Boston Sightseeing

We traveled to Boston for the Marathon the Friday before the Monday race. Our flight left at 1:57. Since we would need to be there early to get through security, I decided to take the day off work rather than working a half day and then stressing about getting there on time. I dropped the kids off at school which was the last I would see of them until our return. Then I headed out for my last run in Tulsa before the marathon. I was super excited and wore my Boston shirt from the 2020 virtual race and decked myself out in all blue to match my nail wraps my co-workers applied for me the day before during our lunchtime. When I got home, I showered, finished packing, and ate lunch. Ty's parents arrived to take care of the kids while we were gone as I was finishing up packing. We picked Jeremy up at his house and Rocky and Leina drove us to the airport. We made it through security really quickly. We found a spot to sit by our gate and then mom, dad, and Thomas arrived a bit later. Mom had painted her nails blue and yellow so we took a picture with our nails. I was so excited and started thinking it may have been a bad idea to drink coffee that morning because I was going to have a hard time sitting still on the flight! Our flight was on time and we had a layover in Charlotte. We had bad luck there and back in Charlotte with delayed flights both times. We landed in Boston and I was giddy with excitement. The signs in the Boston airport welcomed runners and made me feel extra special. Our hotel was in Framingham so we picked up a rental car and headed to the hotel. When we arrived we all went to bed.

Super excited about my nails!

Pre-flight run in Boston blue!

Super excited about the welcome at the airport!

Our first morning I thought it made the most sense to go to Hopkinton to see the start line since we were staying closer to the start than the finish. Thomas wanted to run so we drove to Hopkinton State Park. He ran while the rest of us went on a hike. Then we drove to the start line and it was amazing! I'm so glad we took the time to go because the atmosphere was awesome. They had a police officer stationed by the start line to stop traffic so people could take pictures. He told my day that marathon weekend is his favorite weekend of the year. There were vendors set up and we checked them out, getting some free stickers from the fire fighters. Then we took a picture with the marathon sign and headed to Ashland to see Spencer the dog's statute. I was really excited to see it and knew my mom would love it. We happened to be there at the same time as a couple with their golden retrievers which was really special. Those moments in the morning were my favorite of the day and got me really excited for the race. I'd always heard the first 4-5 miles were all downhill and I saw that on the course's elevation profile, but I was shocked to see how steep the downhill was in Ashland when we were at the dog statue. I did get a little nervous about that and knew steep downhills tend to trash my quads, but I just expected it to mean a difficult recovery.

Walking around the start area in Hopkinton.

Mom bought a bell from a vendor at the start line.

From Ashland we stopped back off at our hotel so Thomas could shower and I picked up my overnight oats for lunch. I ordered plastic overnight oats containers for the trip and filled them with oats and chia seeds. I planned to buy coconut milk to make the oats, but noticed they had oat milk at breakfast so I made them with milk at breakfast and had my overnight oats for lunch each day during the trip which was super convenient! I mostly did it so I could eat them on race morning, but having them for lunch each day worked out so well. I ate my overnight oats in the car as we drove and everyone else ate at Wendy's. When we arrived in Boston we found parking and then walked to the start of the Freedom Trail. I'd heard from quite a few people that it was a must see. Even being really into history and particularly revolutionary history, I wasn't super impressed by the trail. We did part of it and then stopped off at Fan Fest to get freebies and check things out. The Dick's Sporting Goods area had stickers and I asked for a class set of stickers so they gave me a whole shrink wrapped package. My students were thrilled when I got back and passed them out. Jeremy, Thomas, and Ty stopped off at Samuel Adams Brew Pup to get 26.2 Brews in the commemorative marathon glass for me while mom, dad, and I finished out the Freedom Trail. I tracked it on my watch and it ended up being 3.5 miles. I planned out what we did so our sightseeing was on Saturday which was my day off running so even though we would be walking a lot, it would still be like rest. In hindsight, I think walking so much may have been a mistake. I ended up with 27,000 steps on Saturday, all from walking since I didn't run! By the time we made it to the Bunker Hill Monument it was getting late and we were hungry. We decided to eat somewhere on our way back to the hotel because everywhere in Boston had long wait times. When we arrived in Framingham, it was still an hour long wait for restaurants there, so we put in a reservation and went to get ice cream at J.P. Licks. I read about it in "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" and wanted to try it. I got oatmeal butterscotch cookie dough and it was the best ice cream I've ever had. No one else was impressed with theirs, but they all got sundaes with vanilla ice cream so that's probably why. Ice cream before dinner and then to bed when we got back.

Freedom Trail Walk

At the Bunker Hill Monument.

There were some fun photo ops in Fan Fest.

The Dick's area at Fan Fest was awesome!

Ty tasting the 26.2 brew in a commemorative glass.

Thomas with a statue of Samuel Adams.

More from our Freedom Trail Walk.

Sunday morning dad and Jeremy went with me for my shake out run from the hotel. Then we headed into Boston for packet pick up. I took my overnight oats in the car and ate on our drive. Everyone else skipped lunch or snacked. The expo was so awesome. It was weird how they had as zigzagging around, walking through a maze and then I got up there to pick up my bib and there was no one in my line. Everything finally felt real now that my bib was in my hands! I was fan girling out over Desi's jacket and bib in the memorabilia area and freaked when I saw Katherine Switzer's sweatshirt in the same case. We walked around and checked everything out. I kept my bib out to take pictures at the finish line. Walking up to the finish line was so surreal, I was finally there and would be crossing that line in around 24 hours! I pictured Des powering up that finishing stretch the year she won and got teared up. It was a really special moment. I wanted to check out some of the pop up shops along the way and had seen you could get free stuff at New Balance. We went to Marathon Sports and as we were looking through things, the semi trucks full of stuff for the finish line started driving through. It was crazy to see how many of them there were! At New Balance Ty and I waited in line for 45 minutes to get free personalized stuff. I got a blue and yellow singlet with Boston added to it and Ty got me a shoe carrier with my name added. Then we stood in line for free cannoli in front of the store. Afterward we rode the T back over to the area with Fan Fest and the Bell in Hand Tavern. We decided to go ahead and eat since the waits were so long the day before. When we got there, we were immediately seated. I got a bit worried about how different things on the menu might effect my stomach so I just got a pretzel off the appetizer menu and decided to eat later. On the way home we stopped off at Ben and Jerry's ice cream which had a running path by it so Thomas ran while I ate at the restaurant next to the ice cream place. I got butternut squash soup and a smoothie. When Thomas was done running, everyone else got ice cream and I picked out an ice cream cake to enjoy the following day after finishing the marathon.

My watch was confused and thought the race was on Sunday.

We found my name on the sign!

Ty showing off my free singlet.

The marathon was Monday and we just ate dinner after the marathon and headed back to the hotel after a very long walk to the car. Tuesday we got up and I did yoga while everyone else worked out and then we headed to the airport early. Our flight in Boston was on time and we were again delayed in Charlotte. Flying after a marathon was much easier than I thought it would be! We got home around 10:30 pm and I got up bright and early to work the next day. I'm currently a bit exhausted and ready to catch up on some much needed sleep this weekend!