Boston Straggler
April 21st, 2008
Done! You don’t get a medal if you don’t finish the race, and my finish time in the Boston Marathon, as tracked electronically by ChampionChip® was exactly 4:35:00. That put me in the back of the pack, but given my overall readiness, and my ankle’s tenuous condition (it held up pretty well), my most optimistic estimate was for 4:30, so I’m pleased with this result.
The weather was pretty good, although it got sunnier and hotter than I thought was expected. The “ultra sweatproof” sunscreen I used did OK, but I still have some mild redness in a few spots.
I must say thank you to all of the volunteers, especially those who hand out the water and Gatorade, and the people at the finish line who provide the space blankets and unlace/lace shoes to get the electronic chip. Thank you everybody!
As always, the spectators are super. Running past the screaming women of Wellesley College is the one time I can get a sense of what the Beatles heard constantly for at least a few years.
This year I would also like to say thanks to the guy doing a good job of singing Buddy Holly’s “Every Day” at the Dunkin’ Donuts on the Framingham/Natick line, and to the college kid in Boston who was blasting Blind Faith’s “Well All Right,” which also happens to be a Buddy Holly song.
There are, however, two annoyances I see every year during the race:
- It’s nice that some of the spectators want to hand out their own water, but they should use paper cups. Plastic cups don’t crunch down flat and they get in the way.
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is always well represented, and I certainly respect and appreciate the work that’s done there. But their charity runners have a habit of running side-by-side in large groups, sometimes across almost the entire road. Once their initial euphoria has worn off, and the running gets much more serious, after ten miles, they start to break up into their individual paces, but prior to that they are clusters of rolling road blocks.
So that’s it! All done, and I feel OK. Time for a shower and nap.
Filed under: All Posts, Life with Pratts
31 Comments Add your own
1. Cactus Lizzie | April 22nd, 2008 at 4:27 am
Congratulations, Doug, on finishing the race, meeting your goal, and your ankle holding up throughout all of that!
You must know the answer to my question: Why is it Marathon MONDAY instead of Saturday or Sunday? I guess everyone who works on Mondays has to arrange for the day off, in order to run the race. Is it some kind of traffic flow issue regarding the race?
2. jeanie beanie | April 22nd, 2008 at 7:15 am
I’d write those complaints into the Boston Globe — tactfully, of course, like you just did. I am really proud of you, Doug. Sometime, you should read Richard Bachman’s (aka Stephen King’s) “The Long Walk.” You’ll REALLY relate to that one. Off to vote in the PA PRIMARY!!
3. Brian Sibley | April 22nd, 2008 at 8:31 am
Well done… er… RUN!
4. tastewar | April 22nd, 2008 at 9:54 am
Jean- are you trying to imply that the Globe is more widely read than dograt.com?!
5. Joan Stringer | April 22nd, 2008 at 5:55 pm
Hi Doug! Congratulations on completing the marathon and near your estimated time!
I saw some of it on VS, and the weather looked beautiful. Jean, I live in Pottstown in eastern PA, and luckily the weather was dry for the primary. And Doug you’ll be glad to know I’m backing- and lighted the little green voting machine light- for Barack Obama! I’m anxious to see the outcome of the Dem. Primary. It was kinda weird to see the Repub side of the machine with Ron Paul and Huckabee still listed as candidates. I thought the Repubs already picked their new dict–uh, candidate for the most part. Well-can’t wait to see this PA result!
6. DOuG pRATt | April 22nd, 2008 at 9:42 pm
As I write this, with 20% of the PA vote in, Hillary is being declared the winner, 53-47. Sigh. Well, Obama still has more delegates. All we can do is wait and see!
7. DOuG pRATt | April 22nd, 2008 at 10:52 pm
Oh, my goodness. A comment from Brian Sibley, writer and BBC broadcaster, and perhaps this blog’s most erudite visitor, slipped in with nary a notice. I’ll rectify that here and now. Thanks for the note, Brian.
I am a shamelessly closeted and frustrated Britisher, yearning to reclaim my ancestry, and I highly recommend giving a listen to Jonathan Ross’s BBC 2 weekly radio show, available in abbreviated form as a Podcast at this link. Ross produced last year’s superb documentary In Search of Steve Ditko. If you like the Podcast, and are up for the whole three hours, with music, you can use the Listen Again option at this link.
