Boston Marathon Weekend 2016

This year's marathon played out a bit differently than normal for me. 

With my usual marathon watching partner out of the country and the lack of an american contender in either the men's or women's field, it didn't seem that important to brave the crowds to watch in Copley.  I had my afternoon plans ironed out but I wasn't sure what to do with the morning.

I ended up watching the first half of the race on TV which was very enjoyable. I almost didn't want to leave it was so suspenseful. Race coverage is so exciting with all the course cameras and the commentary. They really do a nice job. And, you get to see the race play out in it's entirety instead of just waiting and waiting in one spot only to have the leaders zip by in an instant. Keep it up, marathon press peeps!

At about 11:30am, I made my way out to the 30k mark on the race course to volunteer at my running group's water stop. 

Volunteering was a blast. I've never watched the race from so far up the course but it was great to cheer runners on in the midst of the Newton hills and encourage them to keep moving forward! We stayed out there until the last of our club members passed and the sweeper vehicle went by.

I am always amazed by the resilience of runners. From those super fast I was watching on the tv in the morning, to those still moving forward even after being past by the sweeper car. This is seriously why running is my favorite; people believing in themselves and getting it done.

Below are some shots from the day.

30k fun 

Our club colors are Yellow and Black. Can you tell?

 

I spotted Scott Jurek (pacing Christy Turllington) and Chris MacDougall. 30k fun!

Scott Jurek (yellow singlet), ultra runner and author of Eat and Run

Chris McDougall, author of Born to Run

Expo and running celeb sightings!

I thought I'd throw in a little bonus because this weekend was filled with so much race excitment and remembrance and celeb sightings!  I didn't possibly have the time to write up a blog post on every cool thing that happened.  Good problems to have I guess.  
 
On Friday evening, I ran into Lelisa Desisa, 2013 and 2015 Boston Marathon champion and Tsegaye Mekonnen who won the 2014 Dubai marathon on his debut marathon.  Both Lelisa and Tsegaye are from Ethiopia and are stinkin fast.  Lelisa's marathon best is 2:04:45 and Tsegaye's is 2:04:32!

Me, Lelisa Desisa (middle) and Tsegaye Mekonnen (right)

Then, I literally turned the corner and ran into Mike Wardian!  Mike is an ultra runner and speedy marathoner.  Last year Mike broke the 50k treadmill speed record, running the distance in 3:03:56.  This year he is hoping to complete all 6 of the World Marathon Majors marathons in one calendar year.  The World Marathon Majors include, Tokyo Marathon, London Marahton, Boston Marathon, Berlin Marathon, Chicago Marathon and New York City Marathon  I think only a handful of people have ever done it.  I wish you the best, Mike! 3 down, 3 to go!

Mike Wardian and I

Almost equally as impressive, Mike was in town helping to create awareness for a great cause.  On Friday night, Mike was running as a visually impaired runner with a guide to raise awareness about the awesome work done by Team With a Vision and it's volunteers.  Team With a Vision is a group of sighted and visually impaired runners who raise money for The Massachusetts Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired.  It was really cool to see them out there.

Mike Wardia with some TWAV folks

And of course, on Saturday I visited the expo again and was inspired to pieces by Bart Yasso's stories.  That man has touched so many lives through his work at Runner's World and has so many running stories to tell.  It made me want to get out there and just run.

Bart Yasso and I

Lastly, one of the highlights of the whole weekend was getting to have a really great conversation with Rob Krar and Rory Bosio! 

I went to the Northface Speaker Series event on Saturday night at which the November Project founders were speaking.  I'm not a follower of the November Project but I thought I'd check out the event anyway.  Rob Krar, Rory Bosio and Dean Karnazas all attended to support the event and I ended up getting a chance to meet and chat with Rob and Rory before things got rolling.  Rob and Rory are both ultra runners with a long list of wins on their resume.  They are bot spectacular 100 mile racers.  Even still, they were the nicest most down-to-earth people who seemed to care more about my running than talking about themselves.  I wish them both a stellar 2016!

Rob Krar, me, and Rory Bosio