First pictures

Here is the pictorial version of the marathon. Clearly no pictures during the race itself (I was tempted though!), so you'll have to wait for the report which is on its way.

The race is part of Boston history. The course is unchanged since around 1908 when it had to be lengthened due to the new official distance at the London Olympics. The finish line and start lines are permanently painted on the road - I believe the yellow line and painted mile markers are a permanent feature too - in London the painted blue line is removed while the tail-enders are still finishing! Here's the finish line before it was repainted for the race:

There is a map of the course inlaid into Copley Square near the finish line:

with the names of all the past winners:

Now does London celebrate its marathon in the same way?

This is the view up the finish straight, taken during the Freedom Run the day before the marathon:

and the view of the South Church to the left of the finish line, and the Library, with the Hancock Tower, to the right of the finish line:
   
All quite nice, but lacking the spectacle of London.
I spotted a good omen at the finish line:

The name of my running club - had to be a good sign!

I had a really nice hotel - the Hyatt Regency in the theatre district:. I had tried to get one close to the pickup points for the start buses. I reckon I got as close as was possible. Result!

The expo was good, but very crowded, I bought lots of stuff (shoes, shorts, crop top, nice Boston jacket...). I got the chance to meet Dean Karnazes, author of Ultra Marathon Man. Really nice guy! His challenge for later in the year is 50 marathons, in all 50 states, in 50 days. Wow! He'll be using offical courses, but clearly not all on the day of the official marathon, although it does include a few full events such as New York and Chicago. He'll come back and run Boston on 15th October, with BAA officials starting and finishing him. He did the official Boston marathon 2 days after this photo, in 3:40. I beat him! Mind you, I didn't first run out from Boston to the start line in Hopkinton 26.2 miles away, so maybe I was a bit fresher!


And so to the race. The organisation was excellent, everything was laid on. If your bicycle needed defibrillating, that was taken care of too:

The cops have so much more style than in London - Harleys!: (pic taken during the Freedom Run)


As the course is a straight line point to point, we had to catch buses out to the start at Hopkinton. The organisation was very slick, as it should be after 110 years.
   

The weather was surprisingly cool at the athlete's village in Hopkinton:

but felt very warm after 3:31:45 of running:


Despite the state of my legs, I managed a couple of hours at the official post-race party. Great band!


I guess we're lacking some details of the race here. It seems a photo can only paint so many words. More words, and a few tourist photos of Boston, later...