Boston Taper Week

I cannot believe that we will be leaving for Boston on Saturday. It seems almost surreal. Many runners dream of running the Boston Marathon...and Ali will be able to check this achievement off his "bucket list" next Monday morning. He has trained so hard for this, and I pray that everything goes as planned so that he can run the best race he can. His goal is to run easy and enjoy the course.

I want to personally thank all of Ali's training partners. I am so excited that many of these guys will be joining us in Boston! Jim, Kenny, Daniel, Rebecca, Dale, Steve, and everyone else who has taken the time to join Ali on a long run...I thank you. To those of you who have whipped his tail with speed workouts, you have my gratitude. To those who pushed him in races to run his very best, I am grateful. He has come home angry and cursing you all after tough, hot training runs, but he wouldn't know what to do without you. He is so blessed to have such a supportive group of runners to both encourage and challenge him!

Ali's training for Boston has gone pretty routine, until recently. He has been struggling with a calf strain for the last week or so. Ali has always laughed at me for walking around in my tall Swiftwick compression socks and KT taped knees, but I believe I have converted him. He will be sporting my socks and tape in Boston haha!

A rough idea of our weekend plans:
Saturday night- arrive in Boston
Sunday- I will run the 5K then we will go to the Marathon expo for packet pick-up, maybe see some of the Freedom Trail, and then dinner with friends.
Monday- Marathon!! More of the freedom trail, Boston Harbor, and relax :)
Tuesday- fly home

The finish line for the 5K is the same one they will use for the marathon. This will be the first time I will ever cross the finish line before Ali!!! I pray that I will be able to finish the 5K without aggravating my knee injury. I was able to run a two mile test run this week pain-free...so I hope this is a sign that my knee is finally healing.

The teacher in me is beyond excited to be going to Boston. I cannot wait to visit a city so full of history!! The American Revolution is covered in my 5th grade curriculum and we just recently finished this unit. I plan on taking tons of photos to share with my class. I wish we would have been able to stay an extra day or two just to see all the sites in the city. Poor Ali will be doing some touring on his tired marathon legs!

The one tourist location that I think will be most interesting is the site of the Boston Tea Party. I believe watching Ali squirm as all that tea is thrown into Boston Harbor will be priceless. I will definitely have to see if I can get access to the reenactment. (For those of you who don't know, Ali is British and this part of the trip has been an ongoing joke between us.) He is actually reading me the British account of what went down in Boston as I type this. Hahaha. This should be a fun trip!!

I will be blogging about our adventure in Boston next week...so stay tuned!!

A family photo taken a few weeks ago at the Azalea Trail Run. 

Have you ever been to Boston? If so, what do you suggest as a "must see"?