Boston: Race Morning Meeting & Bus Ride

Jen and I again arrived early on race morning. The pro meeting area was set up with chairs, but there was a stage area where you could sit on the floor with your back against a wall, which is where I elected to sit to stretch out my legs. I couldn't have chosen a better spot, because as everyone filed in I could see all of the pro field seated in front of me! I posted a "discrete" live video in my running group. 

Jen in our seated area

We picked up our bus assignments, which I think were done at random. Since I was one of the first to pick up, I could see the notecards for everyone else on my bus still on the table, so I knew I shared a bus with Molly Seidel, Steph Bruce, and Jake Riley. We also picked up our pro lanyards, which I was pretty excited about.  A lot of people coming in weren't sure where to get their bus assignments so I got to help direct them to where we'd been. There was a short meeting with a few announcements about how the morning would go.

Bus assignment & pro lanyard

They called the busses one at a time, and I lined up with bus 2. We walked down a long hallway from the staging room out to the busses. The hallway was lined with other runners and running fans, and it became a huge cheer tunnel as we walked through. The clapping and cheering were loud and I felt truly famous at that point!

A friend I'd connected with pre-race, Kathy, was also on my bus, and she and I sat together. There was enough room for everyone to sit alone, and many athletes did. I chose an open seat for Kathy and I across from Molly Seidel and her coach Jon Green.

While on the bus, some people slept, many people put in ear buds, and it was eerily quiet and serious. Kathy and I chatted in whispers. Refreshingly, Molly and Jon were talking and laughing the whole bus ride. I admittedly listened to them anytime Kathy and I weren't chatting.

When we arrived at the Korean church that was our starting line indoor staging area and stood to exit the bus, I told Molly that I appreciated her laughter and laid back attitude on the quiet, super serious bus. We then began talking - she told me she liked my space buns (hair), she asked where I was from, we talked about people disliking the city of Boston, I said I was the slowest on the pro start and she reminded me that she hadn't even been ranked at the Trials, I told her my running group enjoyed her social media post about Bumble, she told me more about how hard it is to meet worthwhile men in Flagstaff, and I told her I had a single running buddy for her who was a fantastic guy (she said "you know where to find me", which I'd have made Colin pursue further if she hadn't had a rough race day). We walked past television cameras on our way to the church and she and I were caught on camera together, with Kathy right in front of us, shown here. We were all supposed to have on masks but based on the guys behind us I wish I'd have taken mine off outside!

Just casually walking in with Olympians

I did see the TV camera

The story continues here.