Boston Marathon Weekend: Day 2

Saturday, April 15, 2023, was the 10th anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing. One of the reasons that I made sure to be in town early on Saturday was so that I would be able to attend whatever memorial ceremony they held. No, I didn't know anyone who was directly affected by the bombing, but it still felt necessary. So, I had a goal of being near the finish line before 2:30pm.

First up on the agenda for the day was meeting up with a friend and her family in Walden, at Boda Borg.  But while I was waiting for them to arrive, I decided to make my second Dunkin' run:

Think of Boda Borg as an alternate version of an escape room. LOTS of fun. I had been there two times before, and had one specific room/puzzle that I wanted to finish solving, since the first time around, my group never finished the last room, and the second time around (with a different family), we wound up not going into this particular room in the first place. So, how did we do? We failed LOTS of times, and had a blast doing so and trying to figure out what we were doing wrong. Rats definitely got the best of us for the first hour of the two hours we were there. Definitely need to return at some point, but must have 2-4 others joining me to do so.

Given a confluence of events, the five of us wound up leaving at about 12:30. Laura and family went to lunch near Faneuil Hall, and I took the chance of being able to both get through the expo (well, pick up my bib and shirt, at least) and get lunch prior to the ceremony kicking off. I managed it, but just barely. 

I got through what I wanted to do at the expo (which is SO much smaller than it was pre-pandemic) and picked up a really tasty salad at Eataly on my way to the ceremony. Timing was tight enough, though, that I didn't wind up sitting down inside the Prudential Center to eat. Rather, I made my way outside and stopped at the first of the two memorials.

I wolfed down the salad in a few minutes' time to make sure it was finished before the ceremony started. (It would have been highly disrespectful, IMO, to have been eating anything during the ceremony.) Ironically enough, at this memorial, the crowd that gathered was solely watching the honor guard, mostly standing at attention. We were able to hear it when the ceremony started up at the memorial right by the finish line, but we weren't able to really hear much of anything, unfortunately. However, I was able to watch video of the ceremony later that evening. Simple yet moving.

Afterwards, I made my way to Copley Park to get my Celebration jacket customized with the patch -- something that Adidas has been doing at a pop-up stand the past couple of years.  The line was short but not brief -- it took about an hour. I managed to catch the last 15 minutes of the panel Q&A of some of the men's elite field, even.

Shortly afterward, they were introduced by Dave McGillivray to the assembled crowd in the finish line area.

I milled about a bit, spending some time taking some of the standard photos around the finish line area -- certainly less crowded than it was earlier, and much less crowded than it would be mid-day on Sunday.

How to kill some more time before the new Boston Lights show in a few hours? Go back to the expo and see what's there!

(Replica of the finish line and the various light pole banners)

(Part of the historical display at the expo - replica of the gold-dipped laurel wreaths the winners are awarded.)

(The Abbott World Marathon Majors Age Championship medal I will finally be able to claim after I finish the Chicago Marathon. You're mine... in six months.)

I took the chance going into the Adidas merch area -- it really didn't take all that long for me to get through the entry line, to find the ball cap that is my traditional on-site purchase (as I always get the Celebration jacket online when it first comes out), and checkout. I wound up seeing the Hyperice booth, and luckily was able to purchase the carrying case designed for the boots that I bought several weeks ago. And between stopping at he Sydney Marathon and Marathon Tours booth (to enter their raffle for an entry into the race and several days' vacation), I ofnd out that they had some pre-race ponchos available, and how I was supposed to ask for them. Much nicer poncho than the one from Tokyo that I had brought for race day.

Dinner by the finish line and a couple of additional photos of the memorial lit up at night (below), and it was not all that long before the Boston Lights show kicked off.