So, as I mentioned in my previous post it isn't
necessarily easy to sign up for the marathon majors. Either good run times, a
big chunk of money for charity, through a partnered travel agent, or a bit of
luck in the ballot draw.
There is another option, though: Be very lucky.
Like, really, really lucky.
I was sitting at work on a Tuesday and at 0955
I received a mail basically stating "We've had two late cancellations for
the Boston Marathon and therefore two available spots, first come first
serve." Despite having just spent 3 weeks on a ship with too much food and
barely any running practice (the magic number is 14.320 – that's how many
photos I need to sort through before any updates get published) I gave them a
quick call and quickly grabbed one of the two spots. Less than 20 minutes later
another mail was sent out stating that they were now sold out. Boston can be
hard to get a spot for – I have a guaranteed spot in 2024, but being impatient
I loved the prospect of being able to cut the waiting time down to only a few
months.
18th – 19th of April
Flying to Boston via Reykjavik and arriving in
the early evening. We have the Saturday for ourselves where we will be going to
the Expo where we get to pick up our bib-number. I have never been in Boston so
it’ll be interesting to have a bit of time to explore the city.
20th of April
Monday, Patriot’s day, race day. The run is on a
point to point course so we will be picked up by busses near the finish area at
Boston Public Garden that will bring us out to the starting area, and pickup
will depend on what starting wave you are part of. Bonus is that our hotel is a
few hundred meters from the finish area, so it’s easy to get there and more
importantly getting back after the run. The race starts in Hopkinton and brings
the runners through the suburbs Ashland, Framingham, Natick, Wellesley, Newton
and Brookline before arriving and finishing in Boston near the Boston Public
Library in Copley Square.
21st – 23rd of April
We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 21st)
so another day to explore. I have no plans, but considering the Red Sox stadium
is close by I am tempted to go to a baseball match just to see one of those now
that I have the chance. On the 22nd we will fly out on the evening before
coming back to Copenhagen on the 23rd mid-day.
The Boston marathon is the oldest annual
marathon starting in 1897, making this year’s run the 124th in a row. But the
number of participants is only around 30.000 runners so it’s a fair bit smaller
than New York, Berlin and Chicago. In any case it will be an interesting race,
and with so many places taken by those qualifying it’ll likely be a fast race
so I do not expect to be well placed. But never mind about that – participating
in the Boston marathon will be a great experience.
