Final (?) update for the Abbott World Marathon Majors

As mentioned previously the Tokyo marathon opened up for more participants through travel agents, so suddenly I got moved up 2 years meaning that instead of running Tokyo marathon and completing my 6 Marathon Majors in March 2026 I got the opportunity to do it in 2024. I didn't need much convincing to do that.

This means that I have now completed the 6 marathons majors as follows:

Berlin - September 2019 - 3:58:16
New York - November 2019 - 4:11:53
Boston - April 2022 - 3:59:30
Chicago - October 2022 - 3:58:02
London - April 2023 - 3:58:42
Tokyo - March 2024 - 3:59:06

So this is the final update for the marathon majors.

Well, maybe not completely final; Cape Town and Sidney are considered candidate runs in an attempt to be accepted as the 7th and 8th majors, and further out Shanghai is also lurking on the horizon. Interesting times ahead. But for now, I'm enjoying the accomplishment and my new medal.

New update for Abbott World Marathon Majors

With last year's completion of Chicago and Boston marathons, and the mail received letting me participate in the 2023 London marathon, things have been moving forward in more sense than one. On top of that its satisfying being able to cross them off one at a time. This means that 4 of the World Marathon Majors are complete, one is in the near future and one is still some years in the future.

As things are currently, this is the current schedule, past and future.

Berlin - September 2019
New York - November 2019
Boston - April 2022
Chicago - October 2022
London - April 2023
Tokyo - March 2026

So in a few months I will have only one left, so I guess I'll have to find other runs in the mean time to keep me on my toes. Sounds like a horrible concept. Also, there are rumors that they are planning on adding another run to the group, so even if I can see the end of it now it might change in the future. It'll be interesting to see how that turns out as there have been talk for a long time to add more run(s). We'll see, but I worry this will be an endless chase with always another one in the future that has just been added, and not being able to actually finish the group like I did with the Superhalfs. 

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.

Update on the Abbott World Marathon Majors

For someone who enjoys travelling it has been some frustrating years to get through, and carefully laid plans got moved around, cancelled and postponed. With the pandemic seemingly reaching the end one could hope that the current planning might hold going forward.

I was supposed to run in Boston April last year, and after being postponed multiple times it seems like I now have a spot for the run next year. Similarly with Chicago, and with the US borders not opening until November this year it looks like I'll be running that next year. Also, due to cancellation of Tokyo a marathon and them being careful on the first post-pandemic (halving the capacity), my spot for Tokyo has been pushed back to 2026. So the schedule for the 4 remaining marathons (having already done Berlin and New York) looks something like this:

Boston – April 2022

Chicago – October 2022

London – April 2025

Tokyo – March 2026

It looks like, as things are currently, that this schedule should hold, but I have learnt not to rely on any vacation scheduling more than a couple of weeks in advance. Hopefully things settle down and I can look forward to joining some of the big runs in the world again, it'll feel great getting back out and running.

Second update on Boston Marathon

The Boston marathon was, as previously mentioned, moved to September this year due to the pandemic. I also expressed my concern what would happen with my spot if the run was further postponed or cancelled. Needless to say, the run has now been cancelled and we have been informed that all spots would be refunded and there was no possibility of being transferred to a future run.

Well, that sucks.

I contacted the travel company that I had gotten the spot through, and they informed me that while BAA (Boston Athletic Association) refunded all tickets they would transfer all their participants for this year for the run next year. Of course we shouldn't miss out on this after waiting, just because of a pandemic.

Great success!

While no dates have been presented for the trip next year, the run is on April the 19th. 

With that aside and secured, BAA offered all of this year's participants a spot on a virtual marathon; if you run the marathon distance between the 7th and the 14th of September you'd be getting a goodie bag and medal. So I signed up for that, if for nothing else then to have something to aim for in the near future. The location of the run is where ever you want so it'll be easy setting up. Get dressed at home and start running. Couldn't be easier. Except for the running part, obviously.

Boston and Mexican beer

With the Corona virus ravaging the world these days it was no surprise that my plans of running the Boston marathon would also be affected. Having the run on the 20^th of April put it right in the middle of the pandemic so there was no hiding. But instead of it getting cancelled it got moved to September instead. 

The marathon is normally run on a Monday, on Patriot's day, which will obviously not happen this year. But they will keep with the tradition of running on a Monday so we will be going on the 14^th of September. This is the day after the Copenhagen half marathon that is run on Sunday the 13^th of September, but despite me looking forward to that, Boston marathon takes priority and all I can say to the Copenhagen half in the situation is "suck it".

Apart from the date change not much will change from the original plan.

12^th – 13^th of September

Flying to Boston via Reykjavik and arriving in the early evening. We have the Sunday 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.

14^th of September

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. 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.

15^th – 16^th of September

We have a full day on our own in Boston (the 15^th) 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 16^th we will fly out on the evening before coming back to Copenhagen on the 17^th mid-day.

There is another small change, though. Previously we were supposed to be staying at a hotel only a block away from the pickup and finishing area. Now we have unfortunately been moved to a different hotel, maybe 2-3km away from the finishing area. Won't be as comfortable getting back as was originally planned, but at least we are still (relatively) close by and not at the other end of the city.

I am very worried about what will happen if the race has to be cancelled/moved again due to Corona still being present in September. By grabbing this late cancellation I lost my guaranteed spot in 2024 so if I lose this spot for one or another reason I fear I'll be back at the end of the queue and have to start all over trying to secure a spot. Stressful times we are living in.

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.