19th – 21st – Post-run and return home

Waking up Tuesday I felt like I had run a marathon the previous day. Funny thing, that. Legs were sore and stiff and the body felt worn out. I managed to hobble my way out of bed, shower and down to have a hearty breakfast in the hotel.

The poster at the hotel where you could write greetings for the runners. 

In spite of my legs’ protest I left the hotel for a walk around without real purpose other than to see parts of the city I hadn’t yet seen and to stretch my legs. The weather was nice for it; clear and ok temperatures but very windy at times. 

My walk ended up lasting only 3-ish hours before I had returned to the hotel to rest; it didn’t feel worth the soreness to continue. And it was so much more comfortable doing nothing in the afternoon.

I ended up going for an early dinner near the hotel where I had a lobster roll, lobster mac & cheese and a clam chowder – the latter what Boston is known for. It was all very tasty but damn, you got to pay for it, too! I spent another hour after dinner to have a small walk around the neighborhood, but that was definitely not a failed attempt to find a place to get dessert. Returning to the hotel I grabbed a couple of chocolate chip cookies before returning to my room to kick back for the remainder of the night.

Clam chowder. Tastes better than it looks.

Lobster mac & cheese and lobster roll.

The last day in Boston was almost a full day – we wouldn’t be meeting at the hotel until late afternoon, so I checked out at noon and returned to the streets. Random walking around brought me past Hanover Street which could easily have been Boston’s Little Italy; the street was packed with Italian restaurants side by side, and everywhere there were a majority of people speaking Italian. Having lunch there was highly satisfactory. During the meal I realized that the USS Constitution was near by (a bit further away on marathon legs) so I headed that way after finishing. 

Sunset.

A beautiful old ship, it’s a the oldest still floating war ship in the world, having been launched in 1797. There is the old philosophical question; “if you change the blade on an axe, and then change the handle, is it still the same axe?”, and I felt it could be related to the ship, as I overheard one of the staff members point out that only around 10% of the ship was original wood, everything else had been replaced at some point. Oh well. Returning to the hotel I met up with the group and together we left for the airport, another short 15 minute drive, quickly went through security (the face of people when you pass them in the priority lane is almost worth the extra price of the ticket!), relaxed and apart from being slightly chaotic in the Reykjavik airport lounge due to getting there at breakfast before all the morning flights it was a very uneventful trip home.

The USS Constitution.

Full album can be seen here.

18th of April – Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is a point-to-point course, starting in Hopkinton west of Boston and concluding on Boylston Street in Boston near Arlington station. This also meant two different weather forecasts and the situation made it surprisingly hard for me to figure out how to dress. We would start at 1115 as part of the last wave with clear skies, no wind and 10-12°C – near perfect conditions. The weather in Boston app. 4 hours later would be 5-6°C, cold winds from east and overcast. I ended up with shorts and the official long-sleeved shirt. 

The buses departed for the starting area at 0900, less than 10 minutes’ walk from the hotel. We were loaded into a bus (they were all yellow school buses) and we were off west-bound. It took a bit more than an hour to get to our destination and it seemed like we drove for much more than 42km. Also we barely saw another bus on the way, despite being sent off in groups. But we arrived as planned and were led into a large waiting area with just porta potties, info tent and a medical tent. Not much more than that – apart of a large number of runners. The previous wave was still being sent off into the corrals when we arrived so it was a perfect time to spend 15 minutes to queue to use the toilets. 

When it was our turn at 1030 we were led toward the corral where we were separated into our respective starting areas. The walk from the waiting area to the start was maybe a 15 minutes’ walk where we passed through a small town along the way. Having found or places, at 1115, as planned, we were off!

Me not dead (yet) somewhere along the course.

Photo by MarathonFoto

Well… Sort of. I don’t know how they decided where the runners would be positioned for the start, but it seemed very not thought through; already within 2 km people were walking, barely running, and clearly much slower than runners behind them. Due to the number of runners and relatively narrow road it was quite the slow slog until it started loosening up at around 7-10 km. 

After the beginning crowd everything got much better – apart from the part where there are hills showing up on the course. Looking at the course profile the finish is app. 150m lower than the starting point, but in between there are plenty of hills going up, too (looking on the bright side that’s just even more going downhill!). The most famous is the last major hill called Heartbreak hill at the 33km marker, an app. 30m ascent over 500m. None of the hills were really steep ones, they were just long slogs which really ended up draining you. I could at least keep running up all albeit at a slower pace, but there were plenty of people who just downright walked up the hills – even in the beginning within the first 5 km. Without wanting to judge anyone I got the impression that there were a lot of people who were in way over their heads. It seemed like the “I can do what I want”-mentality trumped everything, including respect for peoples’ actual abilities. Someone had been spotted by someone else in the group at the 2-3km mark in an ambulance with a twisted ankle. Maybe this is typical for marathons, but because this is the first time I am starting in the back instead of somewhere in the middle this is just the first time I get to experience them? In any case it just feels weird.

