Life With The Lamphiers: Boston Marathon Trip Sunday

Sunday morning, Kevin and Adam drove us (by way of Dunkin Donuts) to Lisa’s place in Cleveland Circle. We arrived at Lisa’s at 7:40 am, dropped off our luggage and stuff, and then headed with Lisa downtown. The Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials were held in Boston this year, and I wasn’t about to miss the opportunity of seeing the best women marathoners in our country pour their hearts and souls out on the marathon course for a shot at the Beijing Olympics! The top three finishers are granted Olympic spots. I was psyched to see Deena Kastor win the race with Magdelena Lewy-Boulet coming in 2nd, and Blake Russell finishing 3rd.

I also saw several of the women featured in Runner’s World Magazine and runnersworld.com. Pretty cool! We positioned ourselves on the course in such a way that we saw the women pass us 8 times. I should also mention that before the race started, I spotted Kristin Armstrong (yes, Lance’s ex) across the street from us. She periodically writes for Runner’s World, but also has a weekly blog on runnersworld.com that I read religiously. She has a way of putting into words thoughts on running and motherhood that I can seriously relate to. Check out her archives, August 12, 2007, called “Spot On, Bertha” if you want to find out why I run and part of what motivates me. Back to the race! One of the best parts was seeing the running icon Joan Benoit Samuelson run her last competitive race. She wasn’t racing to qualify, she was running her own race. She recently turned 50 years old, and wanted to run a 2:50 to celebrate 50. She did it! 2:49-something. Every time she ran past us (in her yellow Livestrong apparel), the crowd went wild for her! She definitely got the most props out there, more than Deena. It was great to see the respect that the audience had for her.

What a morning. After the race, we headed back to Lisa’s. But first, I had to buy my official 2008 Boston Marathon jacket! This year, adidas’ Boston complimentary color was red, my favorite color, so I had to have one. The jacket is black with red adidas stripes, and the Boston Marathon Logo on the front AND back. Yeah! Last year the color was orange, like the ING orange. Yuck… I scored the properly fit jacket and we went back to chill at Lisa’s. Lisa worked so hard to prepare for the 2nd Annual Boston Marathon Pasta Party at her apartment. She slaved away over two lasagnas while I sat on my tuffit like Miss Muffit resting my legs. (After all, I was standing all morning. Not good the day before a big race!) We chatted away while she cooked and (sort of) followed the recipe. Just kidding. I know you’re reading this, Lis. So this is a great opportunity for me to say, “Lisa, I love you. You are such a wonderful friend and a wonderful person. I had such a great time hanging out. It was just like old times, but even better. Eric really enjoyed everything, too. I can’t thank you enough for having me at your place and then cooking for a crowd just so I can have the opportunity to see everyone. You ROCK.” The pasta crowd came at 4:00 pm. Kara and Mike came with Maddie, Donna and Chris came with Baby Rich, Sona and Ben came with baby-on-board, (Sona looked fantastic!) Zido was there, Bets came with her hubby John, and some of Lisa’s Boston friends came.

The food was delicious and the company couldn’t be beat! Eric and I just really enjoyed the whole evening. I had such an amazing time catching up with everyone. What a GREAT group of friends. I can’t say enough good things about everyone. It really made us miss home and being around people we “grew up” with at Clarkson. If we were ever to head north, we’d only land in Boston. We will see you all next year, my friends for the 2009, 113th version of the Boston Marathon weekend!