The Road to Boston, Part 4 – Race Weekend

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The Marathon Weekend Experience

Friday

Linda and I traveled to Boston on the Friday before the Monday race. It always surprises people that the Boston Marathon is not on a Sunday. Instead it’s on a state holiday called Patriots Day. It’s called that because way back in April of 1775 the battle of Lexington and Concord, known as the first battle of the American Revolutionary War, took place. It’s a big deal in Massachusetts. A side note: in 1975 I was attending Brandeis University in Waltham, MA and went to Lexington and Concord with a huge crowd to celebrate the 200th Anniversary of that battle.

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One of the cool things about the Boston Marathon is that so much of the weekend’s action takes place in one small area encompassing maybe 10 blocks of Boylston St. The expo is on Boylston, as is fan fest, as is the finish line, as are 2 churches that have services on the Sunday before. This was especially cool in 2022 because Sunday was Easter. We started the weekend with a choral concert at Trinity Church celebrating 500 years of sacred music. it was an awesome experience and a perfect way to take time to sit and appreciate both the church and music, but also the weekend ahead.

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Saturday

Saturday was expo day, or more accurately ‘Buy All the Boston Marathon Stuff’ day, which I did. I got the jacket (a must), sweats, singlet, socks, hat and a bunch of other stuff. Since I am probably a ‘one and done’ in-person Boston Marathoner I figured I had to get it all now or forever regret it. I have found myself in the year since more than a few times being decked out to run head to toe in Boston gear so they were all good purchases in my mind!

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Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day and we took full advantage. After leaving the expo we wandered down Boyston to the Boston Public Gardens and the Boston Commons. It’s easy to think of them as one huge park but they really are quite different in how they are laid out. The Public Gardens were built in the 1800s and is tightly laid out and organized. The Commons were actually built 200 years earlier, in the 1600s and is a more pastoral and open landscape scene. Both are beautiful on a warm spring day and the parks were filled with participants and families.

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When I was in college I studied art history quite a bit and I knew one of the most famous of American sculptures was at the far end of the Boston Commons and while I didn’t really want to walk a lot over the weekend I really just had to see the relief another time (I had seen it decades before when I went to school nearby). It didn’t disappoint. A bonus is that it is right across the street from the State Capitol building with its blinding all gold dome. Both are quite impressive and worth the stroll.

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Also right on Boylston are the two locations where bombs went off during the 2013 race. Both spots are commemorated with these memorials, inscribed with the names of the victims. It was important to recognize them and those who were injured in the attack on a day that was supposed to be nothing but joy and triumph. The sadness of seeing these was palpable for all around us.

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We finished up the day with dinner with my sister Jackie and her mother-in-law Diane at the Union Oyster House. It’s one of the oldest restaurants in the US, serving since 1826. The building itself was built in 1704 (most likely). Diane had been here a few time with her late husband and insisted we make a night of it. It was completely worth it. The food, ambiance, history and charm were all beyond compare.

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Sunday

Since it was Easter Sunday we wanted to go to an historic church for the service. I found out that the Old South Church (established 1669) had a special one that included a ‘blessing of the athletes’ so off we went! It was filled with runners and their families and friends, as you can tell by all the Boston Marathon Celebration jackets.

The service was special because the pastor who had started the ‘blessing of the athletes’ 23 years before was retiring right after this service. She was quite emotional as you can imagine. She gave a great sermon that talked about the resurrection and among other things, how in races we often feel resurrected at the end after such a hard effort. She wasn’t trying to compare the two, just letting us know God understood what we were going through is all.

Then a lone bagpiper came down the aisle announcing the blessing. She raised her hand and started giving the tradition blessing, then added in a number of specifics for runners, like ‘may you have no blisters’, ‘no DNFs’, and nothing that would get in the way of a wonderful experience’ but that we would take whatever came our way with grace and love.

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No visit to Boston is complete without taking in a baseball game at Fenway Park, which we did the day before the race. While it was fun to be there, it was also bitter cold and very windy. We stayed through the singing of Sweet Caroline but then too many of us were just not ready to handle it actually snowing. It really was that cold!

The rest of the day I took it easy and off my feet as best I could to get ready for the big race the next day.

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The Road To Boston