Boston Trip Postcard Day 1

Greetings from Boston!

Scott Smith, Kellyn Taylor and I flew into Boston on Wednesday night for a few days in Beantown to tour the Boston Marathon course and run a couple of indoor mile races at BU (they’re running the miles, not me!).

The trip was pretty smooth though I got worried when we picked up our rental car as I’m not really the best driver to begin with much less in one of busiest cities in the country. The google maps lady told me where to go though, I listened, and we made it to our hotel unharmed. That hotel by the way, happens to be on Boylston St. We knew we were driving along the finish straightaway as we pulled up and then as we opened the doors we realized we parked ON the finish line! Fate? Good luck? Not sure…but we took a picture to prove it happened!

Thursday morning it was time to get our course tour on. Scott didn’t have a morning run (more on that later) so Kellyn and I took the T out to the 17-mile mark. I took a pic of the Fenway T Stop on the way out just cause…well…it’s Fenway.

Once we got on the course we quickly realized we had a tailwind which was nice, particularly for me since getting from 17 all the way to the finish without Kellyn dropping me was not a given. But really, it was nice to run the Newton Hills, talk about the race a little bit and have Kellyn start to mentally prepare for Boston. Once we got up and over the hills those last 5 miles of the course are pretty darn friendly so I did in fact make it all the way to the finish.

After the run it was off to a much-needed lunch at Chipotle. Much needed because I just ran my longest run of 2018, yes, but also much-needed because we ate at a salad restaurant last night. That’s right–salads only. I was very confused but “when in Rome” I suppose so I did indeed eat a salad (well most of it).

In the afternoon I did actually do a good bit of work I swear. Proof will come out next week as I wrote HOKA NAZ Elite Boston Marathon Training Plans that will be available on Final Surge!! But on my way to Starbucks I did pop in Marathon Sports on Boylston and buy the final print edition of Track and Field News. Took a pic to mark the occasion (notice Johnny Kelley looking over my shoulder–staged on purpose by yours truly for artistic effect).

The evening proved a little more humorous than we intended (I mean I guess we didn’t really intend for any humor now that I think about it). Anyway, Kellyn and I took the T to the Boston University Track. She had a little shakeout run plus some drills and strides. Scott, meanwhile, had a 4 mile run to be followed by a short leg speed session and then a 4 mile cool-down so he ran to the track. On our way Scott called and said there was still a track meet going on at the track. We had been told the track would be open at 6 and it was about 5:45 so we didn’t think much of it. When we got to the track it was empty. No track meet. Which…is when we realized Scott had run to a completely different track! To be fair you can’t swing a dead cat in Boston without hitting an indoor track. But still…the meet is at BU. Why wouldn’t you run to the BU Track? Welp, he didn’t. He was at the Reggie Lewis Center. Coaching lesson learned. Tell the athletes to go to the track where the meet is being held!! All’s well that ends well as he made it to the track and got some solid strides in. Plus, we got to see our late friend David Torrence’s name on the Facility Record board which I thought was super cool so I took a picture of it.

I suppose that’s it for tonight. I’ve had a burger and I’m ready for bed. Hit you guys back tomorrow…hopefully after a big mile PR for Kellyn!!

– BEN

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