My favorite marathon. Period.
Written: Jun 17 '00 (Updated Jun 17 '00)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: The fans. The atmosphere. The challenge.
Cons: It hurts.
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| maejohns's Full Review: Boston Marathon |
Boston has played host to one of the world's most famous marathons for over 100 years. Folks, this race has been around as long as the modern day Olympics, for crying out loud.
What makes Boston so special?
1. Before one can officially register to run in this race, one must qualify by running a sufficiently fast time at nearly any other marathon the world around. So, to even make it to the starting line with a race number is undoubtedly the sign that a goal has been achieved.
2. Boston is perhaps the most fanatical sports town in the country, if not the world. The streets are lined for a large part of the 26.2 mile course (which starts in a small village called Hopkinton and finishes in downtown Boston) with screaming fans. The year I ran it (1998), a Boston Red Sox baseball game had just let out, and when we ran through Boston, the streets were lined with not-only running fans, but also the drunken baseball fans, cheering each and every one of us on! What an experience! And of course, we have to mention the all-girls college at the half-way point of the course. You cannot hear your breath when you run through this section of the course; their screams are intense and can be heard from a half-mile away. So sweet.
3. Imagine this: Early Monday morning (like 6am) -- this is Patriot's Day, a Boston holiday, when everyone is home from work. A small town called Hopkinton. Maybe 5,000 people live here. Maybe less. Now sprinkle into this picture a MOB of 20,000 runners wearing garbage bags, and walking through the yards of residents, churches, etc, to get to the starting line (and the trees out back of the church are being used by the scattered view as toilets!). This is poetic.
4. Like all marathons, the finish line. What an incredible feeling crossing the line, especially after running on this somewhat difficult course. What makes it so difficult? Heartbreak Hill. The hill itself ain't so bad, but after spending a greater portion of the 18 miles to get there going up, once you crest Heartbreak, it is all downhill from there. And, in this case, this is NOT a good thing. Your quads are screaming, and all you want is to get this hell over with. This is beauty.
5. No summary of the Boston marathon can be told without mention of the thousands of bandit runners that sneak their way onto the course every year. Running without a number, many without ever having run a marathon before, many of whom a still hungover from last night's drinkin', these bandits still have their pride to run towards. They are a very welcome addition to the race and do contribute to the event significantly.
Get to Boston.
Run this race.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
maejohns
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Member: Mark Johnson
Location: Palo Alto, CA
Reviews written: 37
Trusted by: 65 members
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