Boston Marathon 2017: Happy for the runners, glad I am not one of them!

Ahhh – Patriots’ Day in MA.  A state holiday.  One of those weird holidays where some things are open, some aren’t, but the traffic is light and the office is quiet.  But the most important thing about today is that it is Marathon Monday.  Boston Marathon.  The Boss.  The Big Kahuna.  “The Marathon”.

I think my first awareness of the Boston Marathon was watching it on TV in 1983 as Joan Benoit went on to win it.  It’s a tradition to watch it in the Boston area, and although I had never gone into town to see it live, I watched it on TV every year.  And once I became a runner myself, and joined the Wicked Running Club, Billy and I began to volunteer at the Mile 17 gel stop, which we did for several years.  After we ran our first full in 2012, I was happily tracking many friends for the 2013 race when the bombings happened.   And in 2014, I was privileged to be given a number for the race.  I completed the race and ran down Boylston St. with a smile, despite having a stress fracture in my foot and perhaps having done a beer shot or two with boys from BC who screamed “Hey, lipstick!  Wanna beer????” when I was hobbling by.

So as I sit here in my office and my cell phone is buzzing with the alerts I’ve signed up for to track all of my runner friends, I can say that I am not sorry that I am not there.  Running in 2014 closed out my Boston Marathon story, and although I will always follow the marathon and still hope for Shalane to win it soon, I will happily watch from afar.

Having said that, I am really *bummed* at my lack of training for NYC at this point.  What’s been wrong, you ask?  Everything!  Horrible New England weather followed by a sinus infection with a nasty cough that has had me sidelined for over 2 weeks.  But that’s OK, I still have plenty of time. Weather is starting to change so I am ready to get my butt out there and get this training going.

Thank you for all of your support! I hope you enjoy reading about our ridiculous antics.  Below are our donation links.  Since I have a bigger network than Billy, I would ask that if you are going to donate to see which of us needs the money more and donate there.  It’s all the same cause and will help us to keep our minimum.

Shannon:  https://www.crowdrise.com/the-degregorio-family-foundation-nyc-2017/fundraiser/shannondowney3

Billy:  https://www.crowdrise.com/the-degregorio-family-foundation-nyc-2017/fundraiser/billyhutchinson