Boston Day 4, The 126th Boston Marathon, and then flying home on Day 5

 Monday morning Luis and Becca dropped me off at the Hopkington shuttle which was about 20 minutes away from Jamie's house in Hudson (boston is about 45 minutes away from her house), and only about 5 minutes from the start line. Most people running the marathon go to downtown boston to catch the busses to the start line, but that would've meant I would've had to wake up earlier, left earlier and been driving for a lot longer. Most of the people who took the shuttle in Hopkington were locals. In fact, I sat next to a woman in her early thirties named Nicole. She's married, a mom of 2 kids and a lawyer. She was running boston as a charity runner for a fundraiser. She didn't have to qualify, but instead she gave them her credit card, had them charge it for $10,000 and then she raises that money for whichever fundraiser she chooses. What she doesn't raise, she has to cover out of pocket. But she raised the full amount. And she did this a couple of years ago as well. But she said it's always a little scary handing over her credit card and allowing them to put the 10k charge on there. Understandable. I don't think I could do that. It was fun talking to her. Apparently, there are quite a few people at the Boston marathon who are charity runners. 

Once we got to the startline area, I took a few pictures as we walked our way to the start. 

 

This is the final 'porta-potty' stop;  you can see the semi circle of porta potties in this picture, plus a line of them going down the center. 

I really didn't wait for more than several minutes while there before it was my time to start. It's about a quarter or 1/2 mile walk from the shuttles/busses to the startline, then I used the potty and got in my wave and group and then it was time. My wave began at 10:50am. The weather was perfect. It was about 50 degrees and sunny. I put on some sunscreen and was grateful I had my sunglasses. By the end it was in the low 60s. If anything, it was a little warm and I probably should've drinken a little more water...I know this because I couldn't pee; not 20 miles into the race when I tried for a minute, but I finally did about 2 hours after the race. 

The entire state of Massachusetts has the day off of work so there are thousands upon thousands of spectators and they line the streets for about the whole 26.2 miles. The crowds were amazing! They had bells and food and music and cheered you on the whole time. I was glad I choose to wear my BYU shirt because all throughout the race people would yell, "Go BYU!" which was so energizing!

Luis and Becca took this picture. I'm so grateful for my fan squad who came out to support me (I really missed having Scott there but I unknowingly booked Elisabeth's senior trip to England at the same time as the marathon and he was going with her and there wasn't anything that could be done because we got a great deal on the tickets which meant they were non-refundable). 

Luis and Becca jumped on and off the T and found me at a few different spots which was also so energizing! Lionel, who we stayed with, made me this awesome caricature of me in my running bib (Luis is holding it in the picture).

Me and cute Quincy.

I ran with over 25,000 people. My goal was to enjoy it and try to finish around 4 hours (when I qualified 2 years ago, I ran the marathon in 3 hours 31 minutes). I finished in 3 hours and 57 minutes, so just barely! I was a bit sore and achy that day, but the next day was a lot  better since we didn't have huge down hills, though I still had tight calves for a couple of days. 

I would've loved to have some great Italian food after, which Boston is known for, but instead we chose to get out of the crowd (Jamie and Lionel were able to park right near the finish line because her brother works downtown and had a permanent parking spot...which is so rare!) and I kinda felt like having eggs and pancakes so once we were out of town, we stopped at an Ihop :). Oh, and the night before the race we ate at Olive Garden. 

Becca and I flew home the next morning. My flight home was changed the month before, so I no longer had a non stop flight, but flew an hour or so to Chicago, and then flew onto SLC. This time my flight was in the morning/afternoon so I watched a movie and just slept a little bit. On my second, longer flight, the 40 something-year-old guy sitting next to me slept the whole time, except for the one time when I dug my water bottle out of my bag which was under the seat in front of me, and when I twisted the top, the valve you drink from, apparently there was a lot of pressure built up inside from the airplane and so water and mist sprayed out of the top, hitting me and my neighbor sitting next to me in the face. I felt bad, but sort of laughed as I covered my mouth in surprise at what happened and quickly apologized. He smiled a little, but I'm sure he was annoyed and then he asked, "was it just water?" "Yes! Just water. So sorry!"

Whoops! I was grateful to get home to my family (the four kids were home alone for a couple of days since my trip to Boston overlapped with Elisabeth and Scott's trip to London for a little bit). Everyone was safe and well. Prayers answered.

Boston Day 3; Easter

 Becca and I went to church with Jamie and Lionel's family Easter morning where there was a beautiful Easter service. Afterwards we drove the marathon route which took about an hour and a half; it's on slow, city roads and there was lots of traffic. From there we had some lunch at Pressed Cafe on Huntington Ave,  (I loved the food here and want to go back again; lots of healthier, yummy choices) and then we walked across the street to our Duck Tour. 

While we waited for our duck tour, I saw Shalane Flanagan walking down the street pushing a baby in stroller; though it could've been a niece or something in the stroller. Shalane Flanagan was a professional runner who retired a few years ago, just after she won first place for women in the Boston marathon. She also wrote a couple of cook books for runners with a nutrtionist friend of hers and I use a few of the recipes from that book. nutritionistI was tempted to run her down and talk to her, I even took a step towards her, but then I decided she might get sick of strangers approaching her so I stopped myself in my tracks and got back  in line with my family. 

This is a land and water tour and was about an hour and a half. I'd done a land and water tour once before in Quebec but that was back when I was in jr high so I didn't remember much. Our tour guide on this duck tour was fun and had a lot of great insights to share about the history or the city which I loved. 

