Boston Marathon Weekend 2024 (Part 1 - Travel with mom)

 I decided to break this post into 2 parts because there is just so much to share about Boston. 💛💙

First, my mom went with me to Boston.  Several have asked why my husband didn't go.  Well, there are several reasons for that and I'll just give a few ... first... his knees have really went downhill over the last couple of years and he has a ton of pain just walking and trouble climbing stairs, second... he told me several months back that he knew I loved to travel and he loved for me to do that, but for me not to ask him to go, and third.. he rarely goes to races with me anyway.  That's just not his scene.  So I asked my mom which I was thrilled to do because I love our mother - daughter trips. 💗  I feel very blessed to still have her where we can go.  So many of my friends have lost their mothers.  💔

So mom and I left on Thursday, April 11, 2024 traveling to Boston.  Neither of us had ever been to Boston so I had several things lined out for us to do so we could try to pack in the most things in a short time. 😍  Thursday was basically an all day travel day by the time you drive to New Orleans, Fly to Boston, and get to the hotel and get settled.  

My friend Penny had shown me a pic of this shirt and I just had to get it from etsy. 

Hotel  (The Godfrey)

Beautiful Church we saw on our walk to Boston Chops for Supper. 

Friday I had a walking tour of the Freedom trail booked.  All week I had been weather stalking and the 100% chance of rain never changed for Friday 😞  But there was no other time we could change the tour too.  By then tours were sold out all weekend.  So we hoped for the best.  I actually kept expecting an email from the tour company saying they had canceled our tour, but never got one.  So we walked to the meeting place with our rain jackets and umbrella.  Our group consisted of like 10 people so it was a small group.  The tour guide was real sweet.  The weather WAS NOT so sweet!  One minute it would be no rain and then next a massive downpour ... AND ... the WIND... OH my it was horrible.  Wind gust up to 20-35 mph!  My mom was literally holding on to me at times hoping she wouldn't get blown away.  It tore up her umbrella which she finally quit trying to fix and trashed it. 😂  I would love to have a redo on this tour in good weather!  We did see several things, but it was hard to enjoy them in the weather.  The tour consisted of the following:  We started at the Boston Foundation Monument, then went to the following.. Massachusetts State House, Boston Common, Park Street Church, Granary Burying Ground, King's Chapel, King's chapel burying ground, Statue of Benjamin Franklin, Old city hall, Old Corner Bookstore, Old South meeting house, Old State house, Boston Massacre Site, Stature of Samuel Adams, Union Oyster house, The Paul Revere House, Paul Revere Statue, Copp's hill burying ground, and Copp's Hill Terrance (overlooks the Charles River, and 2 major landmarks: The USS Constitution and Bunker Hill Monument).   

Notice all the water all over the ground.. my boots were soaked!

Paul Revere's house

Where the Boston Massacarre happen

Our little tour guide

The tour ended around 1pm.  We were both starved and I had planned on us grabbing a quick sandwich and heading to the race expo because it was only open till 6pm and I wanted to get there before they sold out of things.  Well, due to the weather we decided to go inside a restaurant and sit down a bit to have lunch.  We had some nice pasta at a place our tour guide recommended and then hit up Mike's pastries for a Cannoli. 💓

We made it to the expo finally around 3pm.  I was so worried there would be a huge line to get in because everyone had told me to be prepared for that.  I guess the weather changed that because there was no line and we walked right in and got my bib! 😍 but once we walked on into the expo.. Well, I think that is where everyone was at trying to stay in out of the weather.  It was shoulder to shoulder trying to walk around and SO HOT!  People were everywhere.  The lines were so long for the photo props they had there.  But I told mom that it would probably be my only time to run Boston so we had to stand in line a several of the lines so I could get a picture. 😍  Just as we were about to leave and walk out, I heard some voices coming from the back of the room where they had a small stage and some chairs.  I decided to go check it out and I'm so glad I did!  It was MEB!  So we sat and got to hear the last few minutes of his interview and then he said he would stay and sign autographs for anyone that wanted one.  I was in a good spot in the area they said to form the line so of course I had to get in line.  It was wonderful meeting him in person.  He signed the front of my bib which I'll keep forever! 💙💛  We finally made our way out of the convention center and back to our hotel pretty beat.  😁

Walking back from Expo to hotel we found the Finish line and Old South Church which had a blessing of runners on Sunday.  I wish I could have gone to that too, but it was the same time as Charity brunch and then the ballgame.  The church is right at the finish line. 

We also found a place to get a Lobster roll for supper.  It was so GOOD.

Saturday was the B.A.A. 5K and I was able to get mom registered so I planned to walk the 5K with her as my shake out run. 😁  She wanted to beat the hour time limit and she DID! We finished in like 55 minutes and we even stopped and took some pictures and facetimed Erin & Lydia and my run friends. 💓  I'm so proud of my mom!  What an amazing experience to share that with her in Boston! It was my biggest highlight of the trip! 💓

This was at start waiting to start... the start line is like a mile down from  us! 

She's so happy crossing that finish line. 

