I found Shawn stretching just past the finish line, so I grabbed him and we shuffled with the other cattle toward the finisher’s medals and food and whatnot. This was easily the most unpleasant part of the race for me. As I felt increasingly crammed in, I became increasingly irritated, to the point where I stepped out of the line to just breathe and not be around people for a minute (most heartfelt apologies to Shawn for the crankiness).
We shuffled slowly past the medal people, the space blanket people, the random nasty Gatorade recovery drink people, the bagel people, and into the throng of stinky runners trying to get their drop bags off the buses. This took approximately 16 hours as far as I can tell. Luckily, it was not a problem because the Harris family was also having trouble getting to the designated meeting spot due to ALL THE FRICKING PEOPLE AROUND! When we finally did reunite, we determined it probably just made the most sense for Ronnie and I to just take the T directly to the airport and enjoy the ‘ho bath’ facilities in the terminal. So we walked to a T station that looked slightly less crowded and parted ways with Shawn and Mina, setting our course toward a reunion of other members of the Durm crew. I pity the other people on the flight, as there were at least 20 of us who had run that day, and I’m pretty sure a good number of us had not showered after the fact.
A couple of weeks after the race, the official pictures were posted and our official finisher’s certificates arrived. I was super amused to discover that, despite running together for 19 miles, there are NO pictures of Shawn and I together. Shawn also astutely noted that he finished in the bottom 40-50% of finishers overall, for his age group, and for his gender. I checked my certificate and discovered I had done pretty much the same, and immediately pronounced us the bottom of the cream of the crop. …which, I guess, isn’t that bad when you think about it…
And so ends my Boston experience. It was kinda fun, but probably not worth the hassle. Shout outs to Jason, though, for being the first NC finisher, and Ken, for probably getting more black toenails than anyone else on the course. …and to the other Karen running near me for a good 5 miles – your fans became my fans, which was kinda fun J
1 comment:
Karen, reading your report of Boston has been the highlight of my day...especially the fig newton/licorice part. However, you have also provided the last bit of convincing I needed that I don't want to do that race. Sounds like you still had fun despite all the hassle!
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