Which is a pity. Because now I have to find another marathon to BQ before September…* And I'm already committed for an Ironman at the end of July and a 234 mile relay race in August. So my training calendar is pretty full… But, hey, this isn’t a blog about me, it’s a blog about the Boston Marathon so let’s get on with it.

Hotel rooms are outrageous in Boston during marathon weekend (something about “supply and demand”) so I booked a single night at the airport Hilton. I drove into town on Sunday, checked in, and immediately hopped the T from the airport to Bolyston Street. I beelined to the Expo to grab my race packet. I found my name on the wall of runners (unlike the Paris Marathon, the race organizers at Boston use strict alphabetical ordering on their wall of runners) and then strolled the aisles of the Expo.

I bought a t-shirt and an obligatory Boston Marathon Celebration Jacket. This year’s colors were mint green and black. (Last year’s were blue and some weird, pseudo-fluorescent orange/pink. This year’s jacket wins the color wars.)

Then I wandered around looking for a different knee strap (oh, the joys of patellar tendonitis) and a new race belt. I upgraded my iPhone a couple of months ago and getting the slightly larger size phone in and out of my race belt while running is like wrestling an alligator while walking a tight rope — only less elegant. I found the belt easily enough but never got the knee strap. I suppose it’s that pesky “supply and demand” thing again. Apparently, the runners who show up at the Boston Marathon Expo are all injury-free.

I popped into a pub on the way back the T station for lunch. It was jammed with marathoners and their entourages which was all the recommendation that I needed. On my way back to the hotel, I timed myself: about 1 hour from downtown to the hotel doors.

I woke up around 5:30 on Monday, well before my alarm was set to go off. Clearly it was pre-race nerves. Instead of trying to go back to sleep, I got up leisurely, ate my Clif bar breakfast and had a cup of coffee. Then I packed up my stuff, put on my cowboy hat, and checked out of the hotel. I left my bags with the bell cap. I took the hotel shuttle to the T and the subway to Bolyston Street.

By 7:15 I was standing at the school buses to Hopkinton. In theory, I was supposed to wait until 7:30 to board the buses (I was in Wave 3), but there were no lines so I got on with everyone else.

I realize that it's a small detail, but in case you’d missed it, school children have shorter legs than adults. The benches on a school bus are wedged together a little close for comfort...

To read the rest of the review and see some photos, click on this link: http://www.graphmyrun.com/blog/boston-marathon-race-report.html

Link to this review