Chicago2Boston Race Report(s)

Wow. Where to start?

The beginning I guess. Way back in January I was surprised when the Boston Athletic Association decided to schedule the Boston Marathon the day after the Chicago Marathon. I was already registered for the Chicago Marathon. After I got over the initial schedule shock I got excited about the possibility of 2 major marathons in 2 cities in 2 days. These races felt like the perfect way to celebrate emerging from the darkest days of the pandemic. The impossible might become possible again.

Participating in a marathon for me is sometimes a race where I'm doing everything I can to get the most out of my body and other times being in a marathon is a chance to be part of the best parade ever. Think about it, what other parades are this long and in normal times might draw millions of spectators to cheer and celebrate with? A rolling 26.2 mile party, plain and simple.

After struggling for months to get to the point where I could run 10 miles without glute pain, it became clear at the end of June that these 2 marathons would be fun runs. A chance to be out in the world. A chance to connect with people. A chance to meet up with old friends I haven't seen in forever and best of all a chance to make new friends with their own stories to share.

These weren't races. These were parades. The best parades ever.

Highlights

In case it wasn't obvious already, this post is going to be long. Very long. If you want the abbreviated version, check out the pics and notes that were shared real time during the weekend that are linked below. Otherwise, skip ahead if you have the endurance for the full unabridged version of this adventure 😁

Getting Ready

My ~~well thought out~~ wackadoodle approach to training for the 26.2 * 2 double left me with a crisis of confidence during taper. A pretty normal thing to happen in the last couple weeks of a training plan, but it was amplified by the extra stress from both the physicality and the logistical challenge of the effort. Once I forced myself to pack and document the logistics for the weekend in a blog post my anxiety about the weekend plummeted and a calm set in. I'd done everything I could. The only thing left was to execute the travel/run plans and work the problems when they showed up. As it turned out I'd need every bit of patience, composure and persistence to work through what seemed like a never ending sequence of problems to overcome.

Problem 1 - Truck

John to the rescue!

Two days before I was scheduled to fly out of the Buffalo airport an hour away from home, a caliper(s?) within the brakes on my truck got stuck in the closed position. There wouldn't be time to fix it before I had to leave for the airport and from the smell coming from the truck and the creaking it did after I'd parked it there was no way it would be safe to drive. The solution? John to the rescue. Who's John? He's a neighbor and regular 5am training buddy. He's also a guy that is always ready to help out a friend who needs it. In a wonderful stroke of luck, he happens to work in Buffalo so other than him having to pick me up at 5:30am it wasn't too inconvenient for him to take me. I tried to convince him that since we weren't running that morning he'd actually gotten an extra 30 minutes to sleep in but I'm not sure he was convinced. Thanks for the save John!

Buffalo2Boston

Previous reader(s?) of this blog might remember that Delta Airlines and I are no longer friends. I bought non-stop 90 minute flights from them but by the time they were done repeatedly messing with me the Buffalo2Boston flight had 1 stop and would take 3 hours and 33 minutes. The Boston2Buffalo flight at the end of this journey grew from non-stop to 2 stops and would take 7 hours and 33 minutes. I'd tried to get satisfaction from them, but was told the wait queue when I called was 4 hours long! I gave up and bought duplicate tickets on JetBlue instead. John made a good point that I should go to the Delta Airlines counter at the airport to at least get a credit from them. Great idea! Unfortunately, that picture to the left? Notice how the population of the Delta Airlines counter is 0? Yeah. They were the only airline with no staff present. Meh, time to move on.

New Friend 1 - Keith

The JetBlue flight from Buffalo to Boston was a nice pleasant, comfortable ride even though every seat was taken. The commute was made even better with my first new friend of the weekend, Keith. Keith was the stranger who sat next to me on the plane and started a conversation with, "would you like to play chess?" I let him know that I am possibly the worst chess player on the planet and as a rule never play with anyone over the age of 10 years old. He took my rebuke in stride and the conversation just flowed. He was a very interesting guy. He's in the Navy and serves as a photographer. The unique job role has given him the opportunity for a lot of really interesting training including a recently completed underwater/SCUBA session that sounded very challenging. He also likes to run for fun and wanted to know why it was so hard to get past 20 miles. Since he was trapped in the window seat I shared everything from the typical structure of marathon plans to how glycogen is stored in the body and everything in between. Poor guy. lol. In all seriousness, he seemed genuinely interested and by the end of the trip he asked for my contact information and I committed to help him with a training plan. I hope to hear from him. Good dude.

Home Away From Home

Part of my soul felt like a seed in April that had been waiting all winter for the right conditions to sprout out of the ground the moment I emerged from the T at the Back Bay station. I hope to hold onto this memory forever. I felt alive, happy, lucky, content and about a hundred other things all at once. I was home again at the mecca for marathoners.

Once I came back to earth it was time to get sh!t done. I went over to the medical tent to show my proof of vaccination and get the first of two bracelets that would allow me access to two of the greatest marathons in America. From there I went to the expo for bib pickup and found that I was too early. There were hundreds of runners already outside waiting to go into the Hynes Convention Center so I wandered over to the attached Prudential Center to wander the mall and find something to eat. A new store named Eataly gave me the calories I searched for and it was yummmmmy! After finishing the tasty breakfast sandwich it was late enough that the expo had opened for bib pickup so I wandered over, got my bib and soaked in how lucky I was to be here with thousands of ~~strangers~~ future friends.

I stopped in the Adidas booth to buy my traditional short runner tights and found that they were likely a design fail. Let's just say it is an accepted fact that nobody can simultaneously be modest and wear short runner tights, but did you really have to place the Boston Marathon logo in a place that drew attention to just how immodest a guy has to be to wear these? Really? So, after confirming the design fail I left with a nice pair of "normal" runners shorts and a tank top.

After the Adidas booth I went into the rest of the expo and frankly it was sad. I'm not a fan of crowds. The traditional Boston Marathon expo has hundreds of vendors and it is almost impossible to move around. This year? There were maybe 10 vendors in the same area. It looked empty. Oh well, life isn't completely normal yet. Maybe next year. Sam Adams was one of the vendors. I'd never had their Wicked Easy lager, but it seemed like the right way to toast the weekend while I still had hopes that things would go smooth. (spoiler: things did NOT go smooth)

Without a lot to do in the expo, I found a quiet spot by myself in the corner of the convention center with a nice view of the crowds outside on a beautiful day in Boston. It gave me some nice time to reflect on how unbelievably lucky I am while waiting for 1pm to arrive so that I could satisfy my one work obligation during the weekend and take a 30 minute call. After the call I got outside to enjoy that wonderful weather first hand as I casually strolled down Boylston stopping in shops looking for the perfect race belt. I didn't find it so I continued down Boylston to Chipotle and then Smashburger looking for a short line to get some food in me before I said goodbye to my home away from home and headed to the airport.

