Boston #9! I'm so hoping I can make it into next year's race, so that I no longer need to worry about the buffer for registration. But that's something to worry about for AFTER this weekend.
Friday started off just fine at the airport, though I was rather confused about why they were doing an additional ID check *at* the gate for our plane. Thankfully, they ran it in such a way that it didn't really hold up the line of people boarding. And the random bag checks they were also doing while boarding pulled people out of the way -- and I was *just* behind a group of people that had been pulled. Phew, had I been right in front of them, I'd've been pulled, and delayed long enough where my bag for the overhead bin would've needed to be checked.
After trying to check in and having to leave my bags at the hotel (no rooms ready yet), I was antsy to get underway to the expo and pick up my bib.
Neat display on the side of a shopping complex in Assembly Row. The animation inside those heads was continually changing. It was certainly more entertaining than the light display that BAA wound up showing on the Copley Fairmont this year.
At the base of it was a local donut shop. I decided to partake of one, since I wasn't sure I would manage to get to any place near the expo for a quick lunch prior to one of the programs I was hoping to catch.
Dang, that maple bacon donut was scrumptious.
And, as it turns out, having gotten out at the Copley stop so that I could take a gander at the restoration work they are doing at the small park in front of the Fairmont, I had an opportunity to have some bibimbap, which I've not done before. It was really quite tasty.
Even though the construction is not yet finished, a chunk of the area was accessible to pedestrians again.
Finally finished with getting reacquainted with Copley Square Park, I continued up to the marathon expo, but made my way inside via the "back entrance" inside the Prudential Center, to avoid any of the chaotic line that is typically out in front of the Hynes Center itself.
Rather than walk up Boylston amid the crowds, I walked up Huntington, and made a quick stop inside the Cliff Bar pop-up store where they had some freebies -- including some new Clif Bar minis and a few different blends of juices.
Getting up to and collecting my bib was nice and fast (no line to speak of), at which point I could finally make my way into the expo proper. For anyone who was a fan of all of the shopping that could be done apart from the Adidas shop -- that's all gone now. The expo is a shell of its former self. And though I have long since become jaded on marathon expos, there is still something to be said for a lot of different booths selling their wares and providing free samples. There are precious few of those in Boston any more.
I had some more time before the talk I was looking to attend, so I decided to get on line for the Celebration Jacket customization being provided by Adidas.
In the end, I spent a total of 90 minutes for this customization (the patch depicted above, and I had "GWR ATTEMPT" written on mine) -- about 80 minutes snaking through the line, and then about 10 minutes between my entering the information into the computer and them printing out and affixing the patch to my jacket. Not great, but there's no predicting when a shorter wait time will be for someone who isn't first into the expo. At least I already had my jacket, and didn't have to deal with the chaos of the Adidas store at the expo.
I finally made my way to the expo stage to view a couple of programs.
The runner safety panel was also rather fascinating. Especially listening to Thomas Eller's perspective on running outdoors, both for training and in races. For those who are unaware, Thomas was born deaf, so he has sizable challenges to overcome when training and when racing. (He has also finished the 6-Star Challenge three times, so far. At least once all within a single calendar year.) His ideal time to run is at night, because he has the visual cue of lights coming his way, so he isn't startled by something crossing his path. And on race days, the strain from the concentration of looking around, trying to be aware of his surroundings and runners passing close by him... finally having a "back bib" being provided by the marathon which alerts everyone approaching from the rear that they are passing a deaf runner is apparently an enormous improvement for his ability to handle the race environment.
After the programs, I made my way to the Finish Line area for the Champions' Homecoming, with a long stream of recent and long-past Boston Marathon champions.
BAA President
Finally, the infamous Robert Wang and about 20 others of us from his World Marathon Majors Challenge Facebook group showed up for dinner. It was a good time with plenty of lively conversation all around the table, and very tasty food. This is definitely a staple for Friday of race weekend.
I was one of the last people to leave, along with Robert. En route to the T, we decided to swing by the Copley Fairmont to see what the light show was this year (compared to what they had done a couple of years ago). There were a couple of major problems this year, which had us leaving about 5-10 minutes after arriving there. First off was the construction -- there was so much obstructing the view from Boylston (an otherwise ideal distance to see the full display) that we went to the nearer side of Copley Square Park, but that was TOO close where it wasn't really all that enjoyable watching the display with craned necks and seeing too much of the detail of the hotel facade underneath the light display. Second was the fact that the majority of it seemed like a very long advertisement for the race's primary sponsor: Bank of America. Oh well. Silver lining is that enabled me to get back to my hotel at a somewhat reasonable (if later than expected) hour to finally check in and get unpacked and settled.
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