Boston: Pre-Race Notes

I’ve just gotten back from a short run on a brisk and windy morning in Boston. It is clear that the weather for tomorrow’s Boston Marathon will not be a repeat of either of my previous (2003 and 2004) races. It is windy and a little too sunny but tomorrow should be a little better. There’s not much that I can do about it. I’ve done what I can to have a good and positively memorable race. I am a marginal Boston runner, qualifying by just a few minutes. In many ways that makes the experience special. Yesterday, on the shuttle bus ride back from the Expo I sat next to a young man from Quebec who will be running, but not on the basis a qualifying time. He raised over $6,000 for charity and will join a few thousand special people who earned their right to finish on Boyleston Street by caring about others and not just about ourselves.

It is fitting that there was an article in the New York Times about Boomeritis, a newly minted condition afflicting those of use born from 1946 to 1964. [Click here for link]. We run, bike, swim and train to outlive our ancestors. Maybe we do it for our ancestors.

Last Wednesday evening was the First Seder. I drove up to the Boston area for the first time this week to spend the evening with my daughter Aimee and her family and friends. It was an opportunity to also take some “studio” pictures of two of my grandchildren, Adira and Ilan. The weekend before, Howard and his family came over for a similar session for a project that Danielle was doing. So, Becky and Melodie also got the treatment. Here are a couple of images from each of those sessions. I’ll post a gallery of these when I return from Boston.

After my morning jog along the Charles with a return down Boyleston Street to the finish line (visualization in action) I showered and headed out for a few pictures. This city celebrates it's marathon like New York and Chicago. We won't talk about Philadelphia. Outside a church right next to the finish line was this poster ...















I know that in the past I have tended to spend too much time outside on the day before the Boston Marathon so I headed back but not before a little walk down Alley #440 and found this great little bit of graffitti ...


Massachusetts tends to get things right on that score as well.

I will have dinner with my friend Jalaine this evening who will drive down from Concord, NH to interrupt her law school studies for an Easter Pasta Dinner with one of her Ironman buddies. We have lots of gossip to share. Tomorrow, after the race my daughter and company will pick me up after I've showered and we'll share some dinner before I head back to Philadelphia on Tuesday. With luck, I'll post something (more for my own benefit since not too many people actually read this thing) about the progress of the race.