Going to the old city

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.

18^th – 19^th 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.

20^th 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.

21^st – 23^rd of April

We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 21^st) 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 22^nd we will fly out on the evening before coming back to Copenhagen on the 23^rd mid-day.

The Boston marathon is the oldest annual marathon starting in 1897, making this year’s run the 124^th 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.