After the 5K I surprised mom with a tour of Fenway park!  She was so excited when I told her.  Her eyes were gleaming.  She was like oh my your brother, Brian is going to be so jealous.  He LOVES the red sox and played baseball himself!  We were late getting to our 11am tour due to not really factoring in how many would be doing the 5K.. (10,000 they said!) and how long it would take us on the subway to get to Fenway.  However, the little guy at the ticket booth was so sweet and said I'll get you in on the noon tour.  So we spent a few minutes in the gift shop and then went on the amazing tour.  It was really cool going in the park.  It was smaller than I imagined.  Many of the seats are the original seats.  Very OLD. 😀  The guy showed us lots of stuff and we got to sit in the green monster seats! 💓 We loved every minute and looked forward to going back on Sunday to the game!  

mom's first time on a subway... it was PACKED

The red chair everyone wants.. 

sitting in the green monster chairs!

beautiful trees every where

Saturday afternoon the Marathon Tour group offered a tour of the marathon course so I had signed us up for that.  I wasn't sure what all it would entail, but figured I might learn something.  We loaded busses and they took us out the start line so I was able to grab some pictures there that I knew I would probably not get on race morning.  The ride back was on the course.  Our guide had ran Boston like 20+ times so he pointed everything out and was very knowledgeable.  It was interesting.  The tour took 3 hours so our day was gone by the time we got back.  

We found Cheers when we got back close to our hotel. 😍

mom's watch... 😂😍

Sunday morning I had the charity brunch which I was able to take mom to.  Let me just say .. WOW!  It was at the Boston Harvard Club and they had a huge breakfast spread.  The vibes in the room were so exciting.  Susan the Charity Teams director is a former New England Patriots cheerlead so you can just imagine her energy.  I wanted to just soak it all in!  The Boston marathon race director spoke to us and what an inspiration he is! He's literally ran across America like 2 X.  By the time I left there I felt so good.  They really cater to the Charity runners! Almost $50 million dollars was raised this year. WOW!   I love that I was given the opportunity to run for the 26.2 Foundation!  I met Kim, her sister, her mom and her dad.  They are an amazing family doing great things. 

Kim, me and Susan

Vinhl, who me and mom met at the brunch.  She was also running for the 26.2 Foundation and Boston was going to be her 6th star! 

Sunday after was GAME day!  Several had asked me before the trip if I planned to go to a game and I was like probably not.  But the more I thought about it, I decided yes, I am going to try to go if I can get tickets.  I do NOT like watching sports on TV much at all.  The sports commentators ruin it for me.  I get so sick of listen to them talk.  I just want to watch the game.  Well, that's exactly what we got to do!  I didn't have to hear the TV with them talking about every play, etc.  We watched the game and what a game it was.  The whole atmosphere was amazing.  We had awesome seats close to the home plate.  We could see everything.  Mom was smiling from ear to ear.  😍  And the Red Sox won! 

We bought matching sweatshirts at the gift shop to wear. 💓

After the game we had to take the subway across town to our dinner reservation.  I had made a reservation for the night before race day and on race night to make sure I had somewhere to eat. 😂😍 The food was fabulous.  

Salmon, sweet potatoes and lots of BREAD ha

Monday - RACE DAY (more on my marathon race in part 2).  I had worried what would mom do while I was gone all day in a big city before we got to Boston.  Especially not ever been there.  I knew I would leave the hotel around 7am and would not be back until after I finished the race and with a late race start of 11:15am.. well, it would be late in the day.  Let me just say... MOM made it GREAT.  I had shown her how to use the subway and where to go and I had shown her right down from our hotel was several shopping places such as Macy's.   She went to several shops and made it on the subway to the finish line!  She was even at the finish line when I finished and was ready to get my picture and just when she was about to take one of me coming in the couple beside her throw up a big poster board and blocked her!  Mom was so mad.  She didn't get a photo of me and then they wouldn't let her cross the road to the other side to where I was at so she had to walk again like a mile and half to finally get to me.  I'm thankful for all the security they have at the race, but I should have really checked out exactly where mom should have been when I finished for her to not have to walk extra to get to me.  I'm so thankful she got to see me finish though! 💓  Our hotel had decorate for us runners while we were gone and they gave mom flowers to give to me.  How sweet was that!  She was so excited to hand me the flowers.  

at Hotel with my flowers before I took a shower after the race. 

After the race we had a fabulous dinner at the Oldest Restaurant.. Union Oyster House.  The food was fabulous and had the best clam chowder I've ever eaten.  💓

Tuesday.. our last day... and recover day for me... ha   We took a bus and then a ferry and went over to Martha's Vineyard.  It was a very relaxing day because the bus ride was 1 hour 45 min long and then the ferry was 45 minutes long. 😉😀  I had expected that, but what I didn't expect was when we got off the Ferry... well, the Island is bigger than I thought and you need a plan!  The Island is 20 miles long and like 10 miles wide.  So many miles if you think you going to walk it all.  I thought we'd just get off in a cute little town where we could shop and eat.  NOPE... if you want to see things, you need to get on the bus and use their transportation system, rent a bike (which mom said no too), or rent a car.  We ended up getting on the bus after several minutes of walking around trying to figure out what to do.  Oh did I mention that it's off season there so some things were closed and even in the info building there was no one.  So we ended up on the bus that took us out to one of the 5 lighthouses on the Island where we spent some time and then it was time to get back to the ferry so we would not miss the last bus at 4:45pm to get back to Boston.  It was a short stay on the Island, but we can at least say we've been there, at lunch there, and saw 1 lighthouse.  And my legs got some rest too. 💓  Overall it was another GREAT day with mom 😍

mom on the ferry... notice lots of empty chairs.. like I said.. it's the off season but that's fixing to change come MAY.. Summer is busy there I hear. 

mom getting on the ferry

Wednesday -- long travel day back home. 

I'm so thankful for safe traveling mercies for us on our whole trip! 🙏💓

 Another trip in the books with mom and I look forward to going on another one. 💕

Now on to Part 2 - Marathon Race for me.