Boston!

We hope to have a good collective showing tomorrow in the Boston marathon. Marc struggled with his training leading up to this one after twisting his knee while hiking earlier this month (had to take some time off), but we are both at least fortunate to be able to participate, together. Maybe we will get a collective PR further under 6 hours together! Our previous best was 2:20:23 (Marc) + 3:39:26 (Shuwen) = 5:59:49!

The weather looks like it will cooperate. It should be cool, cloudy and breezy, after a cold and drizzly weekend. This marathon is really fabulous to participate in, but the net downhill course can exact a toll on runners' muscles, especially during the uphill portions between miles 16 and 21.

It's also been fun to catch up with some friends while here. We missed Sarah Jay and Ian Huntington (Swarthmore pals), unfortunately, who were away from Boston, but have gotten to see numerous others: Harsha (from UNC) and Kit (a running connection), Jeff Doyon (also from Swarthmore), and Meg Coffman and Aaron Wesolowski (from Peace Corps). We'll connect up with some more former Swarthmore runners for lunch today (Abram Falk, Don Nguyen and Rory Kondrad), and maybe see another Peace Corps friend (Rachel Sharkey). It's been a relaxing weekend for the most part; we are doing a bit of reading but mostly just resting.

If you'd like to track our progress, you can sign up for runner updates online at the Boston Marathon website.