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Monday, April 16, 2012

Boston Marathon 2012

Welcome to Boston, Marathoners! Happy Patriot's Day. One of the pleasures of living in Boston is having the chance to see the race and cheer on the racers. I arrived early enough to see the national guard and Boston police setting up the race course. It's pretty hot today (about 85 degrees Farenheit) so the governing board allowed for entrants to put off their race until next year. A number of racers stuck with the original plan, though.
1. Waiting for the Marathon 2, 2. Waiting for the Marathon, 3. Washington Square First Aid After waiting and waiting and receiving a handsome cowbell to ring from a local branch of a national bank, the wheelchair and later the handcrank competitors sped by. I thought I had taken a bunch of photographs, but I think they went by too fast. There's just this one:
Then came the elite women - looking strong!
And the men, elites and then the first wave:
After about two hours of cheering, I decided to take a look along the route. Just steps from the course, there's a party for the spectators, where I enjoyed a great cover band and an Italian sausage near the Washington Street Tavern. The runners ran down the hill through Washington Square to a drink station.
By 2 pm almost everyone was walking up the hill after the drink station. Every few feet runners stopped amongst the crowd to stretch their cramped legs. Compared to other years, only a few runners really looked to be in good form at this point, with about 3 miles left to go. The race organizers took pains to alleviate the unexpected heat. This is a photo of a tunnel provided by the Boston firefighters to spray water to cool down the runners.
All in all, it was a beautiful race day and I was grateful to have the day off to support the runners. Congratulations to all the participants and finishers!

Spring in Boston