With two weeks to go, just wondering if anyone else is heading stateside for the Boston Marathon?
I'm running this year and now getting mildly terrified - I've never done any race overseas, never mind a marathon. I'm not good with lack of control and so many things are outside of my control with travel... but fingers crossed! I've started writing lists to off-set all the other variables
Final long run banked yesterday and now for the dreaded taper.
Comments
You'll have a great time.
The weather can go either way (hypothermia or sunburn) - check the forecast for Hopkinton as well as for Boston, it can vary.
Don't know your schedule but there's now a parkrun if you're looking for like-minded souls on the Saturday morning.
And as Cheerful Dave says, enjoy it. This city loves its marathon and anyone who runs it.
Good to hear there's someone else heading over helly
I do have a couple of questions - since you're both old hands...
I'm staying in Cambridge and am planning to get the green line from Lechmere to Boylston on the morning of the race - does that sound sensible? Will the Green Line subway be running on the day?
Also, I'm in the blue wave and can get a bus between 08:00 and 08:45 - is it better to get an early bus and be at the start early but have a lot of hanging around, or should I opt for a later bus but run the risk of everyone doing that and being crammed on for the whole journey (or worse still, fail to get on a bus!!!)?
Subways will be running but they close the station(s) nearest the finish, see here.
https://mbta.com/destinations/boston-marathon
If you are planning on using the subway a bit you may want to get a Charlie card (like a London oyster card) for use on public transport.
Received wisdom seems to be that you get a later bus (though don't push it) as there's enough waiting around near the start. You can't be crammed on the buses as they are those yellow school buses so no standing.
The race village at the start has marquees for shelter, water, tea, instant coffee, fruit and clif bars but still isn't great if it's cold and rainy. I've seen people there in dressing gowns.
Yes - if you run a marathon within the qualification time, then you can enter. What happens is that they invite entries from people who've beat the qualification time by more than 15 minutes, then a few days later by 10 minutes, etc. until the race is full. Usually you need to beat the qualification time by a couple of minutes to get into the race. The good news is that this is not limited to US residents. Good luck!
I used pretty much all the advice given - took a towel (all Hitchhikers should always know where their towel is! ), used a Charlie ticket for all train travel, and packed light for the start buses.
Managed to survive the most appalling conditions I've ever run in - helly, hope you did likewise.
htg - I did my BQ in Manchester in 2017... so that's definitely an accepted race.
Thought I'd misjudged it at the beginning as I was shaking so much but once I got going I was fine in my top of the range pound shop rain poncho. I don't run well in hot weather and benefitted from barely drinking anything so actually had a pretty good race.
I saw a small woman with plaits in a Boston jacket at the VLM green start. That wasn't you, was it?
Did you also do London as well... if you were at the Green start? It wasn't me with plaits - I had a pony tail and a blue Run Boston 2018 hat rather than the jacket
There's obviously at least 3 of us who did both. Did London somewhat slower (really not good with the heat) and it felt like hard work whereas Boston was a bit "it can't get any worse, just go with it" - didn't look at my watch once.
Although, to be honest, I felt better in the heat of London - despite naturally being a winter runner and disliking warm weather running. Nothing could have prepared us for the nightmare New England weather that descended on us!
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Anyone know how to fix this? Or how to contact BAA for help? Their site does not give any contact info.