Problem 2 - Credit Card

Oh sh!t. Where's my credit card? I went to pay for the burger at Smashburger and it was gone. Crap. Ok, stay calm...it's probably at the expo. I paid with an alternate card, ate quickly and then started hauling ass back to the expo. The Adidas booth, it must be at the Adidas booth. There was an awkward exchange when I refused a bag for my purchases. I'll bet I left the card in the machine. While dodging people, I started doing math about getting to the airport. I **should** be OK...but I have a habit of making mistakes with public transportation, I could feel my contingency time starting to disappear. Whelp, I can't do anything about it. It will be whatever it will be. Get to the Adidas booth, retrieve the card, head to the airport and deal with whatever happens next. There are still 42 hours before my first marathon. That's plenty of time to recover if I miss a flight.

I got to the Adidas booth and the crowds were small so it was easy to walk to the front of the line and explain the situation. Multiple people snapped into action to find the credit card for me but they came back empty. I'd given it my best attempt. I came up empty. Nothing to do but to be polite, thank them for their effort and be on my way to the airport. My first reaction was to call Amanda. She can cancel the card for me. She was at work and picked up the phone, but we hung up quickly without discussing the situation. She'd call me back later. I finished following the Google map directions to get to the airport.

I got to the Back Bay station and couldn't find the purple line. I wandered around and guessed that purple tile heading downstairs meant that was the way to the purple line off I went. It wasn't. I found an employee who nicely escorted me back upstairs and pointed to the opposite side of the station. Strangers are often the nicest people when you ask for help. I got on the train and Google Maps then told me to get off at South Station and then transfer to a different train. The station was confusing and much larger than the last one I failed to navigate. Once I was in the main area with a bunch of other people, I asked a police officer for directions. In a thick Boston accent he told me that Google was stooopid and said I should go outside and get on the bus instead. The silver line bus. It wasn't that I didn't trust the local, but when the big brain of the internet gives one direction and a local a different one it creates internal conflict. I took the officer's advice, went outside and 1 minute later was on a bus to the airport. Whew.

While I was poorly navigating Boston, Amanda had finished work and was trying to get a hold of me. We had a few missed connections before we could talk through what to do about the lost credit card. My initial reaction when I gave up on finding it was to cancel it immediately. I'm glad there was a delay because it gave me time to think about it and then talk through a different strategy with Amanda. The credit card that was lost? The one that was used for all of the hotel/apartment rentals on this journey. Some were pre-paid, others were deposits, some would get paid after use and I had no easily accessible accounting of what rooms would be at risk if the credit card stopped working. Realistically? Probably none of them were at risk. If a failed card happened, I'd be contacted and give them a different means of payment...but with so much time inaccessible on planes, etc. I really didn't want the stress of wondering which reservations might get fubar'd. 99.9% of people that find a credit card would do the right thing so we decided to risk it and leave the card active. Amanda would check for unexpected charges every day during the trip and if any showed up, we'd cancel it at that point. Whoever has my card did not use it. Four days later the card was cancelled.

New Friend 2 - Steve

I got to the gate at 4:23 for a flight that would board at 5:41. Ok. Yeah. I stressed over a whole lot of nothing leaving for the airport in a rush. 🤷. I got comfortable and was pondering where to go have a meal when other people started to show up at the gate. One of these people was my new friend, Steve. He was the first confirmed sighting of another Chicago2Boston doubler. We started talking. He is a great guy. A farmer from Wisconsin that has a long fantastic history of doing multiple marathons a year and fun stories to tell. It is funny how quick two runners can become friends when we start talking about this hobby of ours. At one point while trading stories I stopped to mention the Chicago2Boston Facebook group that I had created and done almost nothing with. He laughed, said he was a member of the group and that he was just about to mention it to me. Small world. Before we knew it the hour+ before boarding had evaporated and we were both heading into the plane for the next leg of this journey.

Boston2Chicago

The flight from Boston to Chicago felt like it was taking forever. I didn't have a book, headphones or media loaded on my phone. #fail Eventually I did start to nod off a little bit, but mostly it was just a ~3 hour grind waiting to get to the next leg in this journey. It didn't help anything that I forgot about the time change so I was unrealistically thinking it would take 2 hours for the flight.

New Friend 3 - David

Staying at the Hilton @ Chicago O'Hare was a brilliant idea.

It was nice to have a hotel right at the airport. I got checked in at ~9pm and went to the bar to get a bite to eat. I was awkwardly seated at a narrow table almost directly across from a complete stranger. It felt like a weird thing to do in the age of covid, but I'm not one to complain and I was hungry. I tried to give the fellow stranger his space as best I could and stared at the TV instead of him. Shortly after the food arrived though, he got a call from his child to tell him good night. The phone was on speaker. The kid was adorable with the cutest little kid voice and their exchange was so sweet I couldn't pretend he wasn't there any longer. When their conversation concluded, I told him how cute his kid sounded and we were then off to becoming fast friends.

My new friend, David, was from Seattle and flying to South Dakota to do some work on a family cabin. His connecting flight was through Chicago which led to him being stranded for the evening. He had a running shirt on, so I asked him about it. We then traded training stories back and forth. He's had some pretty bad knee injuries that make regular running a challenge, but it sounds like he has a handle on them. I was happy to add some sunshine to his situation by pointing out that a lot of my training, including from before my fastest marathon in 2019, happened on a bicycle and not with actual running. I wish him the best of luck figuring out his puzzle!

The first day, Friday, has now concluded. 2 problems overcome and 3 friends made. On balance? A win.

Day 2 - Saturday

It was nice to wake up without an alarm and feel like I had ample time to take care of a couple of items before starting the trek downtown to the expo to pick up my Chicago Marathon bib.

Problem 3 - Phone

Welp, that's unfortunate. My phone didn't charge overnight. The first rule of technology, unplug it and plug it back in. No luck. It either does nothing or warns that there isn't enough power coming in to adequately charge. No big deal. There is a store in the lobby. It will be over priced but worth it. I'd been snapping lots of pictures for his blog entry, but also posting quite a bit on Facebook and people seemed to like it. I'd had a lot of fun bringing all of my friends along with me on this adventure while also being solo and I didn't want to give up having those connections back home, so off to the lobby I went.

I got to the lobby and the gift shop was closed. It shouldn't have been closed, my watch said so. However, my watch was on east coast time and I was in the midwest. Back up to the room I went. I need to get a run in anyway. There was a parking garage across the street with a wonderfully empty top floor. There was construction going on, but it looked like only 1/3rd of the lot would be closed. I went back downstairs, across the street and walked about a half mile trying to figure out how I as a pedestrian gained access to the parking garage. I gave up and went back to the hotel. The gift shop is still closed. Maybe there is a way into the basement of the parking garage from the lower level of the hotel?

One more elevator trip, this time to the lower level. Score! There is a nice workout room...the only downside is that it is going to cost $15 to use the treadmill and I only need it for about 15 minutes. I can't pay a dollar a minute for a treadmill. The gym attendant gave me instructions on how to break into the parking garage though.

