It's been a whirlwind weekend in Boston, and the marathon hasn't even started. On Friday afternoon we arrived to 70 degree temperatures, and it stayed in the 60's all night. We got to the marathon expo by 5:30, and Laura went to get her 5K bib, and I went to get my marathon bib and chip. (They had never sent me the confirmation card, so I was a little nervous about that.) I also made sure I picked up an official marathon jacket, because we heard that they sell out quickly on Saturday. Overall, the expo and packet pickup was well organized, but I have to say that the Chicago Marathon expo in McCormick Place has a better layout. You might think that its an advantage that the expo is within walking distance of the downtown hotels in Boston, but I have felt the energy drain in my legs from walking back there 3-4 times. In Chicago, you have to drive, or take a cab or bus to get there.
On Saturday morning we got a kind of late start, because we slept in until 9 am (even 8 am Chicago time is late for me). We decided to change hotels because the Hyatt Downtown Boston was a little too far from the expo and the finish line for us. We switched to the Park Plaza Hotel, which is classy old hotel, we just have a smaller room. There are also a lot more restaurants and shops in the neighborhood of this hotel. It was 12:30 before we got to the expo, and we just missed seeing our friend Dick Beardsley the New Balance Booth. His time for signing autographs was up, and he only had a half hour break before he was going to speak at a Runners World Panel. we were confident he would have his autographed book for us, so we decided to catch up with him at the panel. So, we went over to the Adidas "booth", the official merchandiser of the Boston Marathon. This was about the size of medium-sized grocery store. I saw a cool singlet I wanted to get, another guy was sorting through the racks to find a medium, and his wife came over with one. Then my wife, the Power Shopper that she is retraced her steps, and got me one. Now the only thing was that the line to check out snaked around the entire exhibit, BEFORE you got to the official roped-off line to the cash registers. I spent almost an hour in the line, but I did have a nice chat with runners from New Jersey and Minneapolis. When I finished that, I popped into a panel discussion, the Runners World "Legends". Besides Dick Beardsley, there was Amby Burfoot, the '68 Boston Champio, and Greg Meyer, who in 1983 was the last American male to win Boston, and Katherine Switzer, who in 1967 was the first American woman to officially run Boston. (She snuck past their "men-only" rule at the time by registering as "K.V. Switzer", and the race-director, Jock Semple, tried to drag her off the course. ) Laura just finished Katherine's book I bought for her - "Marathon Woman: Running the Race to Revolutionize Women's Sports" . Laura told Katherine her own story about how she had to fight her high school to run on the boy's cross-country team, because there was no girls team yet in the early Title IX era. Katherine autographed her book "It's not just running, its overcoming the impossible. You rock, girl!". We heard Katherine talk about the changes in women's running, women's sports, and the worldwide condition of women since then. Greg Meyer talked about epic running battles in the Boston marathon and trying to keep up with the legends while he worked in Bill Rodgers' running store, and trained. Dick told a variant on the story that's told in the book about him "Duel in the Sun: The Story of Alberto Salazar, Dick Beardsley, and America's Greatest Marathon", where Beardsley and Salazar ran neck and neck the whole way to a world-record time, with Beardsley finishing just 1.7 seconds behind Salazar. Salazar acknowledged the great competition they had just been in by lifting Beardsley hand in victory in the podium. Dick said that has meant the most to him of anything in his running career. After the talk, we came up to Dick, and he greeted us like old friends with hugs and smiles, and a two-handed handshake. He asked about Laura's arthritis, and congratulated me on making it to Boston. He had a copy of the book he wrote, "Staying the Course", which is about how he resurrected his running career and his life after becoming addicted to painkillers after a farming accident nearly killed him. He is an inpsirational speaker, but also a genuinely warm, upbeat human being. He autographed a copy of the donated book to give to our benefit for our friend Michelle, who is battling cancer. Later in the afternoon, I went for my last run before the marathon. Our hotel is only a couple blocks from Boston Commons, which is about a mile square park criss-crossed by paths. I only had 3 miles to run, but 2 of them are supposed to be at my goal marathon pace of 8 minutes per mile, so that is a little fast for a city park with kids, and frisbee players. But there are other runners, and I try not to cut people off. There are some good hills in one corner of the park. Of course, just like I have a tendency to do, I go too fast at first. But it feels good to go out and run. I have been surrounded by others runners, talking about running for 2 days, and finally, I am running in Boston! I go back to the hotel to stretch and shower, and then Laura and I cross the street to Maggianos. A group from our favorite running store, Running for Kicks in Palos Heights, IL is hear with about 25 people. The owner, Mel Diab qualified, and is shooting for about a 3:30-3:45 time like me. Mel and his staff have beena great help to me and a lot of other runners in the South Suburbs and around Chicago. He puts on a number of races throughout the year in the south suburbs, his signature one being the Palos Turkey Trot 4 miler on Thanksgiving day in hilly Palos Park, IL. Last year he started the Palos Half Marathon, which I used as a 13 mile training run 2 weeks before I qualified for Boston in the Green Bay marathon. Mel's group has 2 tables, and we know a handful of people from the running community in our area. About 15 of them are going to run the Boston marathon, and about 10 are going to watch it. It's kind of early for us to join them for dinner, but we get information on where their group will be, so Laura can meet them at Heartbreak Hill. South-side of Chicago, Represent!
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