Walk in the Park

April 15 - 18, 2006

Trip up to Boston to watch Dad take on the holy grail of marathoning.
He made it look easy.

Great weather luck, a good time gathering with the extended fam, and an amazing race day in every way.

This was the 110th running of the Boston Marathon, held on a Monday each April. A point-to-point race, it starts in Hopkinton, MA, goes through Framingham and Wellsley and ends at Copley Square in Boston near the park downtown.

Roughly 22,000 runners total. About 20,000 slots for runners who satisfy the designated qualifying time (age-based) in a prior marathon, and about 2,000 corporate or charity slots. The qualifying times are far from easily satisfied. Many runners try but never make it to Boston. Others pull it off more than once.

From start to finish...

B flew in to DC from Rancho Santa Margarita, CA on Wednesday. The whole gang of four drove up Fri. Arrived at the Wyndham downtown in the financial district before dark and walked over to the North End which is full of Italian restaurants. And, Italian people of every strata. If not speaking Italian, they were oozing the genuine vibe in spades.

Fine weather, the holiday, 22K runners and their pit crews hitting town.. all added up to lotsa people. Tough work finding a place to eat without a wait for a table. Ended up at a nice rest/bar on Hanover. Table at the street/sidewalk level with an open air window. As happy hour picked up and the sidewalk reached capacity it was a rather noisy scene.

Sat. was the day to pick up the race packet and check out the huge expo. Walked a few blocks and came upon some buses shuttling folks to the packet/expo site. For us this was perfect means to navigate a nasty swath of construction that foiled our expert map analysis and route planning. Much construction going on all around the area.

Dozens of booths for all kinds of running related items at the expo. Lots of free samples. And, of course, thousands of runners. Dead center of the ailes of booths is the wall of runner numbers. Not sure if this is an old tradition or one that is developing as a marketing move. The idea is to find your number square on the wall (roughly 3x5) and sign it or fill it in with your reason for runnning. Dad found his. We were early, so not too many other profound entries to peruse.



Back to the hotel and walk a few blocks for lunch at the Fanueil Hall market area a few blocks from the hotel.

Then out to Mary & George's in Framingham to visit M, G, Ellen, Amelia, Ed, Theresa, John, Christine, and Ryan.

Tasty chili dinner was waiting for us, both veggie and with meat.

Celebrity level support for the running man abounded - a chalked "good luck!" message on the front sidewalk, everyone was in race spirit. A leg tester of a race was held courtesy of Race Director and Official Starter Ellen and Amelia. Many heats were held, and many winners declared.

The ultimate champ never lost. She gave the geezers a fighting chance, speeding down the course in flip-flops, but nary a misstep.

Word is that J&C have narrowed down to two the name possibilities for the pending arrival, due any day now. Word is also that we will never know any name considerations other than the final choice. Smart couple.

Sun. was another sunny day. Morning was filled driving out to the start at Hopkinton and following the marathon course back downtown to the finish on Boylston.

Spent the afternoon doing some walking, but using the T to keep Dad off his feet to some extent. Made it over to Beacon Hill and the Commons. Stopped in at the local running store, chatted BM history and running with storekeep Mike who was in the side car of the motorbike leading the runners in 1983 when a US runner set the course record. He shouted time splits, thereby playing a bit role in the record that day.

Back to the North End (I think we stopped calling it "little Italy" eventually, not toooo many odd looks) for a very nice Italian meal Sunday night at Bacco. Runners all over. Apparently we weren't the only ones eschewing the official pasta dinner.

Monday 4-17-06. Race day. Partly cloudy and mid 50's with little wind predicted. Perfect conditions.

Wheelchair athletes scheduled to start first along with the Elite Women, a few dozen total, at 11:30. Then 2 waves of the rest of the runners: the Elite Men leading out wave #1 at 12noon, then wave #2 at 12:30. This wave start system was brand new this year, an attempt to spread the runners out a bit and minimize the bottleneck start. Dad started in wave 2.

We dropped him off at the designated location in a (Hopkinton state?) park about 1.5miles from the actual start area. He then hopped on one of the shuttle (school) buses to the start area and had about 2 hrs to hang out in the "athlete's village" before starting. The Powerbars had been vacuumed up by earlier arriving runners. Two bagels would have to do for Dad. They worked out fine.

