The prior night, I had told my mom to meet me at the southeast corner entrance to the Arlington T stop. (I didn't know the precise street names, but knew it was the stop outside of the finisher's perimeter, but not on top of the gates themselves.) I also knew it would take me about 10 minutes or so to get everything and get out of the finisher's area. Given the arrangement of the gates, it looked like my mom would need to go a bit out of the way to cross down to get to me.
Well, 15 minutes or so (at least) after I get out and to the T stop, I still didn't see her. (No idea exactly how long, since my watch died at some point after I crossed the finish line -- phew, at least the full race was captured on the Garmin.) I asked one of the volunteers if I could borrow a phone call to try to get in touch, since I don't run with my phone practically ever. Of course -- voicemail. And it wasn't until hours later that she wound up seeing it. Luckily, I eventually saw her standing at the corner across the street.
After we finally connected, we went to the Prudential Center. A longer walk than expected, and given we were coming from the back side (not from Boylston St., for obvious reasons), I really didn't have any clue just how far away it was until we were right on top of it. With all of that drama, we wound up getting to Under Armour around 2:15pm, shortly after their woefully-underadvertised (yay!) free medal engraving started. As it was going to be a 20-minute wait, we proceeded to find the restrooms. As always, the ladies' line is crazy long. And despite my having taken a reasonable amount of time in the men's room, by the time I got out, my mom was *almost* inside the ladies' room. So, I decided to stand against the wall just outside.
After several minutes standing there, I started to try to pay attention to who some of the women were to see if the same ones entering were also exiting -- meaning my mom was taking an unexpectedly long amount of time. However, during my wait, I started to feel a little lightheaded. Not totally unusual nor unexpected. After all, even though I had eaten some of the post-race food, and I had my usual shot bloks during the race, my blood sugar might still be a bit too low. (In this case, however, I think I may have also inadvertently locked my legs -- a big no-no under normal circumstances, made worse in my condition.) I could push through it. Really? Well, it got worse. No problem. "I can find a seat when mom comes out in a couple of more minutes." Sure.
Lo and behold, I collapsed right where I stood. I hit my left knee on the floor and then was on all fours. In no time, I had multiple people asking me if I was ok. (Yes, I nodded my head.) Slowly but surely, I open my eyes and made my way into a seated position on the floor. Again, people asked me if I was ok, if I needed water or something else. (No, I have Gatorade in my bag. I just need to pull it out.)
As I start drinking the Gatorade, my mom finally emerges from the restroom and wonders what is going on. Needless to say, very worried as I related the tale, and concerned for the remainder of the day that I might pass out again. We made our way back to Under Armour to collect the medal and proceeded apace to The Cheesecake Factory for lunch.
Oy, 30-40 minute wait. Fine. Take a seat and wait. After we were called up, while we were waiting at the front desk, I feel ever slightly lightheaded. Mercifully, within seconds, we are ushered over to our table and I take a seat. Watered and properly fed, I felt SO much better. Granted, my knee was increasingly unhappy with me given the earlier fall, but the rest of me was fine.
We finally make our way back to the room -- much later than I ever expected would be the case when I planned out the day. Soaked in a cold bath for about 15 minutes (to help both the knee and the recovering legs) before turning it into a hot shower. No dinner, though I had enough snacks still available, I was fine for food. (And mom was stuffed from the late lunch anyway.) 8pm and I'm snug in bed, relieved that the day is finally over, my knee screaming at me when I keep my leg close to straight.
Tuesday rolls around, and given the engraving was done on Marathon Monday, we partake of the HoJo's breakfast and hang out for a few hours before heading up to my traditional lunch at Mr. Bartley's in Harvard Square. Always the best burgers and onion rings. And a chocolate shake, naturally. They didn't fail this time, either, with the Cancel Culture (though I canceled the ranch dressing that would normally come on it). Classic BBQ bacon cheeseburger this way.
Thus marks the end of another Boston Marathon weekend. Until next year, Beantown! Off to Big Sur to complete the iconic Boston 2 Big Sur Challenge!
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