Marathon

My daughter Briana loves to run.  She’s always loved going fast, even when crawling was how she got around.  You could say she was born to go fast, since my wife ran track in college.  Fortunately, Briana got her speed and not mine.

Given all of this, it was no surprise that one of her 2024 highlights was seeing the Boston Marathon in person.  Even at just two years old, her attention span for watching the runners was incredible. The experience wore her out so much that it’s still the last time she fell asleep in the car.  So, we knew we had to go back this year.

Like last year, we opted to watch from Natick – far from the starting line crowds, finish line crowds, and close to home.  But this year we decided to try out the area around the West Natick MBTA stop, a couple of miles earlier on the course than Natick’s Town Common.  It ended up being the perfect spot.  There were no fences, so you really felt close to the action.  The crowd size was easy to navigate and find a front row spot.  And there was plenty of green grass, perfect for a little running around ourselves to blow off some steam.

I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but Briana had an even better time than last year.  The anticipation surely helped, as she knew exactly what we were going to see.  She was so excited as the first wheelchair athletes and professional runners started to arrive. As each crested a small hill and came into view, she would excitedly turn to us and announce that she could see another one.  She didn’t want to leave, and we ended up staying for a couple of hours, long enough to see probably half the runners go by.  The only bad thing about the experience is that we have to wait 364 days to do it again.