While D tried to stay warm in the village, the sherpa/support crew did the same a few miles into the course. We drove a short distance from the drop off in Hopkinton to Ashland, MA which sits roughly on miles 2-4 of the course. At 10a.m. people were already out and staking out spots along the road. We parked about half a mile off the course, walked over and got some prime ground in front of the Shell/food mart which, in addition to having bathrooms, turned out to be a Dunkin Dounts seller along with the usual coffee and aisles of standard food mart fare.

The spectators here, and at every spot we hit along the way, were very enthusiastic and much more participatory than any race I've ever seen. Lots of youngsters with their own suppply of water and daisy cups to hold out for any runner who needed some hydration. Runners could probably get plenty of water, gatorade, bananas, orange slices, etc. without ever resorting to the official stations set up at the mile markers.

It was inspiring to watch the wheelchair athletes go cruising past ahead of the runners. The elite women and men absolutely flew by when they came through. They were in a few clumps followed by lone runners getting strung out behind the leaders.

We found Dad amidst the throng as he came by with wave 2 around 1pm. Looking pretty good after the early downhill (read: quad-pounding) sections.

Team sherpa then grabbed a quick bite at the Sunnyside Cafe in Ashland before driving to the halfway point in the Wellsley area, a spot between the College and Wellsley Hills.

Meanwhile, Dad found the local family support experts out in fine form when he got to Framingham. The whole gang was there, Ellen, Amelia and all of the older folks cheering, waving a sign, and high fiving him at about the 6mile point.

Down at the halfway mark, parking charma was plentiful. We got a spot with only about 100yd walk to the runners. The crowd was 3-5 deep all along the course and boisterous.

With a little help from technology we could keep tabs on Dad. He called in via his cell occassionally, and Bridget's blackberrry was set up to receive automatic updates along the way, telling us when Dad had crossed the 10K (6.2mi), 20K, 30K and 40K points. He stayed right on his goal pace throughout, running smart early and - as a result- strong late.

We spotted Dad at the halfway point not more than 10minutes after arriving. Even got him to stop for a pic.

He ran on and we headed back downtown to drop the car at the hotel. We made good time and chilled out for 20mins before hoofing it about a mile and a half to the finish area, which was chaos for blocks around.

B and Mom settled in at the designated meeting spot in front of Arlington Church at the corner of Boylston and Arlington, across the street from the Commons park area and at the end of the fenced off 3-block long finishers chute the runners go through after crossing the finish line.

I spent 15mins elbowing my way to the actual finish line area but somehow missed Dad. He called just after crossing the line. Seconds later Bridget called to say he had called her and that her blackberry was also buzzzing that he had indeeed finished. A minute or two later Ed called to say they had tracked him online and saw he had just finished in 4hrs 22mins, well under his 4:30-5hr hopes. This all transpired before Dad was anywhere near getting out of the finishers chute.

Before too long we connected with him. He had picked up his medal and the popular silver warming blanket along with some snacks. We headed to roomier territory in the park for some stretching and post race assessment, then strolled back to the hotel, 10-12 blocks. No cab needed for D, walking felt good.

Later on we enjoyed a celebratory outing to Tiernan's near the hotel (liver, brocoli and mashed potatoes for the runner, to go with 1 or 2 Sam Adams Ales), and then a final round at the hotel bar. This lightweight was feeling it by the time we headed for the elevator.

It wasn't caught on film, but for the record, yes, I consumed more beer and fried food in 2 hrs than in the past 3-4 years... hmmmm... hey, it was warranted, very much occassion-appropriate food and bev. Beer was even a motivator for some.



Next time:

• for the runner: wear throw away ("dollar store") type sweat pants and sweat shirt for staying warm during the long wait for the start, and, take personal supply of favorite pre race snacks
  
• support crew should wear (bright colored goofy hat or garment) or hold (flag?) something that really stands out for easy spotting

$2.79 for the cheap stuff in both MA & MD for the trip. A few days later it's now up to $2.95.