Boston Marathon

[catnapper]

My son is running in the Boston Marathon Monday!!!

So everyone, please send oodles of "Run, Forrest, run!" Vibes to him!
He's listed in the top 2500 runners. That is in the top 10% of runners :) And this was his first year running marathons. I personally think he's crazy -- I don't like driving 26 miles, let alone running it! :D :p

Here's a photo of him from one of his many races... actually 2 years ago. I'm a bad mommy who only has one photo of him running on her photobucket account :o
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v632/kasdesign/n38805647_31225993_6198.jpg

[lvpets2002]

:) Well he looks to be in shape for it.. I as well in my much much younger years was a runner.. It was easy then to do 20 miles.. I would be lucky to do 2 miles now..:D Hey Best of Luck to Him..

[Karen]

The Marathon Goes right by our street! What will his bib number be? We'll look for him and cheer extra loud! (What's his name - yelling out Go Cameron's Uncle! might confuse people!) The neighbor children usually hand out water, we are right before Newton City Hall and Heartbreak Hill!

[lvpets2002]

:) WoW Karen sounds if you will have a front row seat.. That would be exciting.. I always watch it on TV.. Now I thought this was always on Saturday or Sunday.. But this one is on Monday..:confused: Am I thinking of a differant Marathon??

[Karen]

It is always, always on a Monday. It's Patriot's Day, celebrating the "shot heard 'round the world" that happened a few miles from here and started the American Revolution, but in the towns along the route, it's Marathon Monday for sure!

[lvpets2002]

:) Ok I have just got my days crossed.. I just know its this Marathon that I watch every year.. Now does NewYork NY have a Marathon too??
It is always, always on a Monday. It's Patriot's Day, celebrating the "shot heard 'round the world" that happened a few miles from here and started the American Revolution, but in the towns along the route, it's Marathon Monday for sure!

[catnapper]

The Marathon Goes right by our street! What will his bib number be? We'll look for him and cheer extra loud! (What's his name - yelling out Go Cameron's Uncle! might confuse people!) The neighbor children usually hand out water, we are right before Newton City Hall and Heartbreak Hill!
Oh my goodness, how cool!!! His bib # is 2348, I think he'd get a HUGE kick out of being called Cameron's uncle! He'd even laugh harder if you shouted "Go Uncle Buck!" because thats what Cameron yells out at his races! :p They actually wanted to bring Cam because he has so much fun at his races, but they knew it would be mass chaos at this one.

I am so proud of him. I wish I could be there for him, but I can't stand crowds and would be having a day-long panic attack. He might be running the Broad Street Run in Philly in a few weeks with my dad.... and even that "small" race is too crowded for me to sit with my mom. :( Oh well, Callie and the kitties appreciate having me home with them :)

[Laura's Babies]

How exciting. Karen, you could make signs for him and place them along his route! Wouldn't he be surprised!

[Karen]

How exciting. Karen, you could make signs for him and place them along his route! Wouldn't he be surprised!

Completely not allowed, trust me - they have already been cleaning up the whole route, setting up porta-potties, fences, etc. for days! But I and the neighbors will watch for his bib# and WILL yell "Go Uncle Buck!" really loud! He won't have any idea what I look like, so I won't bother to bring fruit or anything for him, as it would slow him down to look for me!

[Karen]

Oh, dear - Kim, could you doublecheck that bib number? I went to look that up, and that one belongs to a Jean-Michel Pelletier from Quebec! With the bib number, we can see where along the race he is, and make sure to be out there for when he is gonna pass by, so I want to make sure we get the right one.

[catnapper]

Oh, dear - Kim, could you doublecheck that bib number? I went to look that up, and that one belongs to a Jean-Michel Pelletier from Quebec! With the bib number, we can see where along the race he is, and make sure to be out there for when he is gonna pass by, so I want to make sure we get the right one.


Hmmm... thats certainly not Uncle Buck! ;) He said he'd be wearing an orange and black jesey. Now you know as much as I do!

[Karen]

Hmmm... thats certainly not Uncle Buck! ;) He said he'd be wearing an orange and black jesey. Now you know as much as I do!

Okay, but do get that bib number - given that with the thousands of people running, even if he was wearing a zebra-striped jersey, he'd not be the only one, and orange and black are Newton North's high school colors as well! Newton North is less than a mile from the Marathon route and very near me!

Did you know you can track his progress online the day of the race?

http://www.bostonmarathon.org/

and if you go here:
http://www.bostonmarathon.org/2009/cf/Public/EntryLists.cfm

you can find a runner name or bib number - which is how I know my friend Heather isn't running this year. But her heel has been giving her trouble for the past year, so I figured she wouldn't be.

[Karen]

So anyone who wants to track Catnapper's son's race, you can type his bib number - which is 2324 into the Boston marathon site's tracking part tomorrow. When he's approaching mile 20, he'll be hearing us cheer! I'd go write "Go Tony" on the street in my sidewalk chalk (I am sooo tempted), but I would definitely get run over - Commonwealth Ave. is never without cars entirely - and probably arrested. And it'd be all smudged before he got there anyway, as the wheelchair racers start earlier by i think two hours, and there's a slight downhill part where we are, so they will be going as fast as they can to build up momentum for Heartbreak Hill!

