Boston Marathon Day 2: Saturday

I woke up on Saturday around 7am, and went for a quick run along the Charles River.  It was a picture-perfect, sunny, chilly spring morning in Boston.  Perfect running weather.

After running, I showered and got dressed, loaded up a few things in a backpack, then headed out into the city.  First stop: Starbucks for a chai.  I then walked the 2.5 miles across the Charles River to Cambridge to visit an old friend, which ended up being a lovely walk. The Boston skyline loomed over my right shoulder, runners packed both sides of the bridge, the sun blazed brightly over everything... Just a stunning morning all around.

Martina and I met 21 years ago when I took part in a summer exchange in her hometown of Oberstdorf, Germany, and we've managed to stay in contact over the years thanks to Facebook.  If you read about my experience at the 2015 Boston Marathon, you may recall that she graciously let me stay with her for a night that weekend.  Since I was staying at an Airbnb this time, we settled on breakfast Saturday morning.

Her husband and son joined us in the backyard as we caught up, in German, over a breakfast of tea, fruit and croissants, after which we hung out on one of the side streets as her son tore around on his bike with some of the neighborhood kids.  Norman Rockwell, eat your heart out.

At 11 o'clock, I had to say my goodbyes and make my way back to the city.

Back across the Charles River, back to Boylston Street where I planned to go into the expo, but the security lines to get in were roughly 3 miles long, so I bagged that idea.  Just as I was figuring out what to do instead of the expo, I looked to my right and happened to see Scott Jurek standing there (famed ultra marathoner and all around swell guy whom I wrote about a few years ago).  He was meeting fans and signing autographs, so I jumped in line and got to spend a minute or so talking to him.  Super tall and super nice.

I then headed back to the Runner's World pop up store because I had signed up for a session called Yoga for Runners at 12:30.  I'm not normally into yoga (I'm about as flexible as Republicans on immigration), but I felt like trying to step outside of my comfort zone, so I showed up and went with the flow.  I was one of two guys in the room, and I had to modify a few poses due to the aforementioned inflexibility, but overall I found I really enjoyed it.  It helped that it was led by a woman who had run Boston herself, and a lot of the session was geared towards preparing for the big race, both mentally and physically.  Everyone in the room was preparing to either run or spectate the race, so we all had a common bond.

Directly after yoga, the room was taken over by a meetup from an online crew called #WeRunSocial, which is basically a group of selfie/social media obsessed runners.  I got to talking to Dani who invited me to stay and have a beer with everyone.  Bart Yasso also showed up, and they were giving away Boston themed Compression socks.

After hanging out with the #WeRunSocial crew, I came out into the main room to see the director of the Boston Marathon himself, Dave McGillivray, up on stage with Bart Yasso and others.  I attended Dave's talk the following day, perhaps one of my favorite talks out of all the events I attended.

I had some time to kill before the Red Sox game, so after leaving the Runner's World pop up store, I popped into a bar on Boylston to try the Sam Adams 26.2 beer that they brew every year in limited batches just for the marathon.  It's a gose style ale that "contains light cereal notes from malted and unmalted wheat with a touch of peppery spice.  Soft wheat and citrus character are contrasted with hints of salt and coriander and it finishes clean with soft fruit and crisp citrus notes."   Luckily for you I can confirm that it is indeed delicious.

I slowly made my way to Fenway Park (just a mile from the finish area), had a burrito at Qdoba for dinner, then went to the park to see the Red Sox play the Tampa Bay Rays.

I'm a casual baseball fan, having played it growing up and gone to my share of Phillies games over the years.  I've always wanted to go to a game at Fenway, one of the most historic parks in baseball, so it was great to be able to finally do so.  The Sox ended up winning the game 2-1.

After the game I walked back to my Airbnb.  I had wanted to go to the premiere of "Boston: An American Running Story" (first feature-length documentary about the Boston Marathon), but I hadn't gotten tickets in time, so I just called it an early night again.  Watched a few episodes of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" and was in bed by 10pm.

Stay tuned for Day 3: Shalane Flanagan, the expo, and the pre-race dinner.

National Running Day

When you run marathons and especially when you're maintaining a run streak, every day feels like National Running Day.  But it's officially today (always the first Wednesday in June), meaning my Twitter and Facebook blew up all day with posts about how great running is.

Mad Max is pretty great too, by the way.

