BOSTON Recap Part 1

Wow, where do I even begin?? I'm not calling this a race report because it was anything but a race to me. It was 4 hours, 8 minutes and 36 seconds of memories that will last a lifetime. But before I get ahead of myself...

We left Philly on Saturday morning and to my surprise I had my first blogger meet up in the airport!! Turns out Jill and I were on the same flight. We've been trying to find each other at local races forever and it finally happened. She's just as spunky in person! :-)

Travel to Boston was quick and easy and once we checked in we immediately headed over to bib pick up. As I walked up to get my bib, my eyes filled with tears and I actually had to slow down and compose myself.  Getting that bib made it so real...

After bib pick up we made our way to the Expo, which was INSANE.  I've heard all these wonderful things about the Boston Expo but honestly I didn't like it. It was such a madhouse and almost impossible to navigate around through the crowds. I wanted to buy some stuff but couldn't take all the people so we grabbed some free Stonyfield yogurts, which you would have thought were gold by the way people were shoving and pushing to get them, and high tailed it out of there. Next up we stopped at The Pour House for monster bloody marys (it's fun when you're not racing!) and some sight seeing around the finish.

Saturday night was the blogger meet up which turned out to be a little disappointing. I was really looking forward to hanging out with everyone but when we got to the bar they had no idea we were coming. So our meet up happened in the lobby area of the hotel outside the restaurant and consisted of a quick chat and some pictures. But I did get to meet some awesome bloggers so it was totally worth it. I also had my much-anticipated meet up with Aron and Morgan who I have been wanting to meet for some time now. From there Andy and I hit up a local place for some drinks and thankfully Bethany and Ryan brought Mel by for a quick hello. It was so great to meet all of them!! And even nicer that I was no longer the tallest one! Earlier in the evening as I towered over everyone, I heard a lot "you're a lot taller than I expected..."  Didn't help my complex about being tall.

I'm standing in the back with my knees bent so I didn't look like a giant.

Worlds best cheerleader

Aron and I had been waiting to run this race for so long. Over the past year and a half she's become a good long distance friend. I'm hoping to see her again in November...we didn't have enough time to hang out!

Yea, I'm not the tallest! Mel wears her tallness proud!

Sunday I woke up early but missed spectating the 5k. I saw the runners start from my hotel room but I couldn't pull myself together quickly enough to get down there. I did however make it to the invitational mile, which was really cool. It was great seeing the young kids participating and some of them can really run!! After that I had a quiet day relaxing in the hotel room while my fans (Andy, my sister Michelle, and Lisa) went off to do their own thing. I napped on and off and even gave the Expo another try. Yea, didn't like it any more on Sunday either. The shelves of clothing were pretty much cleaned out and bare and it was even more crowded than Saturday. So, I stopped by the Reggae marathon booth, took another yogurt (cause remember, they are like gold) and got the hell out of there.  After a nice pre race dinner with my fans and a glass of wine, we all headed back to the room for a good nights sleep. Without any pre race nerves, I fell asleep easily just before 10pm.

I woke up Sunday morning EXCITED! The weather forecast was perfect (60 degrees and sunny) and I could not believe it was marathon Monday. I tried to share my excitement with everyone but instead of smiles and cheers I got some grunts. I ate some oatmeal, dressed, packed my bag and headed down to meet my running club peeps for the bus ride over. As soon as we stepped outside the wind hit me hard. Thankfully I knew the wind would be at our backs for the race so I wasn't too concerned, but at that moment, it was cold! We headed over to Boston common to get the bus to the start and it was crazy! So many people everywhere and it wasn't very organized. I was told in the past there were lines marked to wait your turn but this year was like a free for all. After waiting around 45 minutes, we finally made it on to the bus.

My running club friends who took good care of me Monday morning.

Bus loading mob scene

The ride probably took a little over 45 minutes. I'm not sure. I had no concept of time at this point and didn't really care either. I was just soaking it all in and enjoying myself already. We were dropped off at Athlete's Village around 8am and made our way to our host house. Athlete's village looked really cool but I was glad I had a warm house and a normal bathroom to use. I can't imagine Athlete's village if the weather was bad and raining. It would be completely miserable. Thankfully, that wasn't the case on Monday.

Anyway, after a short stay at our host house we checked our bags and headed to the start. Just as we got there wave 1 was getting ready to start. The sun was starting to feel warm and the excitement was building. After a short wait wave 1 took off and within minutes wave 2 started loading into their corrals. I made my way to corral 6 and took it all in...

Waiting for Wave 1 to start

Looking back at Wave 2, corral 6

After what seemed like a really short wait, we were off!! Stay tuned for the race portion coming up next!!