Greetings from the Land of the Lurkers,

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS to all the Deads who ran Boston!

Sorry for the delay in posting my spectator report.

Last week I traveled with Dennis Halpin to Boston to watch him and thousands

of others, including many Deads, run the Boston Marathon. Due to Passover,

Dennis didn't plan on attending any of the events other than the Monday

night birthday dinner. I decided to keep him company and use the time to

relax and regroup since things have been a bit hectic lately. Sorry I missed

the brunch and didn't get to see Val, Robin, and many other Deads. I heard

it was a lot of fun! I did, however, get to see a lot of other Deads on

Monday night but I'm getting ahead of myself. The weather turned out to be

beautiful. I decided to head out at about 11:00 a.m. on Monday morning to

catch the train to the 16 or 17 mile mark. I told Dennis earlier that I

would try to be at that spot but wasn't sure how things would work out

between traffic and crowds. I ran into a wall of people headed to the

ballgame as I was heading in the opposite direction. As it turns out, I was

able to camp out just before the 17 mile mark in time to see the elite

runners. I chatted with a nice group of people from New York while waiting.

I managed to snap a picture of the first of the men as they came by. These

guys move so fast, yet make it look so effortless. I was in total awe of

them. I was not as well prepared when the women raced by and only managed to

get a picture of the back of their heads as they quickly passed. Dennis had

given me his anticipated splits and it was getting close to the time when he

should be passing if things were going according to plan. Having only run

one marathon but having heard about and witnessing several others, I know

that things don't always work out that way, so I was getting a little antsy

and concerned. I really wanted Dennis to have a good race. Runners were

passing in huge groups and I was having difficulty picking anyone out from

the crowd. I had a list of Deads but just couldn't single out anyone. Dennis

wore his Texas shorts but so did a lot of other Texans. At about 2 hours and

15 minutes (about a minute ahead of schedule), I spotted Dennis and called

his name. To my sheer amazement he managed to get to me and grabbed my hand

as he went racing by. But I knew he still had a long way to go and that he

had not yet hit Heartbreak Hill. However, on the positive side, he was

headed towards Wellesley and I knew he would get a surge of energy there! So

all I could do was make my way back to the finish line. Apparently a lot of

other folks decided to do the same thing. I have to give the organizers a

great deal of credit for having extra trains running. I was able to get back

with no problem. But then it got crazy. I was trying to find my way to the

finish line area and the crowd was huge! Finally I spied an area where I

could stand behind a couple of people and, if I stood on my tiptoes, I had a

good view of the runners. It turned out I was about 2/10 of a mile from the

finish line. I wanted to get closer but I knew it would be impossible to

find a spot close enough to the street for Dennis to see me. As it was, I

figured he would probably be too focused to even register as he ran by this

time. While waiting I was yelling and screaming at all the other runners

trying to offer whatever encouragement or energy I could. It always amazes

me to see the wide variation in how runners look when they get this close to

the finish line. Finally I spotted Dennis and yelled his name as loud as I

could. He was on the other side of the street but he managed to turn his

head and actually waved at me. Absolutely incredible! Then I tried to find

my way to the reunion area. That was a zoo! I heard that the reunion area

was just beyond the finish line area but when I headed that way, I ran into

a wall of people. No one was moving and I learned very quickly that the road

was closed. I followed some locals into a Lord & Taylor's where we took the

escalator up to the second floor and exited to get to another street. That

was crazy. I had visions of the whole crowd following us like a herd of

sheep. Fortunately that didn't happen. Only about ten of us took that route.

Finally I was outside on another street trying to find my way to the reunion

area. Eventually I got there and stood by the letter "H." I heard Dennis

call my name and I could see he was really spent. I told him he did great! I

was so proud of him considering where he was six months ago with a broken

foot. We began to snake our way back to the hotel, stopping at one point to

get Dennis into his warmup pants since he was cold and his teeth were

chattering. Dennis showered and changed and was like a new man (with a

slight limp ;-p). We then proceeded to the big birthday bash for Dennis

and Mike Sheldon who both had birthdays that day. At Vinny Testa's, we met

up with a lot of other Deads & company. Mike, thank you once again for

making the birthday arrangements. What fun! It was great seeing everyone.

Sam, it was nice visiting with you too. I told our server that we had two

birthdays at our table. She brought two pieces of cake with a candle in each

one. With the candle still lit, Dennis jumped up shouting, "Leg cramp, leg

cramp, leg cramp." I jump up to see if I can help and almost catch my hair

on fire! ;-d Lucky for me all I got was a little sticky sauce from

around the cake in my hair.

What a way to top off an incredible day. Even though I didn't run, I was

able to live vicariously by watching and later reading all the wonderful

posts. Connie and Sally, you are both my inspiration, although I doubt I'll

ever qualify for Boston.

Congratulations once again to one and all! Looking forward to Albuquerque!

Happy trails,

Gaye Davis ;o)

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