Boston Marathon Rolls On

Despite horrible predictions, the 111th Boston Marathon was not washed away yesterday, in fact the great N'oreaster that was pounding the whole east coast with rain and wind took the afternoon off. We headed into Boston on the T and by the time we came up from underground a few blocks from the finish, it wasn't even raining anymore; it was still windy and cold, far from perfect marathon conditions, but it felt like a blessing compared to the drenching rains and wind gusts in the 40s that was happening Sunday night and early Monday morning.

The Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge (DFMC) Spaghetti Dinner was Sunday night and it was so inspiring and moving - I even wanted to run the marathon the next day ( and I haven't even run around the block since high school). Lori was really bummed about not running, but she got to go up on stage with all the runners and gave her patient/partner Olivia a medal. My mom said she even saw her on NESN's coverage. We also got to hear from some Dana-Farber researchers themselves about the great work this fund raising does. The funds raised by DFMC runners funds programs so new and innovative they usually can't qualify for any government funding.

Luckily (for me anyway) being woken at 6am by the howling, house-shaking winds and watching the drenched runners lining up at the starting line on TV took away any desire to run.

On Monday, marathon day, Lori and I were stationed at the Family Meeting Area of the Recovery Zone. We tracked which runners had checked in, kept families updated and helped them find their runners. It was a fun afternoon, though I had really hoped to be out working on the course. The biggest surprise was how many runners and family members thanked us before they left. These people just ran over 26 miles while I just stood around directing people to the restroom for a few hours, yet THEY were thanking ME. Lori and I were both blown away and I'm sure volunteering for DFMC will be an annual tradition for us now.

Then today, in a stroke of "My Name Is Earl" Karma, I won $1,000 from WAAF when they announced my name on the air.
We also finally saw "Blades of Glory" this weekend - and it was as hilarious as promised.