Boston: Race Morning Staging Area

On race morning, we had indoor space at a church to stay in near the starting line. One of the reasons I've never run Boston is because the main field has to wait outside in Athlete's Village for 2+ hours. While I'm sure it's not as bad as I've imagined, I just do not want to sit out in the cold for hours before a marathon! I was very thankful for the indoor space, because marathon morning temperature was pretty nice for marathoning (mid-40s with wind) but pretty cold for sitting around in!

When the bus dropped us off, we filed into a main gymnasium area that was set up with mats and chairs. Jen and I claimed a mats and as luck would have it, Jake Riley sat on the one right beside me! He had earbuds in so I didn't get to talk to him aside from a few words after he removed them to head to warm up, but I talked to his coach Lee Troop. I did have Jen take a picture of me that he happened to appear in the side of...

We were able to take our bags to the church and keep all of our things with us until we walked out to the start (something else that isn't possible in the main field). They had food, drinks, and a ton of Maurten gels available. Every time I walked by the table with refreshments set out I'd grab a few more gels to put in my bag - I ended up making it home with 16 of them, haha! It was nice being able to have my phone to take photos and videos, most of which I'm not sharing here for the privacy of the other runners but that I want for the memories!

The church had several other rooms that were open to us, and I walked around to kind of see where everyone was when I went to the bathroom. There was one room upstairs that several of the top women were in. My rabbit teammate Mary was there and encouraged me to move up there because it was significantly warmer than in the cold gym. Jen and I did, in the midst of seeing pros pin each others bib numbers on. We had a bib on our front with our names and then a number on our backs.

I went to the bathroom several times during the waiting period, and each time saw famous runners in there. I was definitely fan-girling the whole time! I generally don't get nervous about races, but I really didn't give my own race a second thought this time - that was kind of the way of the whole trip, which was also kind of choosing ignorance is bliss because I felt weak and doubtful I'd even finish the marathon whenever I did think about it.

About an hour before the race, people started heading out to warm up. I followed outside to join!

The story continues here.