Greetings Deads,
I would like to start by thanking all the Deads who made our stay in
Boston so pleasant. Robin, thank you for putting together the dinner on
Saturday night and for giving us a ride back to the hotel. Tim, thanks so
much for the wonderful bagel brunch, and Mark, thanks for putting
together the dinner on Sunday night.
Dennis and I arrived in Boston at around 4:00 p.m. on Saturday The minute
we stepped outside to catch a cab to the hotel, I realized the weather
reports were for real. I couldn&Mac226;t believe it was hotter than Houston!
After unloading our bags, we caught the T to Big City, an excellent
choice for the Dead dinner. It was great running into Conrad and Joan
while en route and then seeing all the other Deads at dinner. I really
enjoyed seeing Robin&Mac226;s photo album that she put together from Comrades.
Back at the hotel, we hoped for a good night&Mac226;s sleep. Unfortunately we
had some rowdy neighbors who were up all night. Perhaps it was Sutah and
company (?) Of course, I couldn&Mac226;t say for sure because we never really
saw anyone enter or exit the room...hmmmmvery mysterious. Fortunately
the following night was much quieter. After going to the expo on Saturday
morning, Dennis and I headed to Tim&Mac226;s for the bagel brunch. Julia and Joe
were there, as was Harriet and her brother Sheldon. Connie was there and
she embarked upon a quest for glycerol, "a super hydrator" as she kept
describing it to every place she called to inquire if they carried it.
She called GNC and some local drug stores and other athletic stores, all
to no avail. Harriet said that glycerol is used to shrink the brain when
there is brain swelling. Perhaps that could explain why Connie only just
discovered that her one and only bottle was empty. : - )
Anyway, we all shared lot of laughs over the glycerol and although I
could write much more, it was one of those things where you just had to
be there. Sunday evening we joined Mark Frommer and MarkO and some of the
other Northwest Deads for an Italian dinner in the North End. I love the
directions people give in the Northeast. Dennis and I took the T and
exited at the designated stop. I asked Dennis where we were supposed to
go from there and he said the restaurant was on Salem. I said, "What&Mac226;s
the cross street." He said that Salem should "just be there." I asked
someone at a local business if I could use their phone to call the
restaurant for directions. The gentleman who answered the phone said,
"Just go to the North End and you can&Mac226;t miss it. It will be right there."
Yeah right sure. Okay. A woman standing nearby while I was asking for
directions said she knew exactly where the restaurant was located. She
said to head towards a sign that read North End near a liquor store sign
and, once again, we would justsee it. Okay. So we walked towards the
sign and sure enough they were all right. Salem was, well, right there.
But it sure sounded funny hearing that over and over again. Dinner was
delicious but I couldn&Mac226;t eat all the food because the portions were huge.
But I&Mac226;m glad Dennis got to carbo load really good that night. And we got
a good night&Mac226;s sleep. Monday morning Dennis was up early to catch the bus
to Hopkinton. I stumbled out of bed to wish him luck and remind him not
to start too fast and to be careful. Then I hung around the hotel for a
little while since it was still quite early. When I headed out to the
16.5 mile mark or thereabouts, people were beginning to stream in on the
T to head to the baseball game. I made sure I got to the 16.5 mile mark
nice and early so that I could get a good seat before the rest of the
crowd arrived and stood three deep in front of me. That&Mac226;s pretty much
standard procedure I&Mac226;ve found based on past experience. It was hot
outside! As it got closer to the time when I expected to see Dennis, I
got up and moved to the outside of the crowd so Dennis wouldn&Mac226;t miss me.
I saw that he was slower than usual which was good. Perhaps he was
running smart after all. He came by and gave me a thumbs up and I thought
he looked like he was handling the heat as well as could be expected. But
I also knew that he still had a long way to go and that a lot could
happen. I scurried with the rest of the crowd to catch the T back to the
finish line area. For those of you who have not been spectators in
Boston, I have to tell you what a madhouse it is at the finish line.
There are crowds and crowds, no make that walls of virtually immovable
people. I made mistakes in trying to get to the finish line and did not
see Dennis finish. I wanted to make sure that I met him at the meet and
greet area. I waited and waited and kept hearing sirens while I waited.
Finally we connected and I congratulated him on a smart and well run
race. He finished! And he didn&Mac226;t get carted to medical. The rest of the
story you know from his report, so I will not duplicate it here.
The flight was really crowded on the way back but was running on time. It
was a wonderful trip but it sure was good to get back to be home and back
in Houston. Dennis says that this will be his last marathon but we shall
see. Congratulations to one and all who ran Boston on Monday. The weather
was brutal and I think you deserve two medals!
Happy trails,
Gaye Davis