I went back to the room to get my credit card to buy a new charger. The hotel gift shop was now open. I bought a charger for $36.99+tax! Yet another trip on the elevator to the room to try out the new charger. No luck. Doesn't work. Back down the elevator to the gift shop to get a new charging cord for $36.99+tax. Ouch. Did I mention they don't take returns on these items? Off to the elevator yet again to the room and voila the phone is now charging!

Problem 4 - A Place to Run

Cool, problem solved for the phone...and in the meantime I now know how to break into the parking garage. I got in, took a set of elevators to the top floor and was denied. Can't go anywhere on the top floor because it is taped off for construction. Back down the elevators to a floor that is open, a walk to the opposite end of the garage where I could clearly see that there was no construction going on and once again I was denied by construction tape. The levels of the garage that I could get to are in perma-shade and the road surface is now perma-slick. No running to be had in the garage. Back to the hotel, once again up the elevators to my room to get the credit card for the 3rd, 4th or maybe 73rd time...who knows at this point. I'm off to solve the problem of not being able to run outside by hitting the treadmill instead.

The Aussie Carb Load is a process where you do a warm up, run fast/hard for a while and then do a cool down. It always attracts a bit of attention on a treadmill and did this time around because I was running a 5:45 mile. After the run you down a medically inadvisable amount of sugar to supersaturate muscle cells with glycogen and with it water. Both are good to have on board for a marathon, especially a hot marathon like Chicago would be.

The start of the day Saturday, as described above in Problem 3 and Problem 4 literally took 2 1/2 hours. In that time all I really accomplished was 15 minutes of running, buying a phone charger + cord and drinking Gatorade. 🤷

Off To The Expo!

Whew. The morning was rough, but it's over and now time to get back to the party. A couple of straightforward train rides to downtown will get bib number 2 in my hand.

Getting to the expo was easy, but getting through it was an experience. It was easy to find the line to go through the vaccination check, but it was hard to find the end! Once I'd confirmed where to be with a volunteer, it was time to do what my mom taught me before any long wait. Time to go to the potty. I know, TMI but there is a reason for it. I was gone for 3-4 minutes to take care of nature's call and in that time there were easily several hundred more people in line ahead of me.

One side effect of waiting in line was that it was an opportunity to count additional Chicago2Boston doublers. There were at least 5 in line that I was able to identify. This plus the people from the flight from Boston to Chicago brought the tally to at least 10 doublers. Of course, the line was so unbelievably long I only got close to a very small percent of the people standing in line. I seriously wonder if there might have been 10,000+ people in line in front of me.

New Friend 4 - Jordan

I don't know for sure if there were 1,000 or 10,000 or 100,000 people in line in front of me but I know the guy directly behind me was Jordan. Jordan was from the Kansas City area. He asked if this was the line to get bibs and I said "yes". We started to chat. When he volunteered where he was from I promptly told him that I could not talk to him any longer. Since I'm from upstate NY and the Buffalo Bills were going to play the Kansas City Chiefs the next day it was clear that Jordan and I could not be friends. The only problem with this? Jordan was a really nice guy. We talked about football, running, our jobs and a dozen other subjects. We stood together in line for 2+ hours. For real. Jordan, being the sort of person to be prepared, held his vaccine card and id in his hand for at least half the time we were in line. I waited until we were near the front of the line to retrieve mine. In any case, we came to the front of the line to prove our vaccination status at the same time. He presented his documentation and I presented mine. I was given a second bracelet to wear for the weekend. He was denied a bracelet. Why? He already had one. Apparently, he had stopped by earlier, stood in the long line to get the magic bracelet but had not gone through the shorter line to get his actual bib.

Upon learning that he did not need to stand in this line for so long Jordan responded with nothing but total pleasantness saying the words, "That's fine. A guy at the beginning said to stand in this line but it is no big deal. I didn't mind standing in line. It only took a minute." I immediately burst out in laughter. Fortunately we were now friends and Jordan reacted well when I told him, "that might be the most midwestern nice thing that I've ever heard!" (Note: it might be obvious reading this, but in the moment I had forgotten that **I** was the person who told him to stand in this line. Oops. Sorry Jordan!)

Jordan and I went over to the bib pickup line that took about 2 minutes to go through. Given that I'm a dumbass, I then tried to retrieve my bib by using a QR code from my 2019 race registration. It didn't work. A supervisor came over to help and after several scans coming up that it was not recognized I laughed and felt like an idiot. I spotted the problem, retrieved the 2021 race registration QR code and voila, it worked! The supervisor then made me blush when she gushed, "Oooh, you are one of our elites! Please, come over here with me while I retrieve your bib!" I'm not really an elite, but my bib was at table 1, so yeah, ego stroked. 😎

Off to Shop

The vendor section of the expo was very different from the Boston experience. There didn't seem to be as many vendors as there were in 2019, but there were a lot and it was a good opportunity to do some shopping. I went looking for Chicago Marathon branded Balega socks, but they were not available this time. (spoiler: not buying socks became a problem later) I did manage to get some additional Gu flavors and a new belt to wear that would have enough room for Gu, salt, caffeine and my phone. I never race with my phone, but this year I wanted a chance to immortalize as much of this experience in pixels as possible.

With no obvious places to eat in the neighborhood, I had my first meal of the day at the expo at 2:11pm. A lavish meal consisting of 2 pretzels w/cheese and a Mt Dew.

A Chance to Rest

I should have taken the bus, or a train, but it seemed easy enough to go ahead and walk 2+ miles to the hotel instead. After all, it isn't like there's a marathon to run the next day. What's a little more time on my feet and lack of calories?

The Congress Hotel is in a fantastic location immediately across Michigan Ave from the main entrance to Grant Park that I would need to enter in the morning to get to the start line and also come back from the finish line.

It is now 3:20 pm and I've got my first chance to rest since getting out of bed 8+ hours ago. Is this the way a vacation is supposed to feel?

And Now to Finish Getting Ready

After a glorious 30 minutes of letting my legs rest it was time to finish preparing for the marathon that would start the next morning. I didn't have calories for the morning so I started off with a trip to a small corner store to see what I could find to eat in the morning and then a trip to CVS to buy sunscreen, antacids and toenail clippers. With all of the last minute supplies gathered it was time to find some real food. My standard night before meal is normally a Chipotle chicken burrito. You can find a Chipotle anywhere and it is nice and safe for a day before meal. The problem? Google was telling me that they were all closing at 5pm. Weird. The sole location that seemed to be open until 8pm was targeted. On the walk to get some more calories to eat I walked past a local place that seemed pretty empty. Hmm, empty isn't a good sign for a downtown bar/restaurant but the sign says, "Beer, Bourbon and Bands" so it has to be with a try?