[Cinder & Smoke]

So anyone who wants to track Catnapper's son's race,
you can type his bib number - which is 2324 -
into the Boston marathon site's tracking part tomorrow.
When he's approaching mile 20, he'll be hearing us cheer!

And if you want to *watch* him run ...
Check out the Live Marathon Coverage on >>>

http://www.universalsports.com/SportSelect.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=23000&KEY=&SPID=13048&SPSID=105671
Coverage starts at 9:30 am EASTERN Daylight Time

Map of the Marathon route with landmarks shown >>>

http://www.baa.org/images/BostonMarathon/CourseMap.gif

GO Uncle Buck / Tony :D

[cassiesmom]

Go, Uncle Buck #2324!!

[catnapper]

How exciting! We've been watching him all day. He passed Karen a bit ago --- I think I heard her yell for him in Pennsylvania! :D :p

[Karen]

We (me, the mom next door and two kids) didn't see his number pass us, but we yelled for lots of people, a couple of the guys in orange and black had their numbers obscured, so we may have seen him and not known it was him! He's almost done ...

He IS done!

Official time: 3:05:39
Overall placement: 1975
Placement within gender: 1872
Placement within division: 1335

[Karen]

Kim, I am sorry we didn't spot him. We did look really hard - Asia and Windsor and their Mom and I all were looking for his number. It was pretty cold out there, and some runners had jackets and hats on. In the middle photo there is a man in red, it probably isn't him, but often we couldn't see numbers, and they went by pretty quickly.

The first is the eventual winner - crossing the crosswalk, near us!

The man running with the American flag was very noticeable - and must have amazing arm strength and endurance - he had at that point been running for almost 20 miles, and he was carrying the flag in one hand!

There were many Army folks in full packs walking the course - the guys Paul got a picture of clapped each of our hands as they passed - the kids and me!

Enjoy!

[Laura's Babies]

WOW Karen! Those are some great shots!!! That had to be fun!!!

[Karen]

Thanks, Paul took the pictures, as he's a better photographer than I! It is fun, every year - we like when the runners have their names or cities or countries on their short, so we can yell "Go Mike!" or "Go Alaska" and we yelled really loudly for the two people in Iowa shirts, as Lydia (mom next door) is from Iowa!

I spoke to Kim's hubby by phone, and next year we'll be better organized for this!

[phesina]

I RAN the Boston Marathon... in 1984!

It took me 4 1/2 hours, but I finished.. I remember getting to Wellesley, the halfway point, and thinking "Someone has already won this by now!" As I recall, it was an English guy named Geoff Smith, and it took him just over two hours.

[RICHARD]

I just saw the race replay and they announcers were talking about Wellesley (sp?) and some place called Newton?

Next year I hope someone can make a HUGE - Hi Pet Talk banner and tell us where they will be so we can wave?

[Karen]

We are usually mentioned as "as the runners pass through the hills of Newton ..." or the dreaded "Newton's Heartbreak hill" but honest, there's more to us than that! :) I have never watched the race on TV - do they do "crowd shots along the way?

[RICHARD]

We are usually mentioned as "as the runners pass through the hills of Newton ..." or the dreaded "Newton's Heartbreak hill" but honest, there's more to us than that! :) I have never watched the race on TV - do they do "crowd shots along the way?

This year the race was on the VERSUS channel. From what I understand many cable companies do not offer it on their lineup.


As the runners move along- the 1st place women and men are what the cameras follow. There are crowd shots-the best place to get on camera would probably be at the inside of a turn. The runners get close to th barriers and you would be able to see and ID someone there.

Or you could run out and tackle a runner as they go by. That is good for some face time!:eek::o:D

I kid, I kid.

-----------

I have always loved the fun stuff that happens in a neighborhood like that.

I went to see the LA Marathon one year and was blown away. Too much fun for humans to have?:cool:

[Karen]

We see the camera trucks - that's how you know when the lead runners are approaching in each division - two police motorcycles, then the media truck, then the actual runners. Just didn't know if they ever bothered with the sides of the crowds.

[RICHARD]

I had to laugh today while I was shoe shopping.

The local sporting goods store has really great deals on shoes.

The have tons of shoes that were either display models or shoes that were separated from the boxes.

I was at the men's table and there was this pair of really bizarre running shoes. The didn't have a heel/sole- it had hard pieces of plastic in the shape of the letter 'c', that made up the heel, like the old style leaf spring/suspension on a car. Hokay, the original thing that caught my attention was the size.

19.

I was with my sis and she took a pic of my shoe and this running shoe side by side. I finally know what my feet looked like when I was a kid! There was also a pair of size 16 shoes, but they weren't as funny looking!

I thought about getting noticed during a marathon and thought these shoes would be a way to do it!


You just start at the back of the pack and literally 'shoe' the runner's away from you!:eek::rolleyes:


Sorry, that was a bad pun, made worse when you are standing, staring at pair of giant shoes, laughing like an idiot.:rolleyes: