Perceived Sunday becomes Marathon Monday - chapter 4

Wednesday, April 20, 2016

It did not take long for me to remember that it was Monday and a Holiday at that, in Massachusetts.  Because they make a HUGE deal of Patriots' Day... in fact, at the finish line, they were filming on this year's Marathon Monday for the upcoming movie of that name (Patriots' Day).

TV coverage warned everyone of when things would be shut down... you'd best not try to cross that route!  I did indeed rise EARLY to get myself over to the VIP lounge, where breakfast was available for the runners who had purchased the "premium package" (Kevin did)... see? It's big business, this Marathon!  The Premium package he bought gave him access to the bus right up to the time his wave loaded into the corrals at the starting line in Hopkinton. Which is a good thing, considering they had to get to the starting line several hours before the actual start of his wave!

At the lounge, the Jeff you've met before and Kevin had a bit of that breakfast.

Being frugal, I did not partake even though as my runner's "plus one" I could have. I had my soaked oats and banana back at the hotel and I didn't intend breakfast until after I saw them off. I didn't want my prepared breakfast to spoil and go to waste.

The other Jeff showed up a little later and I got hugs from him, too. Before we knew it, it was 5:30 and time for them to line up and load onto the busses.

I caught them standing in line and made them pose, here we have left to right Jeff P, Jeff H, and MOBYCARP, a.k.a. Kevin. I'm still not sure which Jeff is Fast Jeff and which is Young Jeff, I kind of suspect that we're looking at Fast, Young and Brother (sounds like a law firm?)

Here are the busses, about to head out... note the sky is just starting to lighten. His wave won't start until 10:25 a.m. local time.

Once the busses pulled out, I went back inside to refresh my decaff before heading back to my hotel, where I had that breakfast, showered and debated on what to wear to watch the race finish. It was a balancing act between making it easier for the security check points ahead, and being warm enough when the wind was predicted to kick in. Here's what I settled on:

Meantime, STRONGDAWG, a.k.a. Laura was set to arrive at the hotel about 9 a.m. The front desk called to let me know of her arrival, and we prepped the rest of the way. She was carrying no bags (well prepared) but I had my clear plastic bag from Fenway, and in it I packed two apples and two of my baggies of nuts, 'cause I figured we'd at least need a snack in that four hours of waiting.

Between the time I went to see the runners off and the time Laura and I set off to wend our way to the finish line (and we did do some wending), they had blocked off the end of the block my hotel sits on... and we needed to go through security check point. This was a loose one... they saw clear plastic and no bags for Laura, and we got through THAT one. Then when we turned down toward Boylston Street, there was another, with a LONG line. We waited and chatted until we figured out that the grandstand was "invitation only/VIP" access (we're talking Spectator VIP... invited by the race sponsors). So we went back up the street, moved down to the next one... same deal. Three blocks down from where we originally turned, we

found the "general public" check point.

They flagged my clear bag as "Inspected" and we proceeded to what turned out to be a primo spot... across from the UNO restaurant on Boylston, about a block to a block and a half from the finish line. In fact, if you have a morbid sense of history, we were across the street from where one of the bombs went off in 2013... there was a wreath laying in that block on the other side of the street.

Here we are, sporting our local hats, toward the beginning of our spectator standing stint (which was an endurance event in itself, as you may have already read in Laura's blog).

And this was our spot, before the crowds got too thick, I was catching the police presence, which varied as the race progressed... these are just walking to whatever post, reminding people to keep all the trash out of the street (especially before the hand bikes came, but you don't want runners having to dodge coffee cups when they are almost done with 26.2 miles!

It was some time later that we determined that the signs we made were worthless at that point on the race course... the runners at that point have their eye on the prize... they can see the finish arch. The thing you really need to root them down Boylston to the finish? Water to keep your throat from giving out on you and a strong voice!