New Friends 5 and 6 - Jen and Adam

2twenty2 was empty but it seemed to be a cool place. I went up to the bar and took an appropriately socially distanced seat away from the two runners at the corner. I really didn't want to leave them room. They were runners! I wanted to talk! One of them was wearing an older Boston Marathon jacket! These were clearly my people! I forget how the conversation started, but the three of us became fast friends. Jen and Adam were from Cincinnati. It was fun getting to know them both. They had just run Wineglass in upstate NY the prior weekend. Wineglass is essentially in my backyard at home even though I've never run it. Jen ran the Wineglass Marathon where she BQ'd 👏👏👏 and Adam ran the Wineglass Half Marathon as part of his taper. They were in Chicago so that Adam could run the Chicago Marathon and Jen could cheer. Very nice people, my only regret is that I wish I'd taken a picture with them at the time. Instead, I give you the reader a picture of Buffalo Trace bourbon in a glass.

And Now to Really Finish Getting Ready

After a fun conversation, drinks and a pizza it seemed time to get back to my room and lay everything out for the next day so that for the first time in two days I could genuinely relax. I got to the hotel room at 6:30 pm and got to work. Since everything was well organized by day/race into ziploc bags it was easy to lay everything out and confirm I was good to go. It took a half hour to organize my race day stuff and make a final decision to wear the Nike Alphafly super shoes for the first time in a race. I'd done a 6 mile shakeout run in them a week earlier and they felt great. I didn't need the speed that comes with these carbon plated foam filled clouds for shoes, but I'd theorized that they would also help keep my legs fresher for the 26.2 the next day.

With time to kill and nervous energy running high, I started a craft project. When I bought groceries, I also got some masking tape. I wanted a way to let the runners passing me to know why this guy at the front was running so slow. The one nod to my ego. Originally, I thought it would be cool to put my Boston Marathon bib on my back to advertise that Chicago was day 1 of 2...but an online friend suggested that the Boston chip might mess with the Chicago timing. I figured this was very unlikely, but if it did mess things up it would probably mess up a complete stranger that happened to be running Chicago with the same number as my Boston bib. Even if the chance was tiny, it was not acceptable to take a chance with someone else's race. The solution was the masking tape and a craft project. I taped "BOSTON MONDAY" onto the back of my shirt. Ultimately, it didn't last but at least I tried.

The craft project took an hour. It was now 8pm. I was simultaneously relieved and full of nervous energy. It was a relief to know that so many problems were behind me and that now my fate was sealed. All decisions were done and all that was left was to shut my mind off, sleep, wake up and do the thing...so of course I had trouble sleeping. Friends checked in on me, which was cool. Their last minute well wishes and all of the wonderful comments from people on Facebook as I chronicled all of the travel made me feel well cared for. It was a surprise highlight of this journey that I could do a thing solo and still bring so much support from so many people along with me at the same time. ❤️

Day 3 - Sunday

I'd managed to fall asleep around 12:30am or so. Fortunately, I was fine when my alarm went off at 5am. I guess several years of waking up between 4-5am every day has its benefits. I checked the weather. Oof. It would be a pleasant day for spectators and a rough day for runners. 74F and humid. Glad I'm doing a fun run instead of a hard race! I got all of my stuff on, including the throwaway jeans and a t-shirt I'd worn early in the trip. Then I ate a delicious breakfast of a protein drink I'd never had before, Frosted Flakes, Peanut Butter M&Ms and Diet Mt Dew. The breakfast of champions.

Chicago Marathon Start

The time was here. My fate was sealed and now it was time to reveal what that fate would be.

I walked the shortest walk of this journey. 100 yards or so after I'd left the hotel I was in the line at security to be admitted to the start line area. I wandered around a bit in search of something to drink and then meandered my way through the park over to Wave 1 Corral B. I got to start near the front of the entire race. It was an honor, but one I wasn't sure I deserved. Sure, my qualifying time from 2019 got me here but all of my training was centered around staying healthy, being able to recover well and none of that would lead to a fast race. I could have moved back to a later corral, but I don't think that would have done much to keep me out of the way. I settled in at the back of Corral B. This way, I wouldn't be in the way when my corral was let go and the many runners that would pass me from later corrals would generally be doing so with lots of empty roads around.

The wait for the start was unusual. I didn't make any new friends. I'm not sure if it was the feeling that I didn't belong or just luck of the draw, but any conversations that I found myself in were brief and polite. No one I engaged with was like the fast friends that were becoming the hallmark of this adventure so far. Weird.

In any case, the throwaway warm clothes that I was wearing got pitched very quickly. Jeans and a heavy cotton t-shirt are not comfy in 74F degree weather with high humidity. With the clothes on I was sweating while standing still. Not good. I then went inside the corral and took up one of the last spots on a curb with a fence to lean against while waiting for the ceremonies to begin. As we got closer to the start, the announcer got more and more talkative. He talked about Shalane Flanagan coming out of retirement to run marathons in Berlin, London and now Chicago in the last 3 weeks. She would also run Boston tomorrow and then finish out all 6 marathon majors by running NYC and a virtual Tokyo in 6 weeks. She is a major badass. The announcer then went on to introduce a local Special Olympics Champion that would sing the national anthem for us. Wow, what a morning!

Corral A was sent first and then ~3 minutes later Corral B was walked forward to the start line and let go. Bruce Springsteen was playing Born to Run loud and clear. I crossed the start line right as Bruce sang, "Come on with me, tramps like us...Baby, we were born to run". The song struck me as the perfect way to start a marathon. It is such an obvious song, I must have heard it before at a road race but I can't think of a single occasion when I did. Good times.

I started off looking for a comfortable pace to run. The Goldilocks pace. Not too fast and not too slow. "Stay humble and be healthy" came back to me more than once as I was letting the entire field run away from me. I felt fine. The running wasn't hard when my Garmin watch decided to heckle me a few minutes after the start. Most Garmin watches will give a score from -5 to +5 to indicate how fresh you are. The number is based on heart rate variability (and probably other data) and it typically reflects how I feel. -5 is the worst. +5 is the bestest freshest Garmin thinks a person can be. Me? I felt fine. Garmin though I must feel like sh!t with the worst score I've ever seen, -4. lol. Thanks for the confidence boost Mr. Watch.

GPS was surprisingly accurate for the first few miles. I felt good. I felt comfortable. (I don't heeeeeeere you pessimistic Garmin watch). The miles rolled by. I passed a few people, I got passed by many more people, but through it all I was really enjoying being a part of the parade again. Thank you Chicago!

Problem 5 - Ouchies

Around mile 7 or 8 I ran past a medical station and simultaneously thought, "Hmmm, I've got a hot spot on the arch of my right foot." It wasn't right, but didn't seem to need immediate attention so I kept running. The more I focused on it though, the more certain I was that this was going to be a real problem if I didn't do something about it. The next aid station between mile 9 and 10, I stopped. The medical workers were awesome. They insisted that I lay down while they applied vaseline for me. They got me water. They asked if I wanted to continue. Hell yeah, I've got places to go and people to see!

