Last week I traveled to Boston to support my friend Julie as she ran in the marathon. I knew it would be a special trip -- special because it was a long-time goal of Julie's to run in the Boston Marathon; special because it was the first year after the bombings; special because it was only my second trip to this great city. And it absolutely was an amazing experience for all of these reasons and more. I'm so excited to share some photos with you!
I believe I mentioned that there were something like 36,000 people who ran in the Boston marathon this year. And there were also around one million spectators lining the route. So we knew it would be total madness trying to see Julie along the race course and to find her afterwards. We knew there was no chance of her hearing us near the finish line where we were likely to only be able to get to within 10 people back from the railing, so we opted to try to see her at mile 22 where the crowds were thinner, and where we could be more of an encouragement to her for her final arduous miles.
I was with Julie's husband, Scott, and her cousin Emily, and we completely underestimated how tough it would be to get on the train from near the finish line where we were staying, to Cleveland Circle near mile 22. The trains were jam packed when they showed up at our station and only a handful of people were able to squeeze on each time:
I believe I mentioned that there were something like 36,000 people who ran in the Boston marathon this year. And there were also around one million spectators lining the route. So we knew it would be total madness trying to see Julie along the race course and to find her afterwards. We knew there was no chance of her hearing us near the finish line where we were likely to only be able to get to within 10 people back from the railing, so we opted to try to see her at mile 22 where the crowds were thinner, and where we could be more of an encouragement to her for her final arduous miles.
I was with Julie's husband, Scott, and her cousin Emily, and we completely underestimated how tough it would be to get on the train from near the finish line where we were staying, to Cleveland Circle near mile 22. The trains were jam packed when they showed up at our station and only a handful of people were able to squeeze on each time:
We finally did make it out, however, and were able to find this prime spot to cheer from:
There were police officers everywhere you looked. We weren't sure how this level of security compared with past years, but were told by Boston locals that it was of a much higher level than normal. There were signs posted along the railings of the route to text a number if you saw anything suspicious. I was really impressed with the organization of the whole thing and it made me feel safe to see cops stationed at regular intervals.
There were at least four waves of runners who were released to start at half hour intervals. The first wave (after elites and wheelchairs) had red bibs. Julie's coach, Derek, was in this group, and I was able to catch some photos of him (bib 211). He finished the race in 2:40 -- a six-minute-and-some-second per mile pace. INSANE. I can't even wrap my mind around that!!
There were at least four waves of runners who were released to start at half hour intervals. The first wave (after elites and wheelchairs) had red bibs. Julie's coach, Derek, was in this group, and I was able to catch some photos of him (bib 211). He finished the race in 2:40 -- a six-minute-and-some-second per mile pace. INSANE. I can't even wrap my mind around that!!
Here's another view of our spot on the course:
I was so impressed with how great many of these fast runners looked at this point in the course. Me, I'd be bent over, hobbling, and would have no energy to look around, let alone hold my phone above my head as I ran to video tape the experience!?
High-fiving total strangers:
More security:
And then THIS happened. Oh my goodness, my heart melted. This woman and her son were looking for their husband and dad the whole time and about leapt over the railing when they saw him. Not only did he acknowledge them, but he veered across the road of runners to reach them. Take a moment to look at each of the shots in this sequence. I especially love the last two where the boy kisses his hand then touches his dad's face -- SO SWEET.
I ended up getting this woman's email address and sending her the photos. What a special moment for this family!!
Moments later, Julie came running by. We should have planned better and let her know where we would be. Live and learn. But never being at the Boston Marathon before, we had no idea what to expect. Julie had her earphones in and her laser focus, and despite Scott's tremendous gift for projection, she didn't hear any of our hollering :(. She didn't even see us. It was a total bummer. But I was able to capture a few photos of her running by at her 7 minute and 20 second minute per mile pace, including this one:
Moments later, Julie came running by. We should have planned better and let her know where we would be. Live and learn. But never being at the Boston Marathon before, we had no idea what to expect. Julie had her earphones in and her laser focus, and despite Scott's tremendous gift for projection, she didn't hear any of our hollering :(. She didn't even see us. It was a total bummer. But I was able to capture a few photos of her running by at her 7 minute and 20 second minute per mile pace, including this one:
We jumped on the train right away to try to get back to meet her at the finish, but because of the proximity of the track to the spectators, it was crawling along at a pace slower than the runners -- you know, so that it didn't run over anyone. You can see a video clip I captured of this by clicking here. I also shot these next three photos through the train window. This guy had WAY too much energy left for mile 24. I'm thinking he could have pushed himself a little harder earlier on -- haha!
We were able to find Julie about 40 minutes after she finished in the park near where she checked her gear bag. She finished in 3 hours and 15 minutes -- a personal record!!
What an incredible experience it was to be able to witness the Boston Marathon in person this year! And to see my friend run it in such a victorious fashion was amazing!!
We stayed to see some of Boston the next two days. We did a lot of walking, and despite my offer to push her around in a wheel chair, Julie insisted she could walk. Here are a few more photos from some of our site-seeing:
We stayed to see some of Boston the next two days. We did a lot of walking, and despite my offer to push her around in a wheel chair, Julie insisted she could walk. Here are a few more photos from some of our site-seeing:
These magnolia trees were stunning. They were trees with pink or yellow blooms and no leaves. Against the red brick buildings of Boston, they were truly gorgeous:
We can only dream of having window boxes like these in Phoenix. I've never seen hydrangeas grow here.
There are also a bunch more photos documenting my trip on my Instagam feed -- check them out here! What a beautiful city! I will treasure memories from this trip forever!
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Equipment used for these photos: Canon 5D Mark III // Canon 50mm 1.2 lens // Canon 24mm 1.4 lens // Canon 70-200 2.8 lens
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Equipment used for these photos: Canon 5D Mark III // Canon 50mm 1.2 lens // Canon 24mm 1.4 lens // Canon 70-200 2.8 lens
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