The weather turned out to be a bit different than forecast. The beginning was – or at least felt – much warmer than the announced 10-12°C, and it stayed like that for the rest of the run. At around the mid-point the wind starting picking up and for the rest of the run we had cold head-winds, but with the temperatures and not a single cloud during the entire run it never really became a problem aside for the extra resistance. At least we had the sun at our backs for the run.

Taking the 3rd and last 90 degree turn, less than a kilometer from the finish line.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

While the course wasn’t a straight line it almost felt like that. There was a slight turn here or there, else we were pretty much heading east the entire way. Probably the only marathon (or at least one of very few) with only 3 90 degree turns – and two of them were both within a kilometer before the finish line inside Boston. It was interesting running through the various towns towards Boston; it was very clear that we started in relatively rural towns and the closer we got to Boston the more posh they got. One of the first towns had a large 2-story house where the entire end wall was covered by an equally huge American flag. It almost didn’t get more American than that. Maybe except… 

In the beginning I was running just behind a guy running with a 3 meter flag pole with the Stars & Stripes (how he was allowed to bring that I had no idea, it was way larger than the rules dictated), and passing through one of the first towns there was what looked like a trucker bar, where seemingly all the patrons – primarily large burly men – were standing outside watching the run with drinks in their hands. The moment the runner with the flag appeared most of the onlookers started loudly chanting “USA! USA! USA!” pumping their fists, one saluted it and two started singing the national anthem. It was so surreal. And it felt so American. And honestly? You know when you watch those documentaries about North Korea and we laugh at the amount of indoctrination that’s going on there? This felt eerily similar. I’m sorry, but looking in from the outside some of you have a pretty freaky relationship with identity and the symbols that represent said identity. Oh, well, all part of the experience.

Oh, and I got to see the runner with “Fauci is the Anti Christ!” painted on his shirt. Gotta flaunt your ignorance whenever you get the chance!

Only a few 100 meters left. Trinity Church in the background.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

The support along the entire run was so intense – I’d say even more so than what I experienced in New York. The marathon here seems to have a special place in peoples’ hearts and this is the first since the beginning of Covid, so there was a bit of catching up to do. People had BBQ-parties involving the entire neighborhood on their front lawns, everyone from kids to the elderly were waving flags or signs of encouragement. Live music everywhere. Outside Wellesley College there was a long line of screaming students screaming their hearts out (such a moral boost, but my ears couldn’t forgive me for high-fiving almost the entire row), aptly named the Scream Tunnel. The roar of people nearing the finish line was the conclusion of a run where the volume from the onlookers for the most of the run was overwhelming. 

Crossing the finish line. Never doing this again - until next time, that is.

Photo by MarathonFoto.

Having crossed the line in 3:59:30, just within my goal of 4 hours, I waddled back to the hotel, a route that took significantly longer than when I walked the same path in the morning. I slowly moved to my room (thank you for inventing elevators!) and had a much needed shower followed by a few hours’ rest. The group met up to go and have dinner at Hard Rock Café, and returning at around 2130 I returned once again to my room and as expected stopped doing anything for the rest of the night.

16th – 17th of April – Pre-run Boston

The flight to Boston was with a layover in Reykjavik which is itself wasn’t too bad. Sitting in the lounge in Reykjavik the departure screen heavily implied to leave for the gate 45 minutes ahead of time before boarding if you wanted to be sure to get through passport control in time. I left the lounge as suggested and within 5 minutes I was through and waiting at the gate.

Seats on the flight on BC are “normal” seats but bigger and with more legroom. This meant that while your knees weren’t rubbing against the seat if the passenger in front of you chose to recline their seat, you still get a close-up of the monitor.

Food was ok. I guess.

We arrived in Boston around 1800 and after people had retrieved their luggage (I was travelling as part of a group) we came outside and were picked up by a handful of vehicles which could be defined as borderline limos. 5 passengers each, luxurious interior and wifi. Getting to the hotel took 10-15 minutes where we quickly checked in, and around 2100 I had passed out on my bed.

Boston from 20th floor at night.

I woke up a bit before 0500 and ended up just milling about before going to breakfast. I found out afterwards that the meal wasn’t included in the hotel room’s price. Woops! Oh, well.

I met with some from the group at 1000 and left the hotel together to go to the runner’s expo to pick up out running numbers. On the way we passed the area where we would be getting picked up by busses to take us to the starting line tomorrow morning, and the finish line. They are both comfortably close to the hotel, though I am sure that the finish line will be feeling much further away tomorrow afternoon.

Where it all started.

The expo felt chaotic and slightly claustrophobic; a lot of booths and people wall-to-wall at the convention center, but it seems like I managed to at least physically survive the ordeal. The official shirt is long-sleeved, but for some reason they have absolutely zero options of buying a short-sleeved variant. The marathon jacket is insanely popular, including the hoodies for some reason, but no t-shirt. Weird.