The pain in my arch went away after a couple of minutes of running but then came back. "Ok, work the problem." It only took a minute to remember why I was here and what to do about it. I was here to enjoy the parade. There was minimal time pressure other than the plane I needed to catch later in the day. I needed to get to the finish line with minimal self harm though. I could now longer guarantee that my feet would get to the finish line in pristine condition, but I chose a path to minimize the damage by stopping early and often for a re-lubing.

I'd stop at 5 medical tents this day. I was essentially running intervals. The miles without aid station stops were in the 8:30s or 8:40s. The miles with aid station stops were between 13-16 minutes for travel time + med tent time. Along the way, I just kept reminding myself to "work the problem."

The numbers above only tell one part of my story on this day. It was slow. It hurt. It didn't go as I expected, but you know what else? It was an f'ing fantastic day. I loved seeing the sights. The crowds. The experience that only the Chicago ~~Parade~~ Marathon could give us.

Highlights

There was the moment when I passed a big guy on the side of the road with a "Boston Strong" shirt on. One of the shirts that were everywhere after the 2013 bombings. I yelled to him, "Hey, I'm going to run the Boston Marathon tomorrow!" At that exact instant, a woman named Jurgita passed me while holding up her arm and pointing to the two bracelets she was wearing. She had one bracelet for the Chicago Marathon and a second for the Boston Marathon. She then said to me, "Hey me too! I'll be in Boston tomorrow too!" Awesome. Those crazy Chicago2Boston doublers are everywhere!

(Note: we later bumped into each other on Facebook where she gave me permission to include her finish line pick here)

I loved getting to see all of the very different neighborhoods around town. They each have their very own character, but none stands out like Chinatown did. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take many pictures during the Chicago Marathon but in this particular case New Friends saved the day. The pic of Chinatown next to this paragraph is available here because Jen took it while she was out cheering on Adam. You might recognize them as New Friends 5 and 6 😁

The music! Every big city marathon has music blaring away at different places on the course, but there just seems to be something "more" about Chicago. When there's great tunes being blasted into the caverns created by big city buildings it just makes you feel a little bit more alive!

Chicago Marathon Finish

The official finish time was 4:11:43. Honestly? I expected to be around 3:45 +/- and figured there was a very strong chance that on the hardest of days I'd still be sub-4 hours. In any case, once I crossed that finish line it was straight to the hotel to get cleaned up and on my way to Boston. I'm only half done.

Post Race

I went straight to the hotel where the plan was to alternate cold/hot baths to help work the kinks out of my legs. I'd never tried this technique before, but why not now? That's easy. I didn't fit in the tub. I couldn't come close to straightening my legs out so a normal shower would have to be enough. I didn't feel that bad except for my feet which were in agony. I had 2 blisters, one on each foot that were each the size of a half dollar coin.

To protect the innocent, pictures of my feet after the race have been kept a click away. Honestly, they could have been a lot worse...and 24 hours later they would be.

In any case, this is no time to stop. I kept busy slowly cleaning up the room, repacking and preparing for the trip to the airport. I thought it would be nice to lay down on the bed but realistically I'd be able to relax a lot better once I knew that I was at the airport with no blockers to stop me from getting to Boston. I've completed 7 Boston Marathons in a row and my original crazy athletic goal was to make it to the Boston Marathon finish line 10 years in a row. The scariest part of the Chicago2Boston stunt would be if I lost my Boston Marathon streak.

2 hours after having crossed the finish line in Chicago I had already walked to the hotel, showered, packed and walked to the train station. I had not eaten, but that would be better saved for the airport.

Going through security at the airport my bag got selected for extra security screening. Apparently a quart sized bag that was 1/4 full with a mysterious blue powder was suspicious. The full quart bag that I brought into Chicago? That was normal. Leaving with 1/4 of it left...the man wants to talk to you! This was the leftover Gatorade from my Aussie Carb Load and realistically the brief delay was no big deal. The extra security screening was made extra nice from the fact that the TSA agent was a runner who wanted to talk about shoes while he tested my suspicious blue powder.

Right before my gate for departure was a Wolfgang Puck restaurant. I ordered a pizza and sat at the bar watching the Chicago Bears do surprisingly well. In the process, I got to meet 2 more Chicago2Boston doublers. They were going to be on the same flight and had stopped to eat at the same restaurant. We had fun comparing notes. Once I left the restaurant and arrived at the gate, it seemed like every person that sat down after me was also a Chicago2Boston doubler. No joke, I talked to 4 different people that confirmed what they were doing. All of the chit chat I could hear was about the race. There was even one woman sitting at the airport with Normatec boots on. I stopped counting my personal doubler encounters at 20 different people this weekend. I love these crazy freakin' runners!

Chicago2Boston

The happiness in the air as a bunch of runners boarded a plane from Chicago2Boston was palpable. The other thing that was obvious? It was going to be a very full flight.

Problem 6 - Space

The gate agent kept calling for people to volunteer carry-on bags to check because they were certain there would not be enough room in the overhead storage. I volunteered my backpack but was denied since it wasn't a bigger rolling carry on. I was glad to keep my bag right until I wasn't. I was in the last group to board the plane. Guess what? No overhead storage left. I heard one of the stewardesses tell the other that she had room for 2 more bags up front. I asked her to take mine. She said 'no' and instructed me to put it under the seat in front of me. The problem was that it would not actually fit. I did the best I could. I then sat with my feet on the bag 6 inches off the ground for almost all of the 2 1/2 hour flight. Good things my legs were feeling fresh!

Boston! My legs are free at last!!!

My best friend Chris was waiting for me at an apartment in Back Bay. He and I just missed being able to connect on the phone as my flight left Chicago, so as soon as I could I called him from the airport to make sure everything was OK. It was. He thoughtfully was looking to inquire if I was going to need to eat before getting to bed. Good question. Yep. So while he found places we could walk to from the apartment I started the public transit commute from Logan Airport to Back Bay. It started off easy enough, I got on the Silver Line bus that had taken me to the airport on Friday. I just had to stay on the bus until I got to South Station.

Problem 7 - Public Transit I'm Tired

I didn't stay on the bus until South Station.

I got off one stop too early at Court. I didn't realize I was in the wrong place when I emerged from underground to meet 3 drunk guys walking down the sidewalk. I was wearing my Chicago Marathon medal around my neck because that's what runners do. Drunk guys? They say things like, "hey, that guy's got a silver medal on his neck. It must be worth a lot. Let's take it." Sigh. Fortunately they kept walking. I wandered around looking at my phone disoriented and finally asked someone getting into a car for directions. He didn't know, but someone he was talking to on the phone suggested a route that was completely different from what Google maps said to do. As I was trying to decide to ignore Google again I figured out what happened. Back down the stairs to the underground bus stop to get back on the Silver Line to South Station...my original destination.

Once I got to South Station I had to walk 4/10ths of a mile to the Downtown Crossing station. GPS was going wacky because of big buildings, but some best guesses plus asking 3 different people for help eventually got me to the Downtown Crossing station. The 3rd person I asked for help? They were literally standing at the intersection where the T stop was. If I had just turned around I would have seen it. What can I say, I was tired.

