After a series of delays for my outbound flight given excessive wind at Logan Airport, restricting the number of flights that could land, I finally arrived about 1 hour after I was scheduled to. Given I went to the hotel out in Wollaston first (an interminably slow ride on the T's red line) to check in, I didn't make it to the finish line until shortly after 6pm -- too late for the expo. And definitely too late for the presentation by Meb. So, I took a few obligatory photos of the finish area, and happened to be there for the Meeting of Champions (totally unexpected for me).
By the time the various introductions were finished, it wasn't terribly early compared to the annual meet-up at Wagamama's inside the Prudential Center. First up, though, a brief stop at the memorial (to which I always doff my hat as I'm running towards the finish line).
It's always interesting sitting down opposite complete strangers and pretty much instantly being able to get into pretty fluid and interesting conversation. The people I sat down with were a couple from the UK (one of whom was earning their 6-star medal) and a man from New Zealand by way of Switzerland. Slightly later, a couple of other people from the U.S. joined our end of the table (to pretty much complete the group of 20).
It was an enjoyable enough time, it was after 8:30pm by the time I was departing, so I headed on back to the hotel.
Saturday was a fairly early start for a long day. But in three years of staying at the same hotel in Wollaston, I *finally* decided to walk across the street and look at the different monuments in the Merrymount Park, where I usually see either Tai Chi being performed, or a group dancing to (I assume) traditional Chinese music.
Monument to our first father-and-son presidents: John and John Quincy Adams
Statues of John Adams across the way from Abigail and a young John Quincy Adams (I think)
I spent a sizable amount of time at the expo, largely related to attending various talks/presentations.
First, though, I had to pick up my bib, then purchased the cap (to add to my collection of Boston Marathon ball caps) and meandered about.
There was a miniature version of the Spirit of the Marathon statue (at Mile 1 of the course), and a unicorn version of the Make Way for Ducklings installation I had yet to find (granted, I didn't look terribly hard), in 8 years of coming to Boston.
Around the corner were several cases filled with historic artifacts from the Boston Marathon.
Gold-dipped laurel wreath that is awarded to the winners
Case includes the bib worn by Kathrine Spitzer a couple of years ago, on the anniversary of her original Boston run.
Case includes singlet and bib worn by Johnny (The Younger) Kelly.
I also decided to get on the line for getting the patch to customize the Adidas Celebration jacket, despite it being pretty long. It wound up taking a full hour -- pretty much consistent wait time throughout the weekend. They were only using 4 of the 5 machines they had, which pretty much let them get through about 200 - 240 jackets per hour.
I managed to take in several speaker/panel discussions at the stage right behind the jacket customization area.
First up was author Paul Clerici (one of whose books on the Boston Marathon I had just gotten a few days before as a birthday present)
Fascinating to see what the first medal that was handed out to all finishers looked like. (It took nearly 90 years before medals were given to all finishers.)
And this is a collection of all (?) of the medals that have been handed out since 1983.
I left briefly to go get a bite to eat for lunch (a simple sandwich at Eataly), and then came back in time to see Dave McGillivray's presentation. While he's been the race director for over two decades, now, he's run the Boston Marathon for over 50 years. He was set to run it for the first time in over 35 years during the day this year, alongside his adult children. (He usually runs it at night, after directing the race for all of us.)
Next was a panel discussion with U.S. pros.
Later, several of the former Boston Marathon champions.
Not sure what happened, but most of them were late. However, 2018 champ Des Linden was there on time, so the hosts had a brief conversation with her alone prior to the others' arrival.
After this panel, I wound up taking off to get dinner, opting for Cheesecake Factory (which is just outside the expo and the T station I would need to get to for my return to the hotel). Mmm... tasty.
This year, I spent an inordinate amount of time (for me) at the expo. Sunday was no different. I got there early enough to take video of the 6-star finisher wall. (Inspired to do so from a conversation with FB marathoning celebrity Robert Wang (also staying at the same hotel as me) who spends 30+ minutes at each Majors that he's at where the wall is present taking photos of the entire wall so that others who couldn't make it can have a photo of their name on the wall.)
In addition to this brief video, I wound up taking close-up video (4 columns of names at a time, making them reasonably legible -- though the video is a bit shaky), which took far less time than Robert's photos. But given how large those files on, you'll need to see them on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jared.levine.1/videos/960586842363225?idorvanity=1445631925462087
My intent was to catch the Golden meet-up this year at Boston Common. Sigh. Yet again, I somehow missed it. Given the size of the gathering, it's hard to believe that my arriving less than 5 minutes late should have made the difference. Maybe next year.
While I was wandering around the Commons after giving up on finding the meet-up, I took a look around - as I don't usually enter the park during my time in town.
First up was a monument to Thomas Lee, who was responsible for anesthesia. Oddly enough, there was some presumably-local lady who was very happy that I was taking photos of this.
Around other edges of the park was a monument to (I think) George Washington (I couldn't get close given construction), a priest, and Sumner (whose first name is unknown to me).
Soon enough, it was time for two of the three group photos I was meeting up for during the height of the chaotic traffic of the finish line.
Shortly after this photo, I met up with a decent size group of pacers -- we all pace for MarathonPacing.com from time to time.
Since the next photo meet-up wasn't until 2pm, I went back inside, but took a mini-detour to take a few end-of-course photos that I sure wasn't going to take on Monday -- the firehouse located on the outside of the final turn at this now-mythic corner.
Next up inside were several of the wheelchair champions.
But it's a little bit of a trek, given the crowds, to get from that stage to the finish line, and I wanted to make it to the last meet-up -- Boston Squeakers (a group of people who have either barely made it into the Boston Marathon or barely missed making it in, given the varying nature of the cut-off times each year).
Back inside the expo, I caught part of the Breaking Barriers panel discussion:
And a historical conversation about Ted Corbitt, who among other things was instrumental in better standardizing (and, I suppose, professionalizing) course measurement (which was highly varied and flawed for decades) and was a trailblazer in Black men's marathoning.
Finally, it was off to the North End for dinner. It was early enough, I decided to get my cannolis first (to minimize the line). This year, I decided to go to Bova's (about two blocks away from the insanely mobbed Mike's Pastry and Modern Pastry). I'm not sure if it's truly the better product, or if it was really a matter of which ones I wind up putting in the fridge overnight. I should really make sure to work with others to get identical types from each of the three to split up and do a true taste test.
I had the Nutella-filled cannoli and half of the black-and-white on Sunday night, and saved the chocolate-dipped cannoli and other half of the black-and-white for after dinner Monday. That extra time in the fridge for the chocolate-dipped cannoli was great for the chocolate: best cannoli I've had yet.
And dinner at Giacomo's (no reservations taken, so get there earlier lest you wait on a very long line to get in) was quite tasty, too. Especially the garlic bread.
Long trek back to the hotel, and it was time to slow down for the even and get as much rest as possible for Monday's race. I watched a bit of the Billy Joel @ Madison Square Garden #100 special. (I had seen him live in concert at MSG in December with a couple of friends.) I managed to conk out prior to them cutting it off prematurely (given its delayed start).
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