I celebrated the best way possible - by going to the Haddonfield Running Company for our regular Wednesday night run, followed by beers in the store afterwards.

Our group keeps expanding.  We've joked that we don't even know who is in the club anymore.  Did you run with us tonight?  Do you want a beer?  Good, you're in.

Happy National Running Day to you.  Only two days until National Donut Day.  Coincidence? I think not.

Memorial Day 2015

While I miss our old apartment, one of the biggest advantages of our new place is the fact that we have a backyard now.  I grill every chance I get during warmer weather, including today when Stevie and I hosted our first Memorial Day BBQ.

Getting things started

W
We spent hours outside listening to music, drinking beer, and eating grilled hamburgers and hotdogs.

Grill master

H
Happiness is the smell of charcoal and an ice cold beer, all amidst good company.

The most important part of the party

Happy Memorial Day to you, and here's to the start of an excellent summer.

5 miles at the Cooper

It's been a long time since Suze has put in an appearance on the blog.  We met through blogging back in 2011 and were running/racing buddies for awhile, but she has since developed chronic ailments in her hips and legs and has had to back off running.

It finally occurred to me that if she was comfortable riding a bike, we could still do our usual jaunt around the Cooper River, just a little modified.  So I rode my bike to the Cooper this morning, about a mile away, at 8am, and gave my bike to Suze who then rode 5 miles with me while I ran.  It was the coldest morning yet this fall, and we finished in about 39 minutes.

To show my gratitude for waking up so early to work out with me, I made her pose for a picture.  But then we went back to my place for a giant breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon.

Suze: (Seeing how fast I eat) You should get into competitive eating.

Summer

Backyard grilling and shenanigans with George and Lee, two camp friends visiting from England:

Cannonballs at the community pool:

Sigh... Compared to summers in the past, this one hasn't been incredibly exciting, but it sure has been nice.

Last double digit run

Last double digit run of this training cycle today:

The miles are winding down, and I have to be conscious of winding down on my food consumption as well.

As I've mentioned, I haven't had any alcohol in almost two months.  Stevie also decided to join me in cutting out alcohol out of solidarity.  Even our friends have joined in now.  They came over tonight and we had some good old fashioned sober fun: playing games in the living room while eating chocolate fondue with strawberries and bananas.

At some point we talked about camp, and I mentioned the "Indian" names we all adopted for ceremonies.

Me: I was Chief Runs With Deer.
Alicia: Why was that your name?
Me: Because I spent a lot of time running in the woods where there were a lot of deer.
Brian: I would have been Chief Naps With Cat.

A golden opportunity

Stevie and I spent the better part of today at a Harry Potter festival with some friends over in Chestnut Hill, PA.  Part of the festival included a quidditch tournament hosted by Chestnut Hill College, which is how I got to watch a snitch pretty much bodyslam any seeker who got near him during one game.

I had no idea quidditch was so rough.

Years ago, before I'd ever read any of the Harry Potter books or seen the movies, the summer camp where I worked set up quidditch for the kids.  I was recruited as the snitch during all of the games.

"The what?!"

"The golden snitch."

"What the hell is that?"

"You have to avoid capture by the seekers."

>Blank stare.<

"Just run around the field and don't let those two kids right there tag you."

"Ah, got it."

In 2005 Middlebury College adapted the game for real world competition, and the game is now played in colleges all over the United States, as well as leagues all around the world.

After finally seeing a game of collegiate level quidditch today, my interest still lies with the snitch.

According to the Intercollegiate Quidditch Rules and Guidebook, "having a skilled, fast, tough, acrobatic runner as the snitch is the centerpoint of Middlebury's Muggle Quidditch.  It is the crowd pleaser and THE main aspect of what has made this version of the rules so popular and successful."

"The snitch must be able to run a fast pace for at least an hour.  Varsity Cross Country runners, ex-cross country runners, or varsity soccer players are recommended."

"The snitch is essentially an asshole whose sole task is to humiliate the seekers.  He can run from them, hide from them, throw them to the ground, or dodge away just as they dive for them..."

"The snitch should be able to do simple acrobatic maneuvers.  Handsprings, rolls, somersaults and even flips are all very useful to evade capture when maneuvering a small area."

Dammit, why couldn't this sport have existed when I was in college?  Despite not having been into Harry Potter at the time, I think I would have had a blast as the snitch.  Hell, I think I would have a blast as the snitch now.

Anyone want to join my adult quidditch league?