8. DOuG pRATt | April 22nd, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Cactus Lizzie is not a Bostonian, so I’ll have to explain Patriot’s Day, and this is where my British leanings get ruffled. Patriot’s Day commemorates the Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, the first volley in what became The War for Independence, aka: The American Revolutionary War. It’s a state holiday, observed the third Monday of April.
9. Cactus Lizzie | April 23rd, 2008 at 2:42 am
OH! Thanks for the illuminating history lesson, Doug! I figured there was a good reason for the Boston Marathon being on a Monday, but I just didn’t know what it was. Is Massachusetts the only state that observes Patriot’s Day as a holiday? I was born and raised in New Jersey, and I don’t remember it as a holiday there. And of course, it’s not a state holiday here in Arizona.
Speaking of holidays, the kids here in Tucson have off from school for a couple of days each year because of “Rodeo Days.” That really surprised me when I first moved here and learned about that. (I’m not a fan of rodeos, bull fights, or circus animal shows, so I don’t go.)
10. Dave | April 23rd, 2008 at 7:21 am
Congratulations Doug.
11. DOuG pRATt | April 23rd, 2008 at 7:45 am
Thanks, Dave! You who are British, but Scottish and not English. Is that how it goes, mate? Now that I’m past the marathon, my next milestone will be seeing Petula Clark in person on May 11. The drive will be only three times longer than what I ran on Monday.
12. Brian Sibley | April 23rd, 2008 at 5:37 pm
Erudite? Moi?
Nice to read a bit of colonial history on St George’s Day!!
13. Dave | April 23rd, 2008 at 6:07 pm
Well Doug, Not quite. After that pathetic excuse for a prime minister, who comes from Scotland, answered a question in a interview (while he was being sidelined by DubYa, in favour of the Pope…) and said he was North British…. what?, I think I can safely say that I am Scottish and North European, from that little island off the north coast of France!
Give Petula “My Love”… and have a wonderful night.
14. DOuG pRATt | April 23rd, 2008 at 6:21 pm
Y’know, I work hard at coming up with some of these post titles. And nobody ever mentions ‘em! Two of my favorites are this one, a play on Boston Strangler (sort of our own recent vintage Jack the Ripper), and the title for the post at this link. And I think this one is pretty good, too!
15. DOuG pRATt | April 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
Dave, since when has Scotland been North England? I’ve been to the Midlands (it’s Marston Pedigree Bitter for me!), and a bit north of there, and I thought Mel Gibson had the whole England/Scotland thing sorted out.
I will indeed bring up your name with Pet, Davie. Assuming I’m not totally tongue-tied, that is!
16. DOuG pRATt | April 23rd, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Brian, you read Shakespeare. That makes you erudite! I never got past the maidenhead reference in the opening scene of “Romeo and Juliet”!
17. Cactus Lizzie | April 23rd, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Oh, Doug! My apology for not showing my appreciation and recognition, so many times. YES I HAVE NOTICED, a GREAT many times, the very clever puns you use for titles. I always enjoy them. I’m not at all a fan of stupid pun jokes (the groaner types), but I do very much like a play on words from a quick wit. Which you have proven to have, over and over again.
I got the “Boston Straggler/Strangler” pun immediately. As usual, I thought it was both clever and quite funny!! But I did not mention it. And yes, you are right, the post titles at the links you provided above are also excellent!!
18. DOuG pRATt | April 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Well, of course, Cactus Lizzie, when I “nobody” I really meant you!
19. jeanie beanie | April 24th, 2008 at 8:15 am
What a thread! Doug, as your twin, you would think I would have also voted for Obama Yo Mama. No, I did the white, middle-aged woman thang. I know “Billary” won’t make it, anyway. Tom and I call Obama “the alien” because his skinny hands look like this strange alien hand sculpture Molly gave me for Christmas one year. He’s OK, really. It’s just that I don’t get why he’s ALL “African-American” when his mother was totally Caucasian! Like many women, when he first showed up on the scene, I had a mega-crush on him. But then he started sounding effete. His wife is scary-smart, so that helps, I guess. Her “poor, down-trodden blacks” thesis doesn’t. Still, we CANNOT have McCain in the White House! I WILL vote for Obama, if it comes down to it.
