Boston Marathon

[Warning: Picture-laden post. Download at your own risk.]

I have never been to Boston for the Boston Marathon. I had no idea that it is held on Patriots' Day...


and that the State of Massachusetts shows up in full-force to line the entire 26.2 mile route -- including eight different towns -- to cheer on the 22,000 runners!

22,000!~ My three good friends from home qualified to participate...Tonie, Laurie and Kathleen...


And so my friend Maura, myself and some of their families all traveled to Boston on Saturday evening to cheer them on. On Sunday, everyone went to the huge expo at Hynes Convention Center to pick up their race numbers...


The marathon check-in process seemed like a well-oiled machine, processing 22,000 runners almost effortlessly.


The expo had tons of giveaways...Here's our youngest paparazzi modeling his new headband...


The rest of Sunday we spent walking through Boston. The Public Garden was absolutely glorious...

And this guy reminded me of my last bead journal piece...I have dreams of setting up an easel in a beautiful garden and painting just like this guy...


We loved this shirt in the Nike store but quickly became angered that the shirt only came in Mens' sizes -- So Maura marched straight up to the counter and asked, "What? Are you saying that women can't be wicked fast runnahs?" They had no answer. And their pink and purple pretty-shirts for the women didn't appeal to us.


On race day, our biggest job as personal paparazzi was to try to station ourselves along the course so we could catch a glimpse of our friends. The hardest part was trying to find them in the 22,000 crowd of runners. And the miles and miles of spectators!

Photo from the Boston Globe

The Boston Globe has some great photo galleries of the crowd...including this picture of the women of Wellesley (see more here)...


Luckily, we had a sighting at mile 17...


Now, don't they look pretty happy and spry for having run 17 miles already??


And here's Chief Paparazzi Maura on the far right capturing the moment for all three -- pink shirt, pink flower and orange flower....we gave them the flowers in their send off packages to wear during the race.


We saw them once again at mile 24 but the finish line was too much of a zoo so we had a pre-arranged meeting spot. All three ladies ran an amazing race and were so fast that they qualified to run again next year -- and that isn't an easy thing to do!

So, with medals around their necks, they celebrated with calls to home and bubblegum cigars...


And wax moustaches...


And lots of pictures...


And where did Alice show up in any of this? Well, we were challenged by Time and were continuously late meeting up with our friends because we had to take pictures like this...

And before we had left home, we had given our runners special elixirs to drink for good luck...

And I'm happy to report that they worked. So, if you'd like to try it too...here's the recipe...

See you next time with some needlework...