Old Friend 1 - Chris!!!

10 minutes on the train plus a short walk had me almost to the apartment. I called Chris when I was almost there to ask that he come out front. He didn't answer the phone. He was already out front! Yay!

The apartment was nice, but it was a 3rd floor walkup in an old building with crooked stairs. Perfect for after a marathon or two 😁. We dropped my bag, picked a restaurant that was still open and left the apartment. The restaurant was on the second floor of a nearby hotel and the menu looked great. Hmmm, what is the most effective way to refuel between marathons? Beer and nachos would be a good start. Tacos a nice finish. The Bills/Chiefs game was on in the background and it was nice to see the Bills with a nice lead in the first half. It made me wonder how Jordan "New Friend 4" did in the Chicago Marathon. I wish I could remember his last name to check.

Having Chris to be my great big teddy bear of a safety blanket for this last leg of the journey was a welcome relief. I could be completely selfish, say what I needed, he would make it happen and know that everything was appreciated. I felt well cared for the entire time he was around.

We got back to the apartment to unpack and make final preparations for the morning. Chris brought a lengthy list of supplies for me. Food for the morning, including Frosted Flakes, Mt Dew and yogurt. He also brought sunscreen and throwaway clothes that I could wear on the trip to Hopkinton. Once everything was in place for a quick morning, I did another in the series of Facebook posts linked at the top. Why do I bring that up? Because when I went to select pictures for the post I was alarmed that the last one was listed under Monday. I hadn't been paying attention to what time it was and was shocked to see it was now 12:30 am.

Day 4 - Marathon Monday

I didn't sleep very well, but the alarm on my phone didn't care when it went off at 5:30am. I was glad to get this next leg of the journey started. In addition to the usual marathon morning prep, you know like what happened yesterday, we also had to get my blistered feet prepped and put the Chicago Marathon bib on my back. I wasn't worried about creating timing issues in Boston with a Chicago bib that was on my back and also had the chip removed. 🤞.

Chris had me dressed in the most lovely mismatch plaid shirt and pants. (Un)Fortunately we did not manage to take a picture with the entire ensemble in place. Whoops.

Commuting to Hopkinton

For those of you that don't know, the Boston Marathon is a point to point course. Most marathons, like Chicago, have a start line and a finish line that are pretty close to each other. The Boston Marathon starts in Hopkinton and then you basically commute on foot to downtown Boston. Since I am someone who often goes against the grain I usually stay near the start line and then take a bus from the finish back to the start. An overwhelming majority of runners stay near the finish line and take a bus to the start. This was the first time I'd follow the crowd with the more popular pre-race bus commute.

Chris walked with me until it was time for me to break off and go back to making this a solo journey. The energy on Boylston as I walked from the bag drop area to the bus boarding area almost seemed frantic. However all of that frenetic energy came to an abrupt stop once I was in the mass of folks waiting to board the actual busses. Things now moved along slowly until I was at the front of the queue standing next to a woman.

New Friend 7 - Kayde

The volunteer preventing runners from overloading the busses asked me to wait. The volunteer then looked at the woman standing next to me and said, "Oh, you are one of those people that did Chicago yesterday. You are my second one. The first one was a guy that came through a little while ago." I laughed and turned around as I said, "Guess what? I'm the third person you've met that ran Chicago yesterday."

We both boarded the bus at the same time and took separate seats. I then asked my New Friend if it was ok for me to share a seat with her instead. Every seat was going to have 2 runners anyway and well, I wanted to get to know a fellow doubler a bit better. We had a lot of fun trading stories. She is a serious badass who has done some of the most coveted ultra trail runs. She also lives in Colorado and has a backyard full of mountains to play on whether she is running or riding. Oh, but the best athletes in her family might actually be the dogs. lol

Once the busses got to Hopkinton for us to unload, I mindlessly ghosted Kayde and walked off to the start line. I was anxious to get this show on the road, but should have checked in to make sure she was good to go. Sorry Kayde!

Boston Marathon Start

The walk to the start line seemed shorter than usual. On the way there were 2 guys handing out blue/yellow Hawaiian leis. When a guy in a thick Boston accent asks if you want a leis, think carefully before you respond. I said, "Yes!" He gave me a blue leis. I looked at his buddy and asked, "How about you? Can I get leis'd a second time?" He gave me a yellow leis. Perfect. I was now in the official colors of the Boston Marathon.

Along the way I gave up on bothering with sunscreen. It was overcast and cool in the high 50's or low 60's and would be a much more comfortable day to run. A quick portapotty stop near the start and then it was time to commute to downtown on foot. In a normal year, runners are collected into 3 or 4 waves that are let loose together. This year, once you got to the start line you could just go. No waiting. There was some effort to load people onto busses based on bib colors to still keep the faster people going first, but it was a much looser process than usual. It was a little anti-climatic but it was definitely a lot more efficient with less sitting around. The only downside is that without that sitting around I missed my best chance to get caught up with a bunch of friends I only get to see at the Boston Marathon every year. 🤷

The first half, or is it the third half?

It felt amazing to step over that start line in Hopkinton. As I type this, I am getting the chills all over again. Frankly, it is impossible to convey how unbelievably lucky I feel to have crossed that very spot 7 times in the last 8 years. The pandemic stopped me from being here for the race in 2020, but there really is nothing like this particular hallowed ground.

My legs felt surprisingly good. There was some soreness, but nothing that hasn't been worse in the height of a normal training plan. I did feel a pinch in both feet every time they hit the ground but it was manageable and they even felt better than they did at the end of Chicago. I just needed to take 45,000 or so steps on each foot for this marathon to be over. Easy peasy.

Just like at the beginning of Chicago, I looked for the goldilocks pace. Not too fast and not too slow. This course starts with a lot of downhill running, so I also focused on soft steps trying to find the pace that would save my legs and prevent me from braking at the same time. The goldilocks pace was pretty fast. I was running low 8 minute miles in the downhill sections.

After the first 5k my confidence was increasing. Just keep running.
After the second 5k? I've got this!
The 3rd 5k started off feeling really good. I started making plans for the halfway mark. Those plans didn't last very long. I started wondering if I could make it to 15k without walking, but I just stayed focused on that goal. Just need to run until 9.3 miles.
You eat an elephant, or a marathon, one goal at a time. Focus on the next goal only.
At 15k/9.3 miles...I won't make it to the halfway mark, but I can make it to 10 miles dammit!

Old Friend 2 - Amy (Dr Bart)!!!

As I was putting all of my focus on just trying to keep running until the 10 mile mark, one of the Boston peeps went flying past me. "Amy! Hey! DrBart!!!!" she turned around, let me catch her and gave me one great big sweaty hug. She slowed down for me so we could chat. I sped up from ~9 minutes a mile to ~8 minutes a mile to keep up. It was hard as hell to keep up, but it also felt good to stretch my legs out. This reunion was one of the highlights of the race for me. She was trying to take the first half easy. I was just trying to keep up with her! We found a photographer and posed running 8 minute miles with our arms around each other.