The only drawback was that it was in the 50s that day and it rained a little bit and even snowed for a couple of minutes while we were on this open air bus tour, which was pretty cold. 

Today Scott and Elisabeth also arrived in London for her senior trip! I'll post more on that later. 

Happy Easter! "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." John 14:27

Boston Day 2; Hudson MA and Ogunquit Beach in Maine

 Saturday morning I went for a jog around Boone lake by Jamie's house in Hudson. It was absolutely gorgeous. Which meant I didn't have a great run because I kept stopping to take it all in. Becca and I are so grateful we got to stay with her good friend Jamie and their cute family while we were there. We loved spending time with them and they're great tour guides!

By 930 we were on the road driving to Ogunquit Beach in Maine which was about an hour and 15 minute drive. We were going to see Maine's beautiful surroundings, and to visit with Sarah Robertson, my next door neighbor from growing up. 

Sarah did PA school in Maine and then stayed. She is also a nutrionist and now as a PA she works from home as a weightloss and health and wellness doctor. We loved catching up with Sarah for a few hours. I think we all hugged at least 10 times! It was so good to be together. 

We grabbed lunch while we were there at a hotel on the beach called Anchorage, and I had some delicious fish and chips. 

Once back in Hudson, Bec, Jamie and I went for a walk by the lake. While out we stopped to visit with some neighbors who were out which was nice. 

Such a beautiful area! I could not get over it! All the green! The water! And it wasn't too hot! This is my kinda place. 

Luis and Ann got in that night from upstate NY so we met up with Luis for dinner at an Indian restaurant (Ann wasn't feeling great). They stayed in Boston for the race so we got to hang out with them for a couple more days. 

After dinner, Lionel was teaching art on zoom to one of Becca's teenage nephews so I sat in on it and learned some tips and drew some sketches, too. 

Boston Day 1

Thursday at nearly midnight, I took a redeye flight from SLC to Boston. It was about 4.5 hours. I hoped to sleep the entire flight; I didn't pull out any electronics or try to watch movies or anything, I just closed my eyes. But I only slept for about an hour. Maybe. Which meant I slept fantastic my first night in Boston! Sleep would have come easy anyway after our adventure-filled Friday in Boston. Friday morning, Jamie, Becca, the kids and I drove to the temple and walked around the grounds (it was closed for cleaning),

 

 Then we parked at a T-station and took the T into Boston.  

Our first stop was the Expo Center. It wasn't quite open yet and there was a really long line outside to get in that wrapped around a couple of blocks, so Jamie waited in line while Becca and I took Quincy in the stroller and walked down to the Boston Public library to look around for a few minutes. That library is HUGE and multiple levels. I loved that they had a teen hang out area with booths to sit out and games to play, as well as a children's area. I would love to have a library like that in our city. 

I picked up my bib at the Expo and then we went in to look at what all the running vendors were selling. I got a Boston sweatshirt and a sticker for my water bottle (though if I'd looked through my goody bag they gave me with my bib, I would've seen that they gave me 2 stickers already). Everyone there bought these light Boston marathon jackets and I didn't think I'd want one, but after walking around Boston for a couple of days and seeing all the marathon runners where them around town, I felt a little left out so I ended up ordering one online as I got on my plane to go home on Tuesday. They're $120, and with 25,000 runners, they made bank! 

After the expo center we walked through downtown boston, got delicious cookies at Levain (they're puffy/tall and they were crispy on the outside, and gooey on the inside), 

we had lunch at a vegan cafe,

walked through Boston public gardens(we loved seeing the guy playing music on his spinning contraption; my mom would've loved it! she had her own washboard music contraption with bells and a kazoo that she had Scott help make, and she loved playing it) and boston commons, Faneuil Hall,

and then walked the freedrom trail. We ended up walking 11 miles that day. I loved it. And I was glad we did it Saturday and not Sunday so that Sunday I could rest up my legs before the marathon Monday morning. One of my favorite places was the public gardens. I could spend a lot more time there just walking around, or sitting and reading or writing. 

We finished our walk with the infamous Mike's Pastry's. Becca and I each got a cannoli, which they're known for. They are huge! They had some fun flavors. I got a pistachio cannoli. But in all honesty, we didn't love them. We're not big ricotta cheese people, Becca and I. I think if we went again I'd get something else like a cupcake or a sweet bread.

USA School choir concert and Spring Break Trip prep

"And I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free. And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me...cause there ain't no doubt I love this land, God bless the USA." 

I'm sure my parents were in attendance in spirit for Nora's patriotic choir concert; and could I have seen my dad, he would have had tears in his eyes and a smile on his face. He would have been so proud. 

When people find out my dad was Mexican, and didn't come to live in the USA until he was in his thirties, the question that usually follows is, 'Do you speak Spanish?" Sadly, not fluently. Why? Dad wanted us to be American. He didn't want to confuse us. So he spoke the best English he could to us all the time (which was spainglish with a thick accent, so I understood that very well although my friends could not; But I'm determined to continue working on my spanish.). He was so proud when he finally passed the test and became a US citizen around age 70. I remember the day as I was still in High school. Happy Patriots Day on Monday!

In preparation for my trip to Boston with my siblings, I made Becca these 2 bracelets on the left since it was her birthday on April 5th. I modeled the middle one off the one my good friend Kassie got for me for my marathon. 

Since we wouldn't be home for Easter, we decided to do Easter baskets early so we did them Thursday night, just before I left (I took off that night, close to midnight). Normally we mostly do snacks and treats, but we also included a dress or tie for the kids this year since they were all sort of in need of a new one anyway. Happy Easter!