Marathon Monday! Patriot's Day! Third Monday in April!
Whatever it means to you, to me it means HOLIDAY! And most places are closed... for a holiday that only Massachusetts and Maine celebrate (although Wisconsin lets all their public school kids have a day off for it). Patriot's Day celebrates the Revolutionary War battles of Lexington and Concord (the battles that officially started the war - fought on April 19th 1775).
Sometimes it falls on April 15 or 16, which postpones Tax Day for us a day or two. This year, it did not. I remember, as a kid biking down to the center of Wellesley to watch the marathon runners go by. Wellesley is at the very middle of the race (12.5 miles is the Congregational Church in the center of town, and occasionally couples get married there "as" they run by during the race. Yeah, I don't get it either). One year, the report focused on the last person who crossed the finish line. She was older, I remember, and it took her nearly twelve hours to make it the 26.22 miles.
I remember Marathon Monday weather as being all over the map. Sometimes it is rainy and extremely cold. Sometimes it is sunny but with a cold wind. Sometimes we're having an early spring heat wave, and people passed out on Heartbreak Hill near the end of the race in droves (Heartbreak Hill is between mile 20 and 21 I think).
People run the marathon in costumes, or carrying flags, or props. One man pushes his son in a wheelchair (the son has cerebral palsy, he's in his forties now, I think) - they are local celebrities because the marathon became a labor of love - last year they ran their 26th Boston Marathon together. I remember the year - maybe two or three years ago? the dad had surgery and couldn't do it. I don't know if they are running this year, but I would bet they are - and I'll find out for sure tomorrow when the TV news tells me so.
The stories surrounding the marathon are many and vast and varied. And the real stories have very little to do with the leaders or the winners. Most of the stories focus in on regular people. There is a challenge every year, and when GPS technology was new, one of the first applications talking it up was "trace the marathon route in real time with one of our runners" that the local network news people did - and you could log in and find out where in the race the anchor, or weatherperson, or segment producer was at the moment.
The years I was at the bookstore, Marathon Monday meant a longer than usual commute to work - since the store was right on the race route - parking was at a premium, so I'd have to park maybe a third of a mile from the store in the commuter lot just to find a spot - also because I couldn't park in the store lot, because I wouldn't be able to even approach the lot since the race closed the only road between where I was living and the store. Good times.
I found out today a boy I knew in High School is running tomorrow. Never would have ever thought he'd run a marathon, but there you go. It has also been twenty years since I've seen him, so lots of folks change.
However, I will be working tomorrow, and watching the Marathon on TV, as my company is located in California, and it is a regular Monday in April for them. I kind of miss that air of excitement watching the runners go by. The leaders, of course go by long before the main part of the pack. I've known lots of people who have run the race over the years. Although, I've never been able to pick them out as they ran by - most of the folks are a blur. The 100th running of the marathon a few years ago was huge - between the people running in costume (I remember seeing someone run by in a statue of liberty costume) and the sheer number of people who flooded the route between Hopkinton and Boston, it was a party atmosphere for hours.
So for anyone running in the 113th running of the Boston Marathon, good luck tomorrow!
Sometimes it falls on April 15 or 16, which postpones Tax Day for us a day or two. This year, it did not. I remember, as a kid biking down to the center of Wellesley to watch the marathon runners go by. Wellesley is at the very middle of the race (12.5 miles is the Congregational Church in the center of town, and occasionally couples get married there "as" they run by during the race. Yeah, I don't get it either). One year, the report focused on the last person who crossed the finish line. She was older, I remember, and it took her nearly twelve hours to make it the 26.22 miles.
I remember Marathon Monday weather as being all over the map. Sometimes it is rainy and extremely cold. Sometimes it is sunny but with a cold wind. Sometimes we're having an early spring heat wave, and people passed out on Heartbreak Hill near the end of the race in droves (Heartbreak Hill is between mile 20 and 21 I think).
People run the marathon in costumes, or carrying flags, or props. One man pushes his son in a wheelchair (the son has cerebral palsy, he's in his forties now, I think) - they are local celebrities because the marathon became a labor of love - last year they ran their 26th Boston Marathon together. I remember the year - maybe two or three years ago? the dad had surgery and couldn't do it. I don't know if they are running this year, but I would bet they are - and I'll find out for sure tomorrow when the TV news tells me so.
The stories surrounding the marathon are many and vast and varied. And the real stories have very little to do with the leaders or the winners. Most of the stories focus in on regular people. There is a challenge every year, and when GPS technology was new, one of the first applications talking it up was "trace the marathon route in real time with one of our runners" that the local network news people did - and you could log in and find out where in the race the anchor, or weatherperson, or segment producer was at the moment.
The years I was at the bookstore, Marathon Monday meant a longer than usual commute to work - since the store was right on the race route - parking was at a premium, so I'd have to park maybe a third of a mile from the store in the commuter lot just to find a spot - also because I couldn't park in the store lot, because I wouldn't be able to even approach the lot since the race closed the only road between where I was living and the store. Good times.
I found out today a boy I knew in High School is running tomorrow. Never would have ever thought he'd run a marathon, but there you go. It has also been twenty years since I've seen him, so lots of folks change.
However, I will be working tomorrow, and watching the Marathon on TV, as my company is located in California, and it is a regular Monday in April for them. I kind of miss that air of excitement watching the runners go by. The leaders, of course go by long before the main part of the pack. I've known lots of people who have run the race over the years. Although, I've never been able to pick them out as they ran by - most of the folks are a blur. The 100th running of the marathon a few years ago was huge - between the people running in costume (I remember seeing someone run by in a statue of liberty costume) and the sheer number of people who flooded the route between Hopkinton and Boston, it was a party atmosphere for hours.
So for anyone running in the 113th running of the Boston Marathon, good luck tomorrow!