It wasn't a race photographer. It was a random stranger with a nice camera. #fail

When you fail at a photo op, what do you do? You try again. I poured all of my energy into keeping up with Amy's easy run and then when we found an official race photographer we repeated our pose. One more high five and then she left me like I was standing still. Good times 😊

With the inspiration and stretched out legs that Amy gave me, the impossible seemed possible again. I might not be fast, but I thought I could now run until the halfway mark and that's exactly what I did. Well, almost. I resolved to take more pictures than I did in Chicago so I stopped running a few feet short of the half to snap a pic of the halfway mark. I then started running again.

Race? What Race?

After slowing to a walk to get a pic of the halfway mark I tried to run again and it was hard. That's fine. I'm not going for time. I just need to keep going. It might have been around now that the pain from my blistered arches was subsumed by pain in my toes, it could have been miles earlier or later, I don't really remember. In any case, I ran the best I could and bargained with myself that I would start walking regularly at mile 15.

By mile 15 all of my oomph had been spent. No amount of caffeine was going to bring it back. You know what? Other than the fact my feet would have to hurt longer, I was 100% OK with the idea that the energy to run was gone.

It was a beautiful day. The crowds were much more amazing than I remembered. I was there for the parade. I was there to soak in the crowds. I was there to once again get to visit the best marathon course in the world. Race? What Race? This was a f*cking parade, dammit! Let the party begin!

From here on I decided to use an old ultra trail running technique. Walk the uphills and run the downhills. Me? I'm not an ultra runner. I'm not a trail runner either. I am neither cool enough nor coordinated enough to deserve the labels "ultra" or "trail". However, the cool kids are onto something with this walk/run thing. It gave me a lot more time to interact with people. It gave me more time to take pictures.

Throughout this "party" of the last 10 miles or so, my feet were in complete and total agony. I was already scared of how bad my feet would look at the end. The encouragement of the hundreds of runners that saw the Chicago bib on my back kept me going. The cheers of the crowds kept me going. The sheer privilege of being back in Boston kept me going.

One of the longest walks of the day was up the hill at mile 16. This is the hill that goes up over the expressway and is well before getting to the infamous Heartbreak Hill. I'm convinced that this hill at mile 16 is one of the hardest on the course because it comes right after a screaming fast downhill. The picture at the right makes it look like nothing, but I promise in the midst of the race it feels like a formidable opponent for sure!

16.7 miles into the race at the top of the aforementioned hill was a little girl holding a huge sign. This is one of a hundred different moments I wish I'd captured in pixels, but I missed the opportunity. She was a tiny little blonde girl, probably 5 or 6 years old but size extra small. The sign was one of many video game inspired ones with a button to press to power up.

Edit:

The internet really is a small place! "New Friend 2 - Steve" messaged me on Facebook 2 months after the race to let me know he came across a TikTok video that did indeed capture the above awesome power up in pixels.

My original memory of the interaction follows...

I stopped, squatted down to get closer to her size and with an exaggerated amount of skepticism asked, "Does this thing really work?"

She replied, "Mmm hmm" and nodded her head up and down as fast as she could.

I leaned in, "I need this sign to really work and I don't believe it will. Are you reeeeaaaallly sure it works?

She replied, "Mmm hmm" and nodded her head up and down as fast as she could.

"Ok, I'll trust you but if it doesn't work I'll be very disappointed. Am I going to be disappointed?

She replied, "Uh uh" and nodded her head side to side as fast as she could.

I squinted at her, stood up and said, "Let's give it a try then and see what happens"

I gave the button a tentative slap and then took off sprinting as fast as I could. I wish I could have seen her face when I ran away, but the crowd saw everything that happened. They erupted into a roar that followed me like a wave for the 1/3 of a mile or so that the turbo boost was in effect. Good times.

17.9 miles into the race with Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run once again blasting away in the background, there was the next sign that spoke to me. There would be 15,374 official finishers in this race. At this point, I think I had passed less than 10 people and there were probably 10,000 that had blown past me. When I saw the sign pictured to the side of this paragraph, my immediate thought was "yeah, but they won't be behind me for long!"

This time I asked if I could take a picture of the sign. The women seemed flattered that I would want to take a picture of *their* sign which made it even better. One of them broke off with the suggestion that she should take the pic for me so that I could be in the frame. Boston spectators are the best!

The miles kept clicking along at a snail's pace. My feet were killing me. There was no room for my toes to move. Swelling, blistering etc. made me feel like I was wearing shoes that were two sizes too small. When I ran the downhills it put even more pressure on my toes as my feet would sorta slide forward. I was in agony and unbelievably happy at the same time. It must be a marathon.

By mile 23 my left quad had seized up. As I write this 6 days later it is still sore. I've never had a quad cramp in a race. I wish my feet would let me get on a bike and work out the kinks, but not yet.

New Friend 2 - Steve Photobombs Me

Mile 25! Time for a selfie. This party is almost over! I was walking along doing my thing, pulled the camera out for a selfie and at that exact moment, Steve from the Boston2Chicago flight of this adventure came running up behind me. The timing couldn't have been better if we planned it!

The second half, or is it the fourth half?

Almost There

Getting Steve's encouragement and also the encouragement of hundreds of other runs and thousands (million?) of spectators was more than enough energy to finish this thing out. Boston Marathon Finish number 8 would be here soon. I just kept turning my legs over and doing everything I could to soak in the remaining landmarks on the course. The Citgo sign. The right on Hereford, left on Boylston that brings you into that iconic finisher's stretch. Good times.

Boston Marathon Finish

The official finish was 4:44:42. This puts the total amount of "running" that I've done in two days at about 9 hours. Coincidentally, the total amount of sleep that I had before both marathons was also about 9 hours. Hmmm, so with this in mind the next time I want to run a marathon in under 3 hours I need to make sure I also get 3 less than hours of sleep the night before. ✅. The data says so. lol.

Post Race

Chris found me right away, but he and I were separated by security barriers. The consequence? More walking until my feet could be freed. No big deal. According to Google's Timeline feature we walked 1.2 miles after the race to reunite and then get back to the apartment.

The energy in the Back Bay was awesome. There was an overflow of happiness everywhere you looked. The finishing runners. The reuniting families. The local spectators. The volunteers. Everyone was smiling and happy. It might be October, but it felt more like spring after a very long winter in the northeast that kept us apart for way too long.

Once we made it to the apartment it was time to find out just how bad I'd hurt my feet on this endeavor. I managed to get my too tight shoes and socks off and was immediately alarmed by the look of my toes. Most marathoners have to deal with black toenails that eventually fall off. I've had those, but the appearance was so much worse than anything I've ever experienced before.

