My Trip to The Boston Marathon 2018 & Fenway Park.
When your friend tells you they raised over $12,000 for Massachusetts General (Mass General) Hospital and they are running the Boston Marathon, you jump on a plane and go support them, or at least that’s what I did anyway. Caitlin Burchill is one of my newer friends and is such a great inspiration to those from her hometown of (Walpole) Boston, let alone her new Utah family.
So I got on the red-eye Saturday night and arrived early Sunday morning. She had to go the expo center to pick up all of her gear and running stuff so I decided although raining I was going to head to Fenway Park and go see a Sox game. But before I did, I met up with Caitlin and her mom to go check out the finish line and take some pictures of this momentous occasion.
We walked around, took pictures, and saw the memorial shrines being placed for all those that had lost their lives from the bombing at the Boston Marathon only a few years prior. I tagged along and the ladies ventured off through Copley Square to sightsee where we eventually stopped at Whiskey’s Bar and had a beverage before I’d venture off by myself to the game.
I lucked out last year and bought a ticket to the World Series from a bum on the street for super cheap, so that was my game plan again for this game. I found a man offering cheap tickets, the game had already started, so I haggled him down to $25 for the $50 ticket. Please do this with caution as many of them sell fake tickets or postdated tickets. He offered to walk me to the gate so that’s usually a good sign he wasn’t selling me a fake ticket. I had a nosebleed chair of course, so I looked down and since it was raining there wasn’t a lot of people in the chairs. I grabbed a beer and casually walked down to the front rows like I had a ticket. Ya, ya, I know, not right..blah blah blah…I didn’t care it was raining the chair was empty, no big deal.
I sat next to some drunk people who made the game especially fun. Eventually, everyone had followed suit and came to sit near the front of the game. All the chairs next to me were full by the end. Soaking wet, the Sox won, the game was over and I decided to head across the street to a bar called Beerworks. They make their own beers there and I, of course, had a great time sampling a few. I left a happy lady, I decided to take an UBER pool home, which we don’t have in Utah, so I jumped in the car with 2 other ladies.
SIDE NOTE: All I can say is when you’ve had a couple of beverages, don’t EVER take a “pool”. I didn’t realize it would take nearly an hour to get home. You have to stop at each person’s location and if you are 3rd in the car you are last. Poor choice, I fell asleep on the way home, kind of funny, like a child you drive around the block to get back to sleep. However, I’m an adult and made it back safely.
Next Day: RACE DAY (Monday 4/16/18) The Boston Marathon
Caitlin had signed up for the race in memory of her grandpa which she called “Poppy”. He had passed one year prior due to cancer. He gave her that special inspiration to run and give back in his honor.
She has been training for nearly the whole year, running every half marathon, 10k, 5k, anything she could run to, HELL even to her mailbox! lol. She was definitely ready for the occasion, however, on race day it was basically a monsoon. I grew up in Utah, I’ve seen my rain and snow storms, but I tell you, I’ve never seen rain and wind like these runners were sprinting through.
However, there was an upside, free showers for everyone.
We waited along mile 21 for her to run through so we could cheer her on.
She was so highly spirited you would have thought this was mile 1 while she ran though smiling.
All of the runners were soaking wet, freezing, and some were even bleeding. I give tremendous props to all those runners who ran through that freezing rain and wind. What an accomplishment. I stayed with her family as she ran the rest of the way. Her mom was so sweet she packed snacks and drinks for us to wait in the car out of the rain while she finished. We tried to drive to see her at the finish line, but of course all the roads were blocked and we met her instead at the family meeting area. I will never forget seeing her, somewhat loopy and raving about how good the Hawaiian rolls were they had just given her at the finish line. I swear she was shoving those rolls in quicker than she could chew and had never been so happy. I just love her.
Later we met up with the rest of her family. She had gone to shower, aka defrost and we all changed into sweatpants provided by her brother because we were all soaking wet from cheering her and the other runners on.
Later we went down the road to celebrate. The whole fam and I tagging along went to a cute restaurant in (Southie) South Boston. Great food, great drinks, and great company. I’d say that this trip was probably the most influential trip I’ve taken. You don’t realize how much training goes into something like that. I felt lazy, even 80-year-olds were running the race. I don’t think I could do it, but I sure am proud Caitlin did it. Her mom says Caitlin aged her 15 years by stressing her out, it was pretty funny. So many people will benefit from the money she raised.
So proud of you Caitlin, 26.2 MILES … you killed it!
Meanwhile, the next day I spent 15 hours at the airport missing a record 10 flights. You gotta love standby flights. I panicked after I missed the last flight of the day. I even had a little bit of a break down at the airport where I may or may not have cried like a baby in a chair when I didn’t get on the plane and was stranded. However, I tried to be positive. I booked a hotel nearby the airport so I could try to make the 5am flight in the morning and try the whole “standby” thing again. I eventually did get on the flight that morning, and well now I’m typing this from an airplane way high up in the sky. Thanks mom for hooking me up with a flight home! Now back to reality.
Thanks for reading,
Xo-G