It was before they even started when we were lining up, which is why we got such a good spot, and even then we were two or three people back from the rail. We made friends with those around, of course. It's what you do. We found the couple who were there for their daughter, who was doing her first Boston. The gal and her son at the actual rail? Veterans! Their husband/father was running his 7th. Oh, yeah, she was clearly a veteran... and runs shorter distances, so she and I had some notes to swap about training uninjured / racing uninjured. She had read the Jeff Galloway run/walk/run literature, and said that her

husband uses that, too. (That bit is for SLENDERELLA61!)

I had loaded my phone to get text alerts for the progress of my brother, my running coach, and my triathlete s-hero. We didn't start using those until after we heard the announcer at the finish line broadcast the start of the waves. The gal at the front showed me how to access the BAA runner tracking on my phone using Chrome... and I picked the three names plus the daughter of the couple beside us and made them "my runners". Thus we there on site were doing the same thing remote folks across the world were doing to track progress!

As we got the alerts, Laura was updating the Sparkverse in her status of MOBYCARP's progress! Which is good, because if you try to do too much with the phone, you miss what's going on around you, and I really wanted to be present in that scene! It was also good I had someone with me, because y'all know my little bladder can't take four hours. I was pleased that I made do with just one trip "out" to find facilities... fortunately, the hotel with the VIP lounge was only a block and a half away, down a side street!

I brought back water & another decaf (to warm my hands, I had neglected to bring gloves). Taking that bathroom break, though, caused me to miss the first trio of handbike finishers... who made it wheel to wheel to the line! Laura saw it, though, and as I was coming back, I saw probably finisher 4 - 6 while I was trying to re-find Laura. Turns out about 4 more bodies deep had been added to the press by then.Time passes and we shout for everyone who comes along. Since they start in waves, we had little clue about when the "real" winners of various divisions were coming, except from what we could catch of the announcers at the finish line... and the shouts of the crowd sometimes make that hard to hear.

But when I got the text that my running coach Eddie got to the 40K mark, I did the math and realized "holy moley, he's going to finish in less than 10 minutes" and I wriggled my way to the rail while the wife/mom/son team kept others from crowding in. Eddie was actually featured on one of the banners on Beacon Street:

They had invited registered runners to submit a photo of themselves running (obviously the photos are from many other races) and chose I think it was 24 to feature on those banners. He submitted one on a whim, never thinking he'd win that kind of a spot... but there it is! In the news interview he did, he called himself a "regular Joe"... I think not! I screamed as loud as I could as he cruised by on his way to a 2:54 finish!

Mama up front let us all know that she was very protective of that rail spot... she didn't mind letting people in if their runner was "imminent", but doggone it, she earned that spot by her early arrival. And I agree... if you showed up at 8:30 a.m. for a race that starts at 10, 26.2 miles away? You *did* earn that spot! Still, she was very generous letting those whose runners were faster than hers and finishing share space, trying at the same time to stay next to her son!

Now being at the rail, I retrieved my sign (the one you've seen in prior blogs held by me and by Janet) and hung it over the rail while waiting for Kevin's finish, which came about half an hour later. I described the singlet he was wearing to the little clump around us, and they helped me look after he had reached that 40K mark. At 40K, by the way, the runners will be seeing the Citgo sign (as shown in my Friday afternoon blog). From that sign, there are 1.2 miles left to the finish line.

When Kevin came by, he was totally focused on finishing, and I'm sure he didn't hear individual voices, but he, like all of them, heard the crowd. Which reminds me, across the street someone was holding a sign with the name Kevin on it, I'm sure for some other Kevin, but my brother told me later that this "other Kevin" must have had a similar pace, for he heard his name shouted at various places along the route... "could have been Kevin, or Evan, or something else similar" he said, but if you don't think a runner can hear and be encouraged / pushed by hearing a spectator shouting it, you would be mistaken. I know *I* have picked up my pace when I hear someone call my name (which they may have read on my bib in

races where they put your name on it).

He finished in 3:23:01, which is good enough to re-qualify for Boston next year. I will leave it in his capable hand to blog about his decision making process, because he would not be able to register until September... he has that long to think about it.

And I think I've rattled on enough for a good chapter 4... but I'm not done yet... I'm leaving you at the point at which Laura and I backed away from the rail to give others whose runners had not yet crossed a better view. To be continued...