i want adventure in the great wide somewhere - running journal! (comments welcome)

[jmasgat]

If you want another unicorn sticker and/or a pin, you are welcome to mine.

 

[DopeyBadger]

Great recap! Such a memorable experience for so many reasons!

 

[xjillianpaige]

What a great recap! Congrats!

Thank you!

If you want another unicorn sticker and/or a pin, you are welcome to mine.View attachment 857644

I might take you up on this! I didn't get a pin and like the ones I have from my volunteer years.

Great recap! Such a memorable experience for so many reasons!

Thank you!

 

[xjillianpaige]

Boston Marathon Race Recap
Part 4: Post-Race​

It's been a minute. Not dead, just took a full month off of running and haven't been as active here and work is busy and and and. Anyway, wanted to end this with the post-race and some reflections now that we're at 6 weeks post-Boston.

Post-Race​

After crossing the finish line (after running all 100 miles of Boylston Street - seriously, it is so far from the Hereford turn to the finish), I started just walking forward. In classic me fashion, I cried the entire time. Last year they ran out of medals, so one person was panicked when the medals weren't right at the finish line. It's a short walk, but you do have to keep walking to get everything, and the volunteer reassured her that we just had to keep moving and we'd get our medal.

A lovely older woman gave me mine and I got a blanket and just kept going. My club gets a hotel room right at the finish so I just had to get there. I texted our President and she gave me the room number. It was easy to find. Just walk to the end of the road until you reach the barriers and take a right. While I was walking to the hotel I ran into one of the girls who works at my camp. She was a sweet surprise.

I got into the hotel and went to our floor and there was a poster on our door. Before I could open it, Kristin was welcoming me in and I called out for a beer. In no time flat, I had my ice coffee in one hand and an ice cold Corona with lime in the other.

​

Sorry for the photo quality here, it's a screenshot of an Instagram story. I need to ask Kristin to send me the original since it's so good.

I was the last to arrive, so I waited my turn for the shower. My parents and friends were walking back to their car and then my parents would pick me up at the hotel. The others were going to take an uber which sounded like a nightmare. And a few others got picked up by their families.

Anyway, I got my shower and when I came out it was just me and Kayla left. So I cleaned up the last of my stuff, got changed, and my parents picked me up outside. It was super easy for them to grab me - I was worried it would be chaos so close to the finish line. I also had told people there wasn't room in my car because I expected it to be my parents, brother, and Jenna, but my brother got a ride back home with Bridget and Eric. So I could have taken one more person but oh well.

We drove to a Mexican restaurant back in the suburbs and I had no real appetite so I just got a margarita. I'm never hungry after a marathon. But everyone else needed a meal and that's where my club celebrates, so I got to see all the volunteers and hug them again and we took some group photos. My family ate and everyone got to meet my family. My brother ended up joining us for food and Bridget came just to say hi. It was nice.

Fast forward to the next day, I had gotten tickets to the Red Sox for my family ages ago and when I got in the car after the marathon I turned to my mom and said "Can I un-invite Jared to the Red Sox game and Jenna can come instead?" Turns out when Jenna plotted her surprise, my mom told her that she could come. Jared had work that night anyway and would have had to leave early.

So I took the one and only glamour shot of the weekend at Fenway Park. The "mile 27 post-race party" had been here the year before, but I wanted to go to my club celebration, and this year the mile 27 party was at City Ball plaza which is lame, but I really wanted to celebrate in my gear at Fenway Park.

​

Reflections​

So... six weeks later do I have any regrets about stopping for hugs? Not even a tiny little bit. Could I have had a better time? Sure. I think if I had skipped stopping to see every person I could have been either close to my Chicago time or better. But here's the thing... I might never run Boston again. I don't know. On race day, my thought was that this was possibly my last marathon ever. Immediately after crossing the finish line I was contemplating a fall marathon. I have more in me and the Boston experience was so incredible that I want another one. One day, I'll be working in a different job and be in a different place in life and marathon training will be part of the plan. But right now I'm taking a well-deserved break. One year of no marathons. Half marathon and below only. And then, who knows? I'd love to run London, Boston again, and I'd consider another Chicago, too. I have a lot to prove to myself, still.

My next post will be some favorite photos from the professional photographers. I got 192 photos and liked enough of them that it was worth buying for $100 instead of waiting.

Then the post after that will be the last two weeks of running.

 

[xjillianpaige]

Boston Marathon Race Recap
Part 5: Professional Photos​

This is literally just professional photos from Boston. That's all. And then we're onto the next!

The iconic CITGO sign. I read on a Facebook group that the way to get the best photos of the sign in the background was to look at the cameras to the right.


This is Hereford Street.


The turn from Hereford onto Boylston. I saw my friend Joanna at the turn and they captured this photo.


Running down Boylston. I think I look cool here.


The finish line!


This is somewhere on Comm. Ave after Kenmore.​

 

[Naomeri]

You really got some great pictures!!

 

[xjillianpaige]

You really got some great pictures!!

Thank you! After terrible photos in Chicago I was determined for this to go well.