I ran the Boston Marathon!! Kinda . . .

Today was the Boston Marathon, and although I lived in Boston last year I missed it. I was actually at home visiting my family for my birthday. So this year, I was really excited to go and cheer on for a little bit. It brought back memories of when Emily and I went to Moab to cheer on some friends in a half marathon. We were by far everyone's favorite "cheerers". I made up a few catchy cheers. So catchy in fact that the 80 year old woman next to us picked them up and started chanting with us. But I digress, back to the Boston Marathon . . .
It was so inspiring to watch these people run, limp, and walk past us. We were at the 22 mile mark, so they still had a couple of miles to go. You could see the exhaustion on their faces. We saw a couple of interesting people: men dressed in tutus, people dressed in full football uniform, etc. We also saw some somewhat famous people, like Team Hoyt. We tried to make it in time to cheer on Lance Armstrong, but we missed him.
Later on in the day I decided to go try out my new running shoes. I set off on my usual route, which coincidently ended up being part of the marathon course. By the time I went for my run, most of the runners were finished with the race. There were still those stalwart folks who were trying to finish. They were walking for the most part, but the scattered crowd that stuck around was still cheering them on. I ran on the other side of the street on Commonwealth Ave. into Newton for a couple of miles and then when I turned around to head back, I decided . . . what the heck, why not! When am I ever going to have a chance to run with Boston Marathon runners ON THE COURSE!?!? So, I jumped onto the course at an open spot and started running. The best part was the fact that people were cheering me on . . . haha. I got orange slices, water, a wet sponge, and numerous cheers and high fives. People thought I was some girl who finally got her second wind on "Heartbreak Hill." It was awesome. After about two miles on the course, I quickly hopped off and ran up a side street toward home.
I just wish that someone could have been there to enjoy the moment with me. Or at least to verify how absolutely cool I looked. I'll add that to my list of favorite memories in Boston.