proudly wear our 2011 Boston gear. Laurel appeared out of no where a few minutes later (she had been patient enough to wait in the post-race massage line), and we eventually found Nikki, Rachel, and Jane (they had been cheering like crazy at the 26 mile mark). Dave was in the 'M' section of the family meeting area (we were in the 'A'), so we made our way to the subway while Jane located him.

We finally got back to my parent's house, and a few minutes later got a text message with a picture of Dave's feet... gross! So, to summarize:

1. Make it to the bus... check
2. Make it to Hopkinton... check
3. Make it to the start line... check
4. Run the Boston Marathon... check
5. Make it through the finishing chute... check
6. Find everyone... check
7. Make it home... check

The End!!!