For the sake of any reader that has already gotten more description of my feet than they wanted, the gory details (including pictures) can be found here.

Post Post Race

After getting cleaned up it was time to get back out in the world and join the party. I had phone numbers for a bunch of the Boston Peeps (a.k.a. friends from an old Runner's World message board that is defunct). Most of us that would be at the Boston Marathon this year had exchanged phone numbers to try and find each other afterwards. The first person I heard from was Amy (DrBart). She and her husband were at the Sam Adams Taproom. It was a T ride away, but that wasn't going to stop me. I let the rest of the group know that it was looking like a good place to meet.

New Friend 8

Once Chris and I got off the T at the State Street station, it wasn't immediately obvious where the taproom was. We wandered a bit and an older woman in a powered wheelchair stopped us. She wanted to know if I had run the race. I told her that I did, and Chicago too. We probably spent at least 5 minutes on the sidewalk engaged in the most pleasant conversation with this local woman. She was such a sweetie and exactly what makes Boston different from any other city that hosts a marathon. In Boston on race weekend so many of the locals just want to talk to us because we are runners. They are genuinely interested in our stories. We aren't an inconvenience. On Marathon Monday we all get to be rock stars for the day. Alas, she did not know how to get to the Sam Adams Taproom, but when I jokingly asked to jump on the back of her scooter she excitedly told me "Yes!" and encouraged me to get on board. I didn't have the muscle coordination for that, but it would have been a fun ride!

After a little bit of confusion, Chris and I found the Sam Adams Taproom. Amy and Bryan were already inside. Because of covid capacity constraints we had to wait outside for other people to leave. It was nice that the place wasn't very crowded, but the queuing would make meeting 5-10 other people problematic. We had a beer together and got caught up. Amy had a great race! She was only 17 seconds off of her course PR and she clearly would have smashed it if she didn't need to slow down for me!

Once Amy and Bryan left for dinner, Chris and I returned to Back Bay. I wanted to find more Boston Peeps but fatigue was starting to set in. I needed calories. We went off to the Prudential Center mall to get supplies for my feet and food. I was leaning towards calling it an early night, but wanted a chance for a good meal to bring some energy back. Breakfast at Eataly was fantastic, so now it was time to try the instore restaurant for dinner. They didn't disappoint! I had a bunch of assorted fried seafood and Chris had mussels with pasta. Yummy.

The food, and sitting for a while, did the trick. Enough energy returned that I could go off to try and find more old friends to visit with.

Old Friend 3 - Phil

Phillip shared on the group text thread that he was at a restaurant where the entire second floor had been rented out so there was plenty of space. Sounds like a win. Chris, continuing to go above and beyond as a sherpa walked from the Prudential Center to Capital Burger where Phill was. Chris didn't come in. He was going to head home and just wanted to make certain I got to my next destination first. He is such a good friend. Chris and I said our goodbyes, he went back to the apartment to drop off my bandages before leaving. Thanks Chris!

Once I got inside Capital Burger and up the stairs it was easy to find Phil and his family. I joined their table and we had almost an hour of trading stories about everything that had happened in the last 2 years. The time went by quick. He has a wonderful family and I very much appreciate them letting me crash the party!

It was a great day, but I was done. According to Google Timeline I walked 3 miles after the marathon doing the needful to catch up with as many people as I could. The last of the walk would be back to the apartment, up 3 flights of stairs and into a comfy bed.

Problem 8 - Wallet

It was now 8pm and I had just enough energy left to get the apartment organized and do some pre-packing for the trip home. I carefully laid the "things for tomorrow" together while collecting my belongings strewn about. I was almost done with this final task and then it happened. Oh sh!t. Where's my wallet? Stay calm. Look where it was. Look in the same place again. Look under the bed. Look where it can't possibly be. Look in a few more places. Start to freak out. Oh sh!t. How do I get home within my wallet? No cash. No credit cards. No id. This would be THE one problem I can't recover from. Crap. OK, I need to calm down. Clearly the stress of this weekend has finally caused me to reach tilt. How do I calm down? I need to talk to someone that can be rational right now. I should call Amanda. Nope. It's late and I don't need to freak her out by being freaked out for a second time. Call Chris.

I sat down on the bed to call Chris. My hand lazily lands on the socks on the bed that are part of the "tomorrow pile". Wait, why are my socks lumpy? Whew. My wallet is hiding in the pile. I called Chris anyway so that he could laugh at my dumbassery but really, I probably just worried him. In any case, it was a short call. He continued the drive home to Connecticut. I went to sleep.

Day 5 - Home!!!

Whew. This was the easiest, most drama free day of the entire long weekend. It almost doesn't deserve commentary, but it does bring the story to a conclusion in my happiest of happy places. Home.

I set my alarm for 8am, but only managed to sleep until 7:30am. I ate a bit, got the apartment and myself cleaned up. After bandaging the feet/toes up for the remainder of the journey and some time laying in bed watching bad weekday morning TV it was time to go to the airport. Was it time to leave because of a carefully calculated commute time? Nope. It was time to go because if I'm going to sit around I'd rather sit around in the airport ready to go when my boarding group is called.

Again, who books a 3rd floor walk-up apartment for after a marathon? I guess I do. In reality, it was an awesome place to stay. I'd book it again in a minute. One last trip down those stairs, a goodbye to the building and a walk down the treacherous but beautifully historic brick sidewalk to the T and I'd be leaving Back Bay until The 126th Boston Marathon (#9 for me) on the 3rd Monday of April. Until we meet again!

There were exactly zero people in line in front of me at the airport. I'd arrived at that weird in-between time after the early morning flights and before normal people would show up for the late morning or afternoon flights. I bought a book from the bookstore, put my feet up and just watched the world go by. As it turns out, I never got beyond page 7 on the book during my journey home. There were too many news articles to read about the marathons and life in general to keep me occupied.

After waiting a good long while for my flight to Buffalo, the 90 minute flight itself felt like nothing. It was definitely a lot less stressful than the 7 hours and 33 minutes of flights from Boston to NYC to Detroit to Buffalo that Delta Airlines saw as a suitable replacement for the direct flight I'd bought from them months earlier.

Once I arrived in Buffalo there was time to have some genuine buffalo wings in Buffalo at the airport before my neighbor John would be able to retrieve me for the drive home. The wings were very tasty. I've had them before, but there is still something different about buffalo wings in the location of their creation...or at least in the local airport in the same general area. 😁

After John let me know he was on the way, I went outside to wait for him to stop. The traffic was chaotic. It is amazing how many people in that airport think that it is OK to park curbside and wait tens of minutes for their people to show up. The airport isn't huge but it is definitely big enough that 20 curbside parking spots won't work for everyone. There was one security officer though that was kicking ass as the sole barrier between order and complete chaos. I tried to thank him when we left, but he was too busy yelling at people. lol.

It was great to see John again. He really did save me a lot of trouble on this trip by being so accommodating. The entire ride home we got caught up on all of the details from this amazing trip. Thanks John!