Easter Weekend

What a beautiful weekend! The weather was so nice and the city was just buzzing in anticipation of the upcoming marathon.

Saturday morning I ran over to Fresh Pond and did 3 loops followed by 8 X 100m strideouts. The weather being so nice, the paths were getting almost crowded -- at least a bit crowded for doing strideouts. I was afraid some small kid or a dog would step into my path while I was running at speed. Everything turned out fine and it was an enjoyable, if a little tiring, run.

Anja and Ben were with us for Easter weekend and we spent the day doing some shopping and then cleaning up the house. We're still trying to find places to put boxes from the move (I'm not sure those 10 boxes of vinyl LPs are ever going to see the light of day in this place). We did finally finish cleaning and setting up the sun porch -- it is now quite the relaxing hangout! After all the work we did, I went to bed tired Saturday night.

I was up bright and early Easter morning for a run. Since Anja stayed up late baking bread and making a carrot cake for Easter dinner, she and Ben weren't able to join in the "fun run".

I parked the car (with my clothes in it for church) near the church and Harvard Square (got a great parking spot at 6:35 a.m.), and headed out to the Charles River. I ended up doing about 10 miles (maybe a little short) and timed it such that I arrived the start of the "Freedom Run" about 5 minutes before the start. I then joined in the pre-marathon 2.8 mile fun run with the other thousands of runners, families and friends.

The Freedom run starts in Copley Square, runs downtown and back, and finishes at the Boston Marathon finish line. I must say, running that final stretch down Boylston St. across the finish line seemed almost sacrilegious. Qualifying for, and running Boston is a dream of mine, and running that last stretch down Commonwealth Ave, to Hereford, to Boylston and the finish is an experience I look forward to savoring. If anything, now, though, it does motivate me to press ahead with a diligence to my training.

After grabbing a few post-run goodies (including Peeps!) and slamming down several bottles of water (Hey, I did run over 12 miles!), I went back over to the finish line to look for Elizabeth who was to meet up with her club for pictures. After wandering around for just a short bit, I found Elizabeth and was able to meet her sister and parents. What a wonderfully supportive family! They were very friendly and warm people and it was a pleasure to meet them. After a few pictures we all left together on the T (subway for those of you who haven't been to Boston yet) and continued chatting until I had to change to the Red Line to get back to my car in Harvard Square. I wished Elizabeth luck and headed off to church.

I had plenty of time to change before church started and was able to save space in the crowded pews for Anita, Anja and Ben who arrived just in time. It was a great Easter service, complete with the requisite piccolo trumpet and even an ensemble of period instruments (the kids were so excited that the "sackbuts" were going to be playing!).

After church we had a great Easter dinner with a couple friends from church. Good food, good conversation. An enjoyable time was had by all. After sending Anja and Ben off back to New York, Anita and I had a lovely walk along the Charles River. By the time we got back, the weather was cooling off and it was apparent that Patriots Day would provide the marathoners with near-perfect weather.