My Boston Marathon 2007!

When last we left her, our heroine was struggling with a broken head and extreme sleep deprivation. I soon realized that, Jeanne, you could do this kind of hair-brained no-sleep thing when you were 20, but not so much at 50!!

On Marathon Monday (4/16) I was up early, feeling hungover, chomping at the bit, ready to GO GO GO!!! I wanted plans, maps, cameras. What to wear? When to leave? Synchronize your watches people! I was so determined not to miss Dianna and jeff! Or Michelle, who was orchestrating the whole support train, along with April Anne.

I think I finally drove R. to distraction asking her advice about weather, when we should leave, wasn't it time to leave yet, etc. You'd have thought (or maybe you ARE thinking) that I was running this thing. As if! I decided it was easier just to wear everything I owned. (At 7:30 a.m., in Boston proper where I was located, the wind was howling and the rain pelting.) Unfortunately, at the very same time I was reporting "apocalyptic" weather conditions to Runner Susan, jeff was phoning in with the news that the weather looked great! Low winds, slightly misty ... conditions=perfect! (Next time let's get our story straight people!)

We made it to the first checkpoint, Checkpoint Happy Swallow Tavern (or something like that) in Framingham, mile 7, at 10:30 and hung around waiting.

Mistake one: As the first press truck passed by, I assumed it was tracking the the elite men, and that I had missed seeing them by mere seconds.

Mistake two: As the second press truck passed by, I glanced up and saw that THOSE WERE THE ELITE MEN. The first truck was following the wheelchair leaders. So I missed THAT photo, too. Sigh.

But I did manage to get myself together enough to get a shot of some of the women's leaders:

(If you're interested: #7: Russian Lyubov Denisova—finishing in 7th place for women overall, in 2:38:00
#50: Californian Mary A. Akor—finishing in 11th place for women overall in 2:41:01
#61 Californian Christine H. Lundy—finishing in 12th place for women overall, in 2:41:14.)

We finally caught up with Michele and entourage: Di's parents, husband, Michele and her husband, and called each other (on cell phones) from across the street. We dashed back and forth a few times trying not to bump into runners, and the tension mounted!

(I also want to give a shout-out here to SteveRunner of Phedippidations, who did a great job, and who I was also hoping to see! And my Spinning Instructor! But, I missed them both. Story of my life.)

Finally, Jason spotted them, and trusty R. got the money photo! Several of them! We didn't know it at the time, but those were the only photos we'd get of them running.

Three cars raced to mile 13 (OK, it's entirely possible that we stopped at Dunkin' Donuts on the way, but only for a minute!). Alas, somehow they were too fast for us and we missed them.

It was on to the finish! Michelle and entourage hung at mile 25ish, and R. and I hung right past the finish, but as usual, I managed to watch both Dianna and jeff pass right by me (in my defense, it was a little crowded).

(Just past the finish, where I missed seeing Dianna and jeff.)

(Some random finishers.)

We assembled at the assigned meeting place, and anxiously awaited the arrival of the rockstars:

(Thank God for cell phones! Michelle's husband, Michelle coordinating, April Anne, and R.).

(The delightful April Anne and Michelle)

(Does this look like a woman who just ran a marathon? In 3:22??)

(The team, and since I took these photos, of course, I missed Jason. Sigh.)

And that my friends, concludes this year's edition of my Boston Marathon Epic Spectator Report. Thanks for letting me ride on your coattails for three posts, Dianna and jeff!