Enuff politics! Doug, remember that Mom always stressed our strong “Scots-Irish” background? That kind of blows away the UK ties, in a way. Still, I’ve always wanted to go to London, too. Dave, what was all the fuss about hunky Prince Wills landing a military helicopter in his girlfriend’s backyard? He’d done it before; why is the second time a bigger deal? Why don’t they get engaged, anyway? He’s starting to look more like his Dad everyday: a bit balding a horsey-toothed!
Oh, Liz, I was so pissed off when Dubya named 9/11 “Patriot’s Day,” because Massachusetts already had one! It doesn’t matter now, because NOBODY calls 9/11 anything but 9/11, which, by the way, is the day after the birthday of Doug Pratt and his twin sister, Jean Mank!
Final note: This blog is getting lots of celebrity guest bloggers!
20. Dave | April 24th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Well Doug, the Scotland/England thing is a big deal at the moment with a new government in Edinburgh in the hands of the Scottish National Party, with an end view to independence.
At the same time the UK Government (kind of Federal, but not quite) has a Scottish (Labour) Prime Minister who, if you described him as hopeless, hapless, dithering, clod-hopping and pathetic, you would be complimenting him HUGELY.
He is determined to keep the Union together, and refuses to use the “S” word, preferring North British. So it’s all a bit difficult at the moment.
As I say my stance is Scottish. I love England as much as I love France and Iceland and Ireland and Finland…. but I don’t want to be a part it, and the fact that the UK prime minister can’t admit that he is Scottish sickens me. I suppose it’s a bit like the US president being ashamed to be of his State.
21. DOuG pRATt | April 24th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
Dave,
Bush went to Yale in Connecticut and then to Harvard here in Massachusetts, and he hangs out with his pappy on the coast of Maine, yet he insists on calling himself a Texan.
I didn’t realize that the move for Scottish independence — once and for all — is so active right now. Brown is playing a tricky game by not directly referring to Scotland by name. Obviously, he’s not scoring any points at home by doing that.
22. Dave | April 24th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
Very strong Doug. Latest opinion polls show 41% for Independence, 40% against, and the rest are don’t knows/don’t cares. This is up from 23% for a year ago.
Yes, Brown is playing a tricky game, (and even more so by trying to undermine many of the moves the Scottish Government is taking to make life better for Scots) but for him, important electoral success is in the South East of England. He doesn’t care about what Scotland thinks until it’s time for the next General Election, when, I should think, he’s toast! Burnt toast at that!
Bush is, as you guys would say, a piece of work!
23. Cactus Lizzie | April 24th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
Doug: referring to the post 14, 17 18 cluster: Yeah, I know, I was thinking of that, too, as I wrote post #17, that “nobody” meant “everybody,” not just ME!! But of course I can’t be responsible for other people, just myself, and I thought I’d be “nice” and make the apology for myself, and recognition of your clever labels for your post titles.
Hey Jeanie Beanie, referring to your post #19…(You’re right, this thread is getting SO long, isn’t it!!! What fun to have all this dialogue flying back and forth): Don’t you know that 9/11 was originally called “Cactus LIzzie’s Birthday” (and coincidentally enough, my mother-in-law’s, too)!! I was due to go out for a birthday lunch the day the planes started hitting the buildings, and all that got cancelled.
Also, Jeanie, referring to your same post: It’s my opinion that the reason 1/2 blacks are considered African Americans, is because of the historical attitudes of the whites in the South. If you had a drop of African blood in you, you were the “N” word. Sometimes you were called “High Yeller,” if you looked whiite “enough,” perhaps enough to pass for all-white…which was met with consternation in the South by whites towards anyone who tried to “pass.”
I watched an old film about this, and I forget the name of it now. The daughter of an African American maid is so pale that she goes off, disowning her black mother, and trying to live life as is she were born totally white. She wanted to be free of the prejudice, and seek equal rights for herself.
