Right after Cora's birthday wrapped up, Preston and I packed up our stuff, put the kids in bed, and headed to the airport. (THANKS FOR WATCHING THE KIDS MOM AND DAD!) Time to fly to Boston! To save money, we were again flying the red-eye...leaving 11:59 p.m. Mountain Time, arriving 6:29 a.m. Eastern Time. No problem, we'll just sleep on the flight, right?
Wrong.
Despite OTC sleeping pills, ear plugs, an eye mask, and a window seat to lean on, I think I slept for exactly 0.01 seconds on the flight. It is just impossible for me to sleep on airplanes, even if kids are not leaning on me. Oh well, I thought as I pulled off my sleeping mask and greeted the sunny day...sleep schmeep.
We bought ourselves weekly passes for the "T" (Boston subway), and headed to our hotel, bags in tow. We didn't expect them to let us check in at 7:00 a.m. since their official check in time was like 3 or 4 in the afternoon, so I was soooo happy when they got us to our room right away! I was scheduled to do my last "shake out run" that morning, so while Preston climbed into bed, I laced up my shoes and headed out. Who can sleep on such a beautiful morning anyway??
(This was the view out the window of our hotel. We were at the Royal Sonesta, which is on the Cambridge side of the river. We had a fun view of the river, Bunker Hill Bridge and the TD Center which was hosting playoff games of both the Bruins and the Celtics while we were in town)
It was such a fun run. There were TONS of people running along the river, probably mostly marathoners like me. There were some people out racing skulls in the river...they were way faster than me! I felt great on the run, and I was actually sad when I had to turn around. I was feeling amazing and excited...and STARVING when I bounced back into the hotel room. Preston had drawn the blackout curtains and was deeply asleep. I decided to let him have a few minutes while I showered, but once I was done I pried him out of a REM cycle and we headed out in search of breakfast.
Once that all-important challenge was met, we headed downtown, where the Expo and race bib pickup were. There were people wearing their marathon jackets EVERYWHERE! (I never wear race gear before I have actually completed the race, because I have heard from multiple sources that it is bad luck. No reason to tempt fate...but it was hard to keep my jacket in my bag when everyone else seemed to be wearing theirs!) The had done a 5K that morning, and were doing some shorter races around the finish line area on Boylston Street, so we worked our way through the crowds and watched some. Eventually we headed to pick up my bib, where there was the longest line I have ever seen outside of a theme park.
We waited outside for probably 20-30 minutes, and then we waited inside for about that long again. Here is some of the inside line:
Eventually, we made it and I had my official bib in my hot little hands! Cheese!!!!
We headed in to the expo to see what we could see, but I really only had one mission. Find myself a stuffed "Spike" the unicorn, the official mascot of the marathon. I had a place on my desk at work all ready for him to sit. We found him and I was happy. Here is me and my new buddy Spike:
We wandered around the Expo for a little while, but didn't have much time because we had to go back to the hotel to drop off all my race loot, find some lunch and then head back into town for the Red Sox game! It was fun to see the finish line on our way back to the "T" station...I was nervously hoping I would see it again in a couple of days!
We got back to Fenway in plenty of time for the game, and I was pretty excited because this was my first time seeing a game there. Preston's first time too. Say cheese!
We walked all the way around the park before the game started, and then headed to our seats. I had bought them way way in advance, and they were pretty good seats...except for this lovely pole that kind of obscured part of home plate! Oh well, I was okay as long as I leaned forward a little, and Preston could see if he leaned out into the aisle. It wasn't as bad as the seats I had at Wrigley once, where one of my friends had a seat directly behind a post.
It was awesome to watch a game at Fenway! It was a beautiful day. Bonus for us, the Red Sox won!
The game got over about 7 p.m., so we picked up some dinner and then headed back to the hotel. We were both so tired from staying up all night on the plane that I'm pretty sure we were asleep by 9:30 p.m...despite the fact that the Jazz had their first playoff game that night, starting at 10:30 p.m. Eastern Time. Sorry, Jazz, I'm too tired!
The next day was Sunday. Theme for the day: CARBS. We slept in a LOT, but Preston even more than me. I finally woke him up at around 11 a.m., when I started to wonder if we would make it to church at 1:00. We ate a carb-loaded brunch, and headed out to church, which happened to be in walking distance from our hotel. It was Easter, and the meeting was amazing! The musical numbers at this ward were outstanding...I told Preston we should come back for Christmas. ;-)
After church, we walked along the river a little, and just relaxed. We wandered over to the North Side, where we had reservations for a (carb-alicious) pasta dinner in Little Italy. It was a beautiful day, with temperatures in the mid 80s!
Dinner was really good, and I shoved in as many carbs as would safely fit. I had put on the reservation that it was Preston's birthday, so he got a special treat! Thanks for letting me drag you all over Boston on your birthday, Preston!
After dinner, we walked around a little, but I didn't want to get too worn out the day before the race, or trip on any curbs and sprain my ankle, so we headed back to the hotel, and watched a movie while Preston watched me obsess over what I would wear/bring to the race.
The city looked so pretty out the window the night before the race! I had all my clothes, shoes, socks, GPS watch, ipod, ear bud, bagel, banana, bib, etc. etc. all ready to go. Goodnight, Boston!
(See next post for the MARATHON!)
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