The Boston Marathon

I watched the Boston Marathon today. I was on a treadmill at Planet Fitness and they have a bank of TV's on the wall. I felt like I was running right along with them. I likely wasn't going as fast, but in my mind, I was. I've run 5 to 10 marathons in my life. It's enough that I don't remember them all. In three of them I ended up being hurt in the following days. I decided there are better pastimes than that. From now on I've pledged to my body that I won't do any races longer than 10k anymore.

About five years ago, I was in Boston for several days. One morning I got up early and took a city bus out to a point on the Boston Marathon course and ran the last six miles back. That was actually a lot of fun and very interesting. And I understand its a lot easier running those six if you haven't already run those previous twenty. Another plus is that I started just after what is known as "Heartbreak Hill". 

On the TV I could recognize landmarks - the giant CITGO sign, Fenway Park, the underpass. I had to run on a street parallel to the underpass because, unlike the real runners, they didn't block traffic for me. At the end there is a right turn, leftt turn and then the final run to the finish. If I stayed longer and there were buses that went out that far, I might have taken two or three days and run the other portions. Probably not - but maybe someday.