My Boston Marathon Experience

 by Donna Crooks

No, I didn’t run the Boston Marathon … but I was there as a spectator, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the experience.

Bert and I arrived in Boston Saturday afternoon, navigated the T and checked into our hotel in Cambridge.  Having no particular plans, we decided to wander around Cambridge and find a place to eat.  We discovered the Miracle of Science Bar & Grill where we had great food and cold beer in a casual setting.  Upon returning to our hotel after dinner we ran into Diane Bosley and her sister, Nanczy (which is not really how she spells her name, but I mistyped it into my cell phone contacts, and almost every text thereafter we included unnecessary z’s into the messages).

Not a morning person, I meant to sleep in on Sunday (since I’d need to get up early Monday) … but didn’t sleep all that well the whole time I was there, and since I woke reasonably early, early enough to go for a run along the Charles River before going to the expo with Bert, that’s what I did.  It was cool to see all the runners out, wondered if it was a typical number of “college town” runners or if most of them were marathoners … had to think that since they were all passing me with ease they were probably mostly marathoners :-/

Packet pickup and the Expo were really pretty amazing, well organized and efficient.  We were surprised that among the thousands of people there, we ran into fellow NERC’s Jeannie Rice and Carol Knez, as well as one of Bert’s running buddies, Eric Molesky.  Since we had plans for an early dinner at Nico’s in the North End, we left the expo after a few hours (but not before I bought myself a nice orange cowbell to rattle during the race) and headed back to the hotel to drop off Bert’s race bag.  Actually, I sat at the Espresso Royale, near the T station while Bert trekked back and forth across the bridge to the hotel.

While hanging out at the coffee shop, I was examining my map of Boston and had picked out a place to meet Bert a little away from the finish line and the friends/family meeting area – I had no interest in wading into the mass of people near the finish line.  I had a chance to ask a college student about the scale of my map … wanted to find out if it was “walking distance” from the bike shop to the pond at Boston Common where I wanted to meet up with Bert.  I had plans to rent a bike and pedal to four points on the course to see the race (and hopefully arrive at these points in time to see Bert go by).  I wasn’t sure how timing would work out, but thought there’d be park benches by the pond and whoever arrived first after the race could just sit and wait.  I heard from Nanczy while I was enjoying my iced mocha.  Crystal Shinosky had arrived and Diane, Nanczy and Crystal were going to meet up with Bert and I to take the T to the North End for our dinner at Nico’s.

The T was always packed, and the trip to the North End was no different, but by now MANY marathoners had their official BAA Marathon jackets and they were all over the train.  There was lots of conversation among the runners, but I was busy mentally cataloging the T routes.  I was going to need to get myself to the bike shop in the morning, and the route to the restaurant was almost exactly the route I would need the next morning.

 

We met up with Jeannie and Carol at Nico’s where we all enjoyed fabulous Italian food and some pre-race discussion of the competition.  It was very well established that Jeannie REALLY wanted to beat her competition on Monday.  I think since we were all quite certain that she wanted to win, she did just that - Congrats, Jeannie! J    

Marathon morning, as Bert headed out to get to the bus to the start, I dragged myself out of bed … only to discover I was experiencing the aura “shimmers” of the onset of a migraine.  Fortunately, if I pop a few advil during the shimmers, I don’t get the headache … I just can’t see for about half an hour.  I wasn’t going to let a migraine spoil my plans … popped my advil, ate my oatmeal, and made my preparations to leave while my vision slowly returned.

Urban Adventours is on Atlantic Avenue near the Aquarium and Christopher Columbus Waterfront Park.  They opened at 9:00, and wanting to get on the road as soon as possible to get to Natick before Bert, I had rented my bike the night before (after our dinner at Nico’s).  I gave myself 2 hours to get from the hotel to the bike shop, since I didn’t know the train schedules and didn’t know how packed they’d be while all the runners were getting themselves where they needed to be.  I allowed plenty of extra time in case I missed a train or couldn’t fit on one and had to wait for the next.  Marathon morning the trains going my way were empty, and I mean completely empty.  I arrived at my destination at 7:30 in the morning … found a Starbucks in a nearby hotel, got a hot mocha and waited in the park, studied my directions and watched some locals throwing a stick for their dogs.  I was ready … but I waited … patiently ;-)

