The 2019 Boston Marathon

On Sunday, the HH dropped The Girl and I off at the train station {so he could stay home with Lucy and the chickens} and with just 3 hours to walk from the train station to the convention center for packet pick-up, we decided we had plenty of time to spare and to stop by one of our favorite bakeries, Tatte, for a little afternoon treat. Priorities. It’s all about the priorities with us. 😉

After packet pick-up, and hanging out with one of her buddies from college who would also be running the marathon the next day, we walked the two miles back to our hotel, unpacked and then headed down to the hotel lobby for a quite pasta dinner.

The Girl and her friend had planned on attending the pasta feed put on by the marathon peeps, but the line to get in was easily over an hour long, and well, it was getting dark and walking back to our hotel in the dark {and standing in line, in the cold for an hour didn’t seem that appealing to us}.

Originally I booked us a free room {thanks to credit card points} at the Boston Copley Hotel, the same hotel we stayed at during the 2013 Boston Marathon {which just happens to be one street back from the finish line AND more centrally located}.

But 3 days before the race, the hotel called to say that they had accidentally overbooked, and would we mind transferring to another hotel {which they would paid for and give us an additional free hotel stay to use whenever} so we said sure, no problemo, stuff happens.

Well, the hotel was about a mile walk to the Boston Commons {which is where the runners load onto buses to take them to the start line}. And normally that wouldn’t have been a big deal, but it was raining like MAD and well, we got a little soaked along the way.

Luckily this wasn’t The Girl’s first rodeo though and so we were prepared. Well for her anyway. I was pretty soaked by the time I got her to the bus drop off and handed her the pair of dry running shoes and socks we had stuffed into the backpack. By the time I had walked another mile back to the hotel though….

I was drenched and had to ring out all my clothing in the sink and then use the hotel hair dryer to get all my clothes dry before heading out again. Good times.

By the time I left the hotel for a second time that day, thankfully the sun had decided to come out and so walking around the north end of Boston and down the tree streets to collect a few of our favorite food stuffs, was an absolute joy.

And all those garden boxes filled with spring flowers {and shoes!}. What fun. 🙂

Around the time The Girl was at the 18 mile mark, I made my way down to Boylston street near the finish line to watch the runners go by and to meet up with our old neighbor Francisco.

Do you remember Francisco? Well Francisco recently moved to Oklahoma to be near family so it was good to be able to catch up and cheer people on while we waited for our runners to cross the finish line.

Speaking of finish lines…Check out the loot bag the runners got when they crossed the line.

And the medals for this year. Pretty neat-o if you ask me.

The Girl had a good race, and qualified for next year {and so did her college buddy} so everyone was over the moon about that. We had a little snack with a few friends in our hotel room after the race, and before we made our way to the train station to head home.

It was a good day! 🙂 🙂 🙂

It’s hard to believe, that in just a 48 hour span, I too completed a marathon as well. Granted, I walked mine {all over town and then some} and it involved a lot of pastries and tea, but I think it counts, I think I should be able to check “marathon” off my list of goals for 2019…. Don’t you? 😉

Being a parent, it can wear you out some times.

Have a great Tuesday everyone, I’m headed back to bed.

~Mavis