Coming back outside I wandered around by myself for a few hours before returning to the hotel. At around 1800 I went down to the hotel restaurant to have dinner – it was originally supposed to be a pasta dinner at the city hall, but due to Covid that had been cancelled. Everyone in Boston seem to be very invested in the run, including the hotel; a lot of runners are staying at the hotel, a large poster in the reception with a photo of the 2018 finish (I believe) where it was pouring down where you could write greetings and encouragement for the runners, and they were having a pasta dinner/buffet which was the one I was coming down for. As the restaurant was fairly small, only open for 3 hours, and there was a quite a few runners wanting to eat, I ended up waiting 45 minutes before being seated with a few others from the group. It was good to get something to eat but the food was largely unimpressive. The tiramisu was pretty good, though.

The Holocaust memorial.

3rd – Return home

I didn’t have much of a plan on my last (half) day in town so I ended up sleeping in, having breakfast and checking out at the latest having a bit of a walk around town. The weather had turned into the best since I had arrived – warming and few clouds. Of course that would happen on the day I’m returning home.

Grabbed the subway and bus to the airport where I went through security without an issue and found a seat overlooking the apron and seeing the air traffic move by. It’s quite amazing seeing the size difference of the planes when they pass by each other.

The flights – and layover – went without a hitch and I was soon back home, after a train connection that probably was the worst timed connection ever. Oh, well. Home safe and sound, having completed the first of 5 SuperHalfs half marathons, and the first of 7 “I should have done this back in 2020”-runs.

Full album can be found here.

2nd – Prague half marathon

Waking up at 0800 I checked the forecast and it had now been updated to be -1°C feeling like -7°C at start – so no miraculous warming during the last 8 hours. Getting dressed I went outside for a for a quick jog around the block to get a feel for the weather. At least it wasn’t snowing despite the forecast last night. Moving around it felt like almost too much clothing, but turning a corner and realizing I had been out of the wind until then the amount of layers definitely weren’t overkill. I ended up wearing a thin baselayer, a thicker, slightly wind-breaking, layer/jacket-thing and the official running t-shirt on top. Sweating like a pig when inside but feeling much more appropriate outside.

I returned to my room, grabbed my jacket and wrapped up before leaving for the starting area. Around 45 minutes before start I entered the closed off area and wandered a bit around and tried killing time until the start. There was surprisingly little to see or do, and no one handing out drinks before the run. But to my surprised they probably had the highest portapotty-to-participant ratio I have ever seen. Even close to start the queues were very short. So happy to see that.

I handed in my jacket and it didn’t take long for me to start feeling the cold creeping in. At one point I just wished for the speaker to announce “screw it, guys, it’s cold, we’ll be starting in 5 minutes!”. It helped when one of the streets between the waiting area and the starting corridor turned into an improvised jogging ring where people circled at a gentle pace. Also, the street being shielded from the wind it was a nice way of (re-)gaining a bit of warmth.

But finally the clock struck 10 and we were off. The weather was nice even if it was cold, there was no snow (or rain) despite of the forecast, and it only really felt cold when you got hit by the wind (though that could also be due to the multiple layers). There was a part towards the beginning where we were running in a straight line south and I ended up taking off my beanie because I was starting to get hot and worry I might have put on too much, but as soon as we reached the 180 degree turn-around point and starting running back north I quickly had to put it back on again realizing that we had had the wind in our backs. It was windy throughout the entire run but at least there were passages where we weren’t affected by it. And there were definitely passages where we were.

The course was up and down on along the river on both sides so we didn’t get a chance of running through the old part of town. That was probably a good thing because there aren’t many wide streets around there, and even if “only” app. 11.500 people had signed up for the run and it wasn’t crowded after the first few km I could easily see a bit of traffic jams if we were led through those parts. There would also have been many more cobblestones if we had been led through the old part, and any chance of avoiding cobblestone during a run is a good thing. Running on both sides of the river required us to cross it a total of 6 times – fortunately they were all relatively flat so the amount of ups and downs were limited.

I crossed the finish line at 1:44:41, within my goal of 1:45, but only just. Walking through the finish area I was given heated energy drink (at this temperature it was worth its weight in gold!), a banana, energy drinks and obviously a medal before I wandered off to grab my jacket and return to the hotel. After a long hot shower I rested a bit before returning out to grab a chimney cake with ice cream (how people can eat those without making a mess is beyond me!) and a humongous hotdog. Returning to the hotel I rested before going back out (again) for dinner where I ended up in a place where I had a pork knuckle. It had a massive bone so it ended up not being quite as intimidating as it initially looked, and the taste was fantastic. And the meat was enormously tender – a well-made osso buco is more coherent than this was! 

Chimney cakes being baked.