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Boston: Boston 1/2 Marathon

By the Great One

On October 8, 2006 Megan "Hard-Boyle" Boyle, Sharon "Lil' Bird" Tasman, and Susan "The Great One" Hurrey ran the Boston Half Marathon. There were a few times when we didn't think we would even make it to Boston for the following reasons: A cancelled flight due to rain (huh???); a traffic jam on the Schuykill Expressway at 4:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning; a driver who further delayed us getting to the airport because he fell asleep at the wheel while waiting for the traffic jam to clear. But the good news is that eventually we made it to Boston and we're glad we did!

We stayed at the lovely but very retro Howard Johnson's that was just five minutes away from the start line. This is a major bonus in my mind. Who needs to get up early for a race?!

Now, the race details. It was a chilly 53 degrees at race time but the sun was shining and we warmed up quickly. The course has lots of rolling but very manageable hills and I still can't figure out why it wasn't pure torture. Ordinarily I would choose a flat course over rolling any day. Maybe it was the scenery that helped - lots of greenery, a beautiful sunny day and plenty of people cheering from the sidelines. The entire course is on the street except for a small section when we ran through a portion of the Franklin Park Zoo. I didn't notice any animals though except for a couple peacocks, but maybe that's because of my blistering speed. (ha-ha)

Speaking of speed, here are the final numbers: Sharon was the first Wanderer to cross the finish line with a time of 1:58:22. I don't know how she does it but she actually speeds up on the uphills. I expect big things from Lil' Bird when she runs her first marathon in December.

Megan and I who just a week before completed the Wineglass Marathon had what I believe are respectable times: Susan, 1:59:30 and Megan came in a couple minutes later. We'll never know her time for sure because Megan, being the daredevil that she is, ran as a bandit. I should add that Megan had to make a necessary port-o-potty stop during the race which could explain why she finished "a couple minutes" after me.

If you find yourself in Boston next year around this time you should definitely do this race. It's worth the trip!

Reports & Photos: Canadian Rockies | Austria | Boston | Virginia Beach

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