It’s my opinion that even today, a caramel-colored person, with tight curly “African” hair, is much more readily accepted by the black community than by lots of white communities. Being half-white seems to bother African-Americans less than being half-black seems to bother whites.
When my husband and I lived in Puerto Rico for 4 years back in the 1980’s, it was very refreshiing to live among so many mixed race people. Spanish and African American blood is so intermingled there. Couples who looked very “inter-racial” didn’t get stared at in public. Still, we noticed that the politicians at that time who held powerful positions looked a whole lot more Spanish-blooded than African American…more more fair-complected.
24. Joan Stringer | April 24th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
Hi! As someone who is of Heinz 57 European ancestry:English/French/Scotch/Irish/German/Dutch, you’d think I’d follow European- and U.K. politics- especially, but what do I love more than the BBC News? BRITCOMS!!! Won’t go into my favs unless on a new post since this started as a Marathon post and is ending up a marathon Marathon post!
25. D.F. Rogers | April 25th, 2008 at 11:01 am
Congrats Doug! Now that the comments are up to 24, I have to add one more so that the next comment will be #26. One comment for each mile that Doug ran on Monday! This is certainly the longest thread ever on DogRat! It has nearly as many twists, turns and hills as the road from Hopkinton to Boston! Who will finish this race for Doug and sprint (stagger?) past the Fire Station and down Boylston to the finish line?
26. DOuG pRATt | April 25th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Hmm… maybe Monte Schulz will show up, and be comment #26. D’oh! Make that comment #27.
27. Dave | April 26th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Well, Jeanie Beanie. First there are still a lot of people in Scotland that want to keep the UK thing going. I’m not sure why. I know the English want our oil, but I’m not sure what the Scots get out of the deal.
London is a fantastic place, a bit run down and dirty, but I think improving in some ways. It’s an exciting place to be, and just like any capital city, it has an atmosphere of “things happening”. I feel the same about Paris, Brussels, Edinburgh, Dublin.
As for Willie and his helecopter…. well, it was a big deal the first time here as well. There is a shortage of them out in Afghanistan, and this guy uses one to pick up his wee brother and take him to a stag night, then goes showing off to his girlfriend… It costs a fortune to take one of these things off the ground, and like his dad, he seems to think it’s there for his use for free, despite his vast bank balance. And the rest of us have to use the crumbling UK transport infrastructure.
I think most people are just disappointed that he would do that. He and Harry seemed like decent guys, but it seems that they take more after their awful father than we had thought. And that is a huge disappointment.
Royals tend to marry when the country is going through a bad time; it’s a traditional ‘cheer up call’ for the public. Well, really (and I’m not being sexist) mainly for the female public who like weddings. So, I would imagine that pretty soon there will be an announcement, seeing how the country is in a bit of a mess.
I would have thought that it was losing its charm for people (after all they all end in divorce a little while after: Charlie, Anne, Andy, Margaret, Duke of Kent), but people seem to like it while it’s working.
You’re right about Wills. He’s losing his “Diana” looks and getting more like a Windsor. Scary.
28. Dave | April 26th, 2008 at 8:24 am
Oh Doug… sorry I wasn’t Monte Schulz!
29. DOuG pRATt | April 26th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Quite all right, Dave! If you knew what I just went through to bring the blog back online, intact, you’d know why nothing could possibly bother me today. Not only is it intact, the editing environment is so vastly improved I can’t believe I was reluctant to do the update until I absolutely had to.
30. DOuG pRATt | April 29th, 2008 at 9:51 am
Scotland is asserting itself this week, Dave! Thanks to the strike by Scots in the North Sea, oil is now $120/barrel. And here in the states, TV comedian Craig Ferguson, a Scot who recently obtained American citizenship, appeared at the White House Press Correspondents dinner. This is the same affair that propelled Stephen Colbert to prominence two years ago. Ferguson was funny but, unfortunately, not very critical of Bush & Co. Perhaps that’s because he’s obviously smitten by press secretary Dana Perino.
31. Dave | April 29th, 2008 at 11:39 am
OOOPS……Sorry about pushing up the price of your gas Doug….. LOL
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