62. April 18th, 2011 Picture.

Happy Marathon Monday!  I seriously love Patriots Day, I mean hi, it's in my Top 10 Days of the year!  Ratty and I woke up bright and early and headed to Eastern Standard around 9am to grab a seat in the bar and to have some brunch.  So to answer the question from the last 'Picture A Day' post, YES we did make it out of the house on time!

We ended up getting their a few mere seconds before the rush started, though the restaurant was pretty full already.  We got a seat right at the high top tables in the bar area, facing both TVs [a MUST for the 11am Red Sox game!].  Did you know that the Patriots Day game is the only MLB game that's allowed to start before noon?  I guess the whole point of it is to get everyone into Fenway before the race starts, which makes a lot of sense, since Boston is typically chaotic.  OR it's because they want the game getting out right at the peak of the marathon, which is totally plausible too.  When all the fans descend into Kenmore it is usually when all the runners are coming through, which means there are about 9 million people everywhere. 

Ratty and I enjoyed some brunch and a few Grey Lady's while watching the Sox game and marathon coverage.  When the lead female and male runners started approaching Kenmore, about 2 miles or so out, Ratty and I made our way outside to watch them run by.  They stagger the starts, with wheelchairs going first, then women elite, followed by men elite and lastly everyone else.

It's almost eerie to see Comm Ave empty, there are typically hundreds of cars going in every direction.

1 mile to go!

Excellent IS made in Boston!  Does anyone else think that it should have read 'excellence'?  No, just me?  Okay, cool.

Eeeee here come the women!

Seriously these ladies were FLYING!  I cannot believe how fast they were running 25 MILES into the race!  They'd been keeping a blazing place through the whole thing, I cannot even fathom how people can run that fast.  Wait, I can hardly fathom why people run AT ALL, let alone that fast!

There they go, up Comm Ave and towards Copley to the finish line!

Here come the men, setting a ridiculous pace and passing us just shy of the 2 hour mark.  I think the world record is a 2 hour 4 minute marathon and this year the Boston Marathon winner beat it!  It doesn't officially count as a World Record though because the course of our marathon goes slightly downhill.  Basically the race needs to start and stop at the same level, otherwise it doesn't count.  Somehow they think that because the finish line is 2 inches lower than the start of the race the runners somehow have an advantage.  I highly doubt that!

The two mens' leaders.

Bye guys - good luck!

As soon as the runners past, we scooted back inside to watch them duke it out for first place.  The last leg of the marathon weaves in and out of the streets in the Back Bay, so it's always a fight to the finish, where people pass each other, fall behind and then surge ahead again.  It always makes for a pretty exciting ending!

We spent the whole afternoon hanging out at Eastern Standard and met up with Ratty's childhood friend Sully and his brother, who had been at the Sox game.  We had a great time - Happy Marathon Monday!