Boston: Day 3 (Boston Marathon)

After working out yesterday morning, Todd & I headed outside to the corner of Hereford & Boylston to cheer on the runners as they make the final turn to the finish line. From this point, the runners have a little more than a quarter mile left to the finish. The crowd at this point is unbelievable. We went out around 11:00am to grab a spot right against the railing so we had a good view of the runners. The elite women started their race at 9:30am so we knew they should be coming in a little before noon. We were lucky enough to get outside just as the wheelchair racers were finishing. We stood around for another 50 minutes or so and then we started to hear the cheering pick up and a helicopter overhead so we knew the elite women were coming.

The first woman, Teyba Erkesso from Ethiopia, came around the corner followed shortly by Tatyana Pushkerava from Russia. We didn't get to see their actual finish until later on TV but Erkesso beat Pushkerava by only 3 seconds, the 3rd closest margin of victory in Boston Marathon history. She won in 2:26:11!

Teyba Erkesso rounding the corner onto Boylston

A few more elite women came through in the next 5-10 minutes and then we heard another large cheer from the crowd and more motorcade vehicles. The elite men were about to come through!

The running clock on the truck is at 2:03:50 as the lead runner is about to round the corner

Robert Cheruiyot from Kenya was the first to come through and there was no one in site behind him. He easily won and set a course record in 2:05:52, which is 4:48 pace!

Heading down Boylston to the finish

American Ryan Hall finished 4th in 2:08:41
Followed by American Meb Keflezighi who finished 5th in 2:09:26

Todd & I cheering on all the runners

After standing outside for 2.5 hours, we were pretty cold. I wanted to cheer for several people I knew running, including my brother's roommate from college (PR'ed with a 2:48!), another guy from Columbus who I know through mutual friends, and my best running partner ever from high school who ran a 3:25! I was hoping to stick around for some wave 2 runners to come through but like I said, we were getting cold and hungry so we headed back to our hotel.

We headed over the Charles River to walk around Harvard and meet up with a few of my old college roommates who live in Boston, one of whom ran the marathon through a charity (her first marathon).

A view from the river
University Hall at Harvard
Dinner with Jamie & Madeleine

It was another busy but fun day for us in Boston. The marathon was awesome to watch! It was neat to see it from a spectator's perspective since I've always been the participant. I can definitely see how people get motivated to run marathons after watching them. I absolutely cannot wait to run it next year. Even though it was hard to watch and hear about everyone having awesome times, I'm glad I didn't push through the pain just to run this year.

Todd and I still have a busy couple days as we go to the Sam Adams brewery today followed by the Red Sox game tonight and then walk the Freedom Trail tomorrow before heading home.