Boston Marathon or "there's an endless road to re-discover!"

 (the title of my blog is inspired by my cousin Bailey... We have a mutual dislike for that "heyyyyyy brother" song and she gave me the idea that it would be on repeat in my brain for 26.2 miles. I refused to believe that horror... Read on to see if she was correct.) It makes for a catchy title if nothing else....

Moving on....
At the end of my final long run a couple weeks ago, as I sweat thru my "spring" running attire I said to Eric (and basically to anyone who would listen) "I think the only thing that might mess up my race is out of my control- and it would be a day over 50 degrees...
Any of you who has been reading my blog over the course of the winter knows I am ridiculously acclimated to 30 degree temps and that the warmest day I managed to run in this spring was about 60 and that was a "very easy" recovery run. *sigh*
In ominous tones: "Uh OHHHHHHHHH..."

This recap is going to have to be two parts- which I apologize for but to cover so many days in 1 installment will just be too much!

Just a quick part one sidenote on my feelings about yesterday's events.
I was so happy to be there this year, the crowds were amazing, the overall mood was uplifting and Boston is by FAR my favorite marathon because of the spectators. And because my amazing family can be there! What happened to me mid race really has to take a back seat to all of this- it was "our" year to reclaim this race and it was absolutely incredible! (more on my actual race later...)

Anyways.... Eric and I headed to Boston on Friday afternoon, planning to hit the expo early and then proceed to my Aunt & Uncle's house on the South shore.

My mom gave us lucky charms a while back and we love them! My dumb dog does too, that's why mine is missing an ear and has a broken leg... Which my Mom used her nurse skills to repair!

The expo was buzzing with activity but much less crowded than over the weekend.
I was able to walk in and get my number in less than 10 minutes despite the fact that I forgot my runners passport (oops). So easy! And everyone is so nice and helpful.

YAY!!!!

 Unfortunately we did not have a ton of time but scoped out the official gear (not really my favorite this year), I RAN to the Oiselle booth to get one of the brand new "Boston" shirts (and I literally jumped up and down when I found one in my size!) We were lucky to be there early as they sold out.
Actually, everything sold out. I was waffling on one of the navy track jackets and by Saturday, POOF, they had vanished! Lesson learned.
I took a minute to write on "The wall" while there was still a tiny space that was at my height level.

I had to steal space in an "O" but it worked!

 Saturday was a very early day because Eric was running the BAA 5K.

Pre race cuteness

The weather was brisk (40) and beautiful. PERFECT racing weather!
It was an absolutely huge 5k, 10,000 starters meant that the final person went thru the start as the winners were running in- it was crazy. I had quite a good time spectating and made lots of new friends from all over.
Eric ran strong despite the crowds and walked away with a shiny new PR (I hoped it was the start of a PR kind of weekend!!)

After the race we had some celebratory food and beers, and headed to Fenway for a game.

The beer size difference between "I'm racing" and "I am done racing!"

We had a bit of bad luck with standing room "seats" (another case of waffling, and missing out of decent seats!) so didn't stay for the whole game. The Sox had a solid win- again, making me think that it was certainly destined to be an all around winning kind of weekend. 

Sunday we headed back into the city for a Oiselle meet up and shakeout run.

Lots of birds!!! In our Easter colors!

 A big thanks to the ladies who took the time to organize the run, and the post run coffee party. What a great way to meet the team and to shake off some of the pre race jitters!
The great news from a purely personal standpoint is that my legs felt absolutely fabulous during our shakeout (done in beautiful, but decidedly cool weather by the way) and I felt 100% ready to take on the marathon the next morning. I had a great time getting to know Mary and was SO damn excited to see her late on the course and to see her CRUSH her goal time. She is amazing!

My sister came into the city shortly after our Oiselle bird party and the two of us wandered off to go expo-ing. Kate hasn't ever been to a big race expo so with the plan to limit the walking, off we went! This meant we had to take the T which can be confusing for us but we are wordly, educated woman and we had zero problems.

Teeny tiny beers!

Basically we found that the expo was low on stuff, but we looked at shoes (seriously, Hoka's are just funny looking), drank a 2 ounce beer and headed down the road to eat soft pretzels. Mmmmmm.

The rest of Sunday I spent wisely, resting, putting my legs up the wall, carb loading and drinking lots of water. I felt really good about the race and didn't want to over do it or leave anything to chance.
When we went to bed on Sunday I felt confident and ready for the big day...
(more later!)