I was very well prepared.  I had turn by turn Google directions enlarged for easy reading in ziplock bags (in case of rain) to pin to my bike bag.  I had gloves and my “buff” to keep my hands and ears/head warm during the cooler morning hours.  I had my hydration pack, snacks and my cowbell … but when I sat on the seat of that rented bike, I immediately knew what I was going to regret having forgotten – my gel seat cover!  My plan was to bike 19 miles to Natick (mile 10 of the race), then skirting the course, bike to miles 13-ish, 19 and 22 … about 38 miles of biking in total for me, to see Bert four times (or not at all if my timing was off).  I hadn’t been biking since last summer, but while my legs and lungs handled the trip fine, my butt was not remotely happy with me by the end of my ride.

Once the bike shop opened, I was on my way in no time and quickly navigating the streets of Boston.  I was convinced I was demonstrating the most bad-ass city biking skills ever, weaving through traffic like a pro … the things that go through your head … but I didn’t get run off the road, and only one Bostonian cussed out his window at me.  I made one wrong turn on my way to Natick, but wasn’t off track for long before I realized the error of my ways, turned around and was back in business.  There was another scary moment when I thought I must have missed a turn.  I had been on a lot of rolling hills, and hoping I wouldn’t have to go back the way I came when at last I came to the street I was looking for (at the bottom of a long hill).  I was so excited, people in houses for blocks probably heard me hoot and holler.

I made it to Natick before receiving the text that Bert had arrived at the 10k mark … plenty of time to lock up my bike, have a snack and fish out my cowbell.  If you’ve never watched a marathon, by gosh you just gotta do it sometime – it’s the most amazing spectacle of inspiration!  I enjoyed the show … only worrying a little that in the crowd of runners, I might miss Bert going by.  I had told him I’d be on the south side of the course, so he ran as far to his right as he could … and I saw him at all four spots I planned.  After mile 10, I raced off to mile 13-ish, arrived there, locked up my bike, got to the edge of the course and 3 minutes later Bert ran by (only near miss of my plans).  As I “raced” to mile 19 another biker (on a much nicer bike) passed by saying he thought we were on the same course.  I asked him if he was heading for mile 19, he said he was going to Chestnut Street.  I hadn’t memorized far enough ahead in my directions to be sure that’s where I was going, but I told him I’d see him there … and I did.  

 Had time to fish out my camera and get a nice shot of Bert running by, then hopped back on my bike (avoiding sitting as much as possible by now) and headed to mile 22.  I had decided the night before that I’d hang out at mile 22 for a while in hopes of seeing other NERC’s before returning my bike and meeting up with Bert at the pond in Boston Common.  I saw Crystal, but no one else before I thought I ought to get back or I’d leave Bert waiting much too long.  I never had any intention of trying to get to the finish line … didn’t figure I could get anywhere near there with the bike.  It was challenging enough once I was back in the city proper navigating motor vehicular and pedestrian traffic on peripheral streets.

While I was on my way back to the bike shop, I got the text that Bert had finished.  I think I was riding another 15 minutes, but maybe more, before I was back returning my rental.  I talked with the shop employees for a little while about my adventures, saying that I had made it to all the course points I wanted to (and feeling pretty smug about it, since I had been told it couldn’t be done without a car and a bike).  I didn’t notice what time it was, but have to believe that the explosions had not yet occurred … these people knew I had been on the course, yet said nothing of any “news”.

I was only a couple blocks from the bike shop when I got a text from Nanczy … “Where are you? Are you okay?”  Maybe I should have known something was wrong … there were no extra “z’s” in her message … but I just figured she was worried about me biking through the city.  I told her I had just returned my bike and was heading to Boylston to meet up with Bert.  God bless her, she said nothing more, and I found Bert before I found out what had happened.

It was very bizarre being in the midst of such an event and knowing less about what was happening than family and friends.  It came as a huge surprise to me that people were worried about us.  I completely lost track of time as we gathered information and re-grouped with our friends.  We had found Crystal almost right after I had met up with Bert, but it was quite a while before we found Diane, and then Nanczy and Diane’s son.  I think it was close to 7:00 that night before we had walked back to our hotel and got cleaned up.

No, I didn’t run the Boston Marathon … but I was there as a spectator, and I don’t think I’ll ever forget the experience.