I mentioned the other day that I got to see the Boston Marathon for the first time last week, in fact my first big road race ever of any size or stature. Up til now the only road races I've seen are the five I've participated in, and none of those were exactly large. The one in Chicago last year was in the several hundreds, and the ones here in town were between 100 and 250 or so. So to see 20,000 runners go by is quite a sight. In fact, it took so long I didn't even probably see more than half of them go by. What was interesting was, at our outpost around mile 6, just east of downtown Framingham, the elite runners were already way ahead of the pack. After that initial group of 10 Kenyans plus one or two others went by, there were just ones and twoses until almost ten minutes later when you really started to see people running shoulder to shoulder, and then it just didn't stop. By that point the family was bored silly and was headed back for the car, but I stayed a few extra minutes to see some more people go by. Next time the thing to do would be to find a grassy knoll somewhere in the shade (probably further down in Natick or Wellesley, and bring a couple of lawn chairs and settle down for a longer stretch. If I can get the day off again, I'll be there.



I just saw on one of the Runners World e-mail newsletters somebody quoted as saying the best way to get motivated to do a marathon is to go see one, especially a big one. I still don't think I'm that motivated, because the distance seems so formidable for someone at my advanced age (bearing in mind well over half the runners in the Boston Marathon are over 40). But I suppose you work up to it. After doing a few 5K's, a 10K seems doable. And after you do one of those, chances are a half-marathon seems within the realm of possibility. And after that, well then the marathon is just doing a half-marathon twice in a row, so what's the big deal? Boston is a tough one to strive for as a first marathon, too, because, even though it's technically a downhill course, there are a lot of uphills along the way, especially in the second half. People tend to favor marathons like Disney or Chicago that don't have any hills at all, although it seems like running through an unfamiliar area would make it harder to gauge your progress mentally (if you've lived around here and you're running down 135 in Framingham, you can be thinking "only four more towns to go!", instead of "still 20 more miles of this?").



A few weeks ago I joined the Rails to Trails Conservancy because they'd sent something in the mail for an introductory offer that seemed too good to pass up. When we were in Springfield last year, Scott and I rode the "Lost Bridge" trail on the eastern edge of Springfield and I was really smitten with what a nice way that was to ride a bike, no serious hills, no traffic, just a couple of road crossings, and it was actually pretty scenic for central Illinois. Around here the most significant one is the Minuteman Trail that goes through Lexington, and I'd like to try that and some of the other local ones out this year, as a way to get out on the bike and not have to worry about the usual terrain in this area, plus the cars. As it turns out, right here in Marlborough they've started one called the Assabet River Rail Trail, and while it's only three-quarters of a mile right now there are big plans to extend it all the way to Acton. I ran on it this morning, and for running or biking you can't beat being on these tree-lined, undulating trails instead of the sidewalks or the regular streets. Chloe's just about at the point where she could do that distance, so if we get a weekend where both days are nice, we may go out there and try it out.