Day 1: Arrival

Last fall, I qualified to run the Boston Marathon. This is something that I thought would never happen, or maybe not until I was several decades older. I couldn't pass up the chance to run, even though I had no chance of winning. Brian agreed to accompany me. We'd head out there, I'd run the marathon, and then we'd have the following week to sight-see.

Here's Brian with our luggage, waiting for the bus to take us from extended stay parking to the airport:Entering the airport:
We made it to Boston with no difficulties, and took the T to the apartment we were renting for the week. We arrived before the official check-in time, but were allowed to leave our luggage in the apartment so we could go to the expo and pick up my packet.

I didn't get many pictures of the expo -- it was so crowded! This gives you some idea:
It was barely possible to move, so we left shortly after picking up my packet. We had lunch at the food court in the mall attached to the convention center (no pictures).

Finally, we got to our apartment. The outside:And some inside pictures:
It was a cute studio, rented from Zoe Apartments, which we recommend if anyone is traveling to Boston! Hotel prices skyrocket during the marathon, due to demand, and this was a very reasonable alternative.

We had just about the perfect location -- the North End, which is the Italian section. We were a block or two away from the Freedom Trail and the Old North Church.

A view of our street:Pre-marathon dinner is typically pasta. Since we were in the Italian section of the city, this worked out nicely! We ate at Panza.They had at least two vegetarian options on their menu, so we got to eat different entrees:We then returned home. I wanted to stay off of my feet as much as possible, and get lots of sleep before the race the next day!

Day 2: Marathon

The next morning, we had to get up really early. Even though my wave of the race didn't start until 10:30, I had to be at Boston Common to catch a bus to the start around 6:30!

The night before, Brian had walked to the grocery store and stocked up on breakfast food, so I had some orange juice, yogurt and granola:We didn't have a camera with us at this point, since Brian was walking with me to the buses and then going for a run of his own. Our actions diverge for the next 8 hours.

We made it to the buses and I sat with a nice lady from Austin who was also running her first marathon. It took us almost an hour on the bus to get 26.2 miles to Hopkinton, where the race begins. There was an "Athlete's Village" set up on the lawn of a high school. It was several hours until the start, so I ate a bit, put more sunscreen on, and chatted with a few other runners.

At one point, the announcer says that we "might want to think about heading to the start line" which was almost a mile away from where we were. I immediately got up and was in a huge crowd of people. I made it to my corral just as the gun went off! I would have had a bit more time to prepare mentally, but it was not to be.

It was just about a perfect day to run a marathon. The temperature and weather were fantastic! The first seven miles are all downhill, so I had to make a conscious effort not to go out too fast and save some energy for later! Everything was just about perfect until about mile 22. I reached into my shorts for my last energy gel. For those of you non-runners, this is food of a toothpaste-like consistency that runners eat during races because they are easily-digestible. As I was opening it, the gel slipped out of my hand! There were way too many runners around me for me to safely stop and get it.

Then, at mile 23, I was going to console myself with a Gatorade at the water stop. However, there was a line of 20-25 soldiers in fatigues marching along the course, completely blocking the water stop! I have no idea why this happened! In any case, I missed two fueling options and was starting to feel it.

In any case, I had set a reachable goal as a finish time and, despite the fueling snafus, finished more than 10 minutes faster than my goal, so I was happy. And I will carry an extra energy gel (or two) from now on!

I had a great experience and am very happy that I was able to run Boston. As I've said, though, now that I've run marathons in 3 states, I may have to complete one in every state so I can become a member of this club.

After going through the finish chute (mylar blanket, medal, warm-ups, food), I exited into the street and found Brian in the meet-up area. Here I am, exhausted, sweaty, and smelly:Now, on to Brian. While I was waiting for the bus, he went for a run around Boston's harbor area. He then went back to the apartment, showered, and then set out in Boston to wait for me to finish.

As it was Patriot's Day (a huge deal in Boston), there was a reenactment of Paul Revere's ride, which I think this is part of the set-up for:
Brian almost got run over by reenactor Paul Revere as he was not expecting a galloping horse to come through a small street at the same time he was crossing!

He sat in front of this fountain for a while:
Was harassed by this pigeon who wanted some food (but was disappointed):
And watched the sparrow take a bath in the fountain:
We walked from the end of the marathon to our apartment. Normally, the post-race shower is one of the best parts of the race. However, not this time. Our only complaint about our apartment is that it had the worst shower I have ever seen. I really shouldn't complain, as there are many people in the world who don't have a shower at all, but I have expectations for American showers. Like enough water to get me wet.

