I took two hours out of the middle of the day and stayed at work late yesterday so I could watch a little of the Boston Marathon. Arlene and I walked from our house to Commonwealth Avenue, and back. That gives us two miles walking, a lot less distance than the runners have.
It seemed to us that there were somewhat fewer people watching where we were than in other years. We found a place on the curb just a block down from Center Street, about mile 19.5 of the race. Some wheelchair racers had already gone by, so we didn’t get to see the wheelchair leader. Racers were few and far between when we got there. You could tell that a wheelchair was approaching by the cheering a block away.
The elite women runners started half an hour before the elite men this year. They were preceded by a pace car, police motorcycles, and a truck full of photographers, none of which I have a picture of, and heralded by a couple of news helicopters.
They came by us just at 1:19, having started at 11:30. The elite men had made up about 14 minutes on them, coming by at 1:35. You can (barely, way over on the left) see the pace clock on the pace car in this photo, which I took to show the grandstand truck which precedes the leading men. I don’t know how the runners like the exhaust in front of them the whole way!
The grandstand truck is full of press photographers with serious optical equipment
…and right behind are the two men leading the race at this point. There may have been a camera or two hanging from the motor scooter to take leg-level shots.
