Today was intended to be a VERY leisurely day, with very little on my schedule to minimize the walking (keeping my legs fresher for race day) and nothing particularly of interest to me happening at the expo (at least that didn't conflict with other activities).
Having an included breakfast in the hotel is nice. So, I took advantage of that again, before deciding to give a very brief test run of my outfit. (I should have done this test run 1-2 weeks prior, after I had all of the parts. Stupid me.) Well, while there was little scheduled, this was immensely stressful. While the main part of the outfit felt just fine, the tricorn hat would not stay on my head (and the test run was before the wind kicked in), and running the full distance actually holding the hat in place would have been unacceptable and very difficult. How to secure it properly?
I quickly posted a question on my Facebook wall and had several answers coming through. In the end, I wound up buying a small portable sewing kit, Krazy glue (which went unused, but was a reasonable back-up), and some velcro. The solution that I wound up using was securing the wig in place with the velcro sufficiently so that I would be able to sew the wig into the hat. Sewing it in the front, on the sides, and on the top was going to be about as good as things got. And given how ridiculously windy it wound up getting (about 30mph winds, gusting stronger), I had to do my final test run of the wig/hat on the hotel's treadmill. While only a short test (about 1/4 mile), it was enough to convince me that this was a decent solution, the hat would not separate from the wig, and I would only need to do mild repositioning while running, as opposed to holding the hat in place with a dedicated hand the hold time. Phew! Glad I had a CVS and Staples within blocks of my hotel, since lots of places were closed -- it being, oh, Easter Sunday!
I got out the door in time to get a slightly early, but light, lunch. But first, a quick turn through Boston Commons and across the way to capture a few of the sculptures:
(George Washington -- the surrounding walkway was under construction last year.)
(Make Way for Ducklings -- this year it wasn't nearly as difficult getting an unobstructed photo; no little kids trying to ride the mama duck)
(Oh, myyy... need I say more?)
And, across the way, a great sculpture of Edgar Allen Poe (which also incorporates what would look like pages on the ground behind him, with text from some of his poems):
Finally, I made my way to a really great bagel shop for lunch -- Finagle a Bagel -- which is PERFECTLY placed and would make a killing on Marathon Monday, but -- at least two years ago, when I first noticed them -- they made a point to be closed on race day, so starting last year, I've made sure to get a bagel for Sunday morning, and an additional cinnamon raisin bagel to eat on the bus ride to Hopkinton on Monday. VERY good bagels. Dare I say -- New York quality? As I expect is typical, the place was hopping with LOTS of runners in there. (How can I tell? Well, a certain jacket kinda gives it away. ;-) )
Rather than my usual bacon, I decided to give a shot with a chorizo, egg, and (cheddar) cheese on an everything bagel. Quite good, though I think I'll go back to bacon. :-)
The only thing that I had on-tap for activity was being part of several group photos, which kicked off starting at noon. Thankfully, they were timed a little tighter than in previous years, so I wasn't killing an excessive amount of time.
First up, Marathon Maniacs. A decent number of the asylum showed up for the photo, as per usual. We have enough people that we essentially dominate the finish line when we finally gather for the photo.
Next up, 15 minutes later, was a relatively small contingent from one of the Facebook groups administered by Robert Wang: World Marathon Majors Challenge. Maybe next year we'll have a few more from the group show up *and* find us in time for the photo.
Yet another 15 minutes later, a slight larger group from a different Facebook group: Boston Squeakers 4 Lyfe. By and large, the group comprises those marathoner who were either barely "squeaked out of" or managed to "squeak in to" the Boston Marathon by some small number of seconds off of the cut-off/buffer time in any given year. Squeaking in is a thrill, but those who have been squeaked out definitely take a hit. So far, I haven't been squeaked out -- and I'm desperately trying to keep it that way for 2026, but as regular readers of the blog know, I don't expect the BQ time that I currently have will be good enough.
Also of note, one of the people who happened to also be in all three of these photos -- Lani Toshiba -- as is her custom, made Boston-themed souvenirs for the WMM and Squeakers FB groups. Very sweet and generous gesture. This year, two different keychains.
Finally, there was a bit of a wait before the last group photo with several of the pacers from MarathonPacing.com. While I waited, I had an amusing time people-watching outside of the Bank of America branch right there (which was our meeting point). There was a camera crew taking additional B-roll footage to place into that night's light show, and many people trying to get into the locked vestibule, since that's where the large unicorn statue is located on Marathon weekend. But most of the people trying it either aren't Bank of America account-holders or didn't have their bank card with them, and they were flummoxed trying to get in. (The camera crew typically didn't let others in. I don't blame 'em.) In addition to that, there were a couple of co-workers walking down the sidewalk, one of whom was dressed in one of those inflatable suits -- rather than it being a T-Rex, it was actually a unicorn. The unicorn head was high above her actual head, and walking in that suit in the extremely strong winds we were experiencing just wasn't happening. The other co-worker wound up just hugging her and holding her in place (lest she either be blown away or blown over onto the ground), and I shoved down the unicorn head to reduce the windsail effect that it was having.
Finally, the rest of the group arrived and we made our way inside the cordoned off area, but stayed about 100 meters in front of the chaos of the Finish Line, which made taking the photo extremely fast.
While there are no official pacers for the Boston Marathon, this group and many others not present at Boston dedicates a lot of their race efforts to helping others achieve their goals. I love being able to pace for this and a few other pace teams throughout the year, now that my own personal goals have largely been achieved. Why shouldn't I help others achieve theirs?
And, with that last photo finished, I had nothing else on the schedule. On my way to the T, with this sight of many similar sights of the effect of the wind, there's only one thought that could possibly come to mind: oh, crap.
Back at my hotel for a short rest before heading out to dinner, I decided to take a look down Assembly Row at the various stores and restaurants that were there. One rather noticeable sight was standing outside the Lego Store:
About 4:30pm I got out the door to make my way to the North End. Once I arrived at the restaurant I planned to go to, I overheard conversation about it being cash only. Dang, I had forgotten that, and hadn't made note of that to myself in advance. I didn't trust that I had enough cash, so just went to a place across the street. It was very busy, but they did take credit cards and they even had a table for two up front by the bar that was available. Rather than wait at least 30 minutes for the other restaurant (which doesn't take reservations), this one was a walk-in. Sweet! And my entree? Quite nice.
I got back at a reasonable hour, used my Normatec boots (IYKYK), and then decided to have the chocolate mousse cannoli. Mmm... scrumptious.
After a somewhat brief phone call with a friend, it was time to wind down and attempt to get to sleep. Never the easiest of things ahead of a marathon -- especially Boston. But Monday was finally the big day!
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