This one was like a gentle drizzle of water. Occasionally, it was hot; more often, it was lukewarm. Had I been walking outside when rain started falling to mimic the amount coming out of the shower, I wouldn't have even needed an umbrella. It was that bad. I really didn't feel clean the entire week, and usually had to huddle under the covers for a few minutes to beat the chill of the shower.

So, I showered as best as I could, and we headed out to an Irish Pub for a celebratory drink.Cider!After walking around a bit more, we went to Wagamama for dinner. We'd been in one in London on our trip there in 2008.
Brian did not actually use the chopsticks as we didn't want to spend 5 hours at dinner!They had Asian beer for sale:I was still a bit hungry, so we stopped in Dunkin Donuts for a taste of my childhood. Brian had never had a strawberry frosted before (though I don't remember jimmies on them...)! I hadn't had one in years, and thoroughly enjoyed this one. I told Brian some of my dad's doughnut stories, but I'm not sure he believed them.A night view of our street:Exhausted, we went to bed pretty early. Brian was pretty excited that the apartment had satellite TV, so he got to watch SportsCenter, which our over-the-air household misses out on.

Day 3: Whale watching

Tuesday, the day after the marathon, was a sort of rest day. My legs were tired, so we chose sightseeing options to give me a bit of a break. After a breakfast in our rented apartment, we headed over to the harbor for a whale-watching tour.

Waiting for the tour to begin (we had to get there early because they didn't sell advanced tickets.) Actually, the website recommends buying advanced tickets, but Brian went there while I was running the marathon and was told they don't sell them. Weird!:In line, waiting to get on the boat:View of the harbor from the boat:
The boat took us about 30 miles off of the shore, to a marine sanctuary. We had a great day for seeing marine wildlife. The dolphins were very playful and swam close to the boat:The naturalist pointed out two kinds of whales. This is a humpback's tail:I know we also saw finback whales. These next two pictures are of whales, either humpbacks or finbacks.Inside the boat, having a snack:Back on dry land, we wandered over to the Public Gardens and Boston Common. They are separate entities, but right next to each other.This guy with no shirt but suspenders kept us entertained for quite some time. He was quite the dancer!We walked to the Granary Burying Ground, which is one of Boston's oldest cemetaries. Benjamin Franklin's parents are buried here.A man handed out folders of information at the entrance, so you could do a self-guided tour:We took the T to Chinatown and ate at My Thai Vegan Cafe, where we had an absolutely delicious meal. Since everything was vegetarian (vegan, actually), we had so many choices!We walked back towards our apartment, taking in the nightlife and stretching our legs.

Day 4: Cambridge

On our 4th day in Boston, we went out to Cambridge, where Harvard and MIT are located. We walked around Harvard's campus a bit, and then went to their art museum. The museum is actually undergoing renovations right now, so they have compressed their collection into a small space, showing only the all-stars.

But what all-stars they have! Pretty much everything on display was a masterpiece.We then went to a sandwich place for lunch:
We took a bus out to Mt. Auburn Cemetery, a national historic landmark. The literature we received at the cemetery said that the success of the landscaping led to public parks and gardens becoming more popular in America.
At the top of a tower placed at the highest spot in the cemetery:Waiting to take the bus back to Cambridge:A friend had recommended that we go to John Harvard's Brew House, so of course we did! We had some beer and appetizers.

Outside:Inside:Back in Boston, we stopped in a park to decide our next move:This street sign was not so helpful, at least from this angle:Without realizing that there was a Bruins home playoff game taking place that night, we decided to eat at Boston Beer Works. The restaurant was right across the street from the Garden, where the Bruins and Celtics play:We were pretty much the only people not wearing Bruins or Red Sox gear. We were early enough to get a table right away:
Yum!I had one of their microbrews that had actual blueberries in it:Walking back to the apartment, we stopped at another Boston institution, Mike's Pastry. There were lines out the door and snaking down the block most nights. We weren't willing to wait that long, but this night was crowded inside, but not to an unmanageable degree.

Here's Brian, placing his order:
And with the pastries:
We each had a cannoli for dessert, and then another one for breakfast the next day. They were good, but not any better than any other pastry we ate this week. I don't understand the long lines!