4/19 Arrive in Boston

Just some notes that I took during day 1 in Boston.

Driving to the airport, I started thinking about the Columbus Marathon, when I qualified for Boston. That feeling of total exhaustion mixed with a euphoric feeling of accomplishment. I start to tear up and realize that "this is it."

Security pulled my bag for inspection. I knew they would since I had an empty gatorade and water bottle in my bag. I was just glad that I didn't have to explain that the empty gatorade bottle was potentially going to be used as a starting line urinal!

The flight out of Columbus was on time, and we circled downtown, which provided a very cool view of the city, COSI, the Statehouse, etc. There were quite a few runners on the plane but I didn't feel like talking.

Flying in to D.C., I saw the Jefferson, Lincoln, and Washington monuments, as well as the Capitol Building. A quick little mini-tour without having to step off the plane.

The flight from D.C. to Boston was on time and uneventful. I grabbed a cab ($31) and made it to my hotel in no time.

After checking in, I decided to head over to the race Expo and pick up my race packet and try to buy "the Jacket". The Expo is at the convention center, which looked like about a half mile walk on the map but feels much longer when I'm actually walking it. There were runners everywhere I looked and hundreds of people were already wearing "the Jacket". I walked down Boylston Street and caught my first glimpse of the finish line. Bleachers were set up everywhere and TV cameras were already in place. Lot's of hustle and bustle going on. Very cool.

I finally arrived at the Expo and the first thing I saw was a huge banner that said, "Boston is Everything, Impossible is Nothing." I let that sink in for a while.

I picked up my bib number and shirt with very little delay, then I turned and walked into the Expo and holy crap, it was "fire code violation" packed in there. It was difficult to even walk let alone try to shop or check things out. I looked around in vain for the booth that was selling "the Jacket", but no luck. I decided to come back in the morning and try again when hopefully it wouldn't be so crowded.

By 6pm I was back in my room resting and watching the Redsox game on TV. Lance Armstrong threw out the first pitch and the announcers talked about how they interviewed Lance before the game and he said that the weather was actually too warm for running, that runners like cold weather. They tried to fathom that concept for a batter or two but it just didn't compute.
I fell asleep during the second inning, woke up an inning later, iced, stretched, watched the end of the game, lights out by 10:15.