It's the final countdown; last week before the Boston Marathon!

Wow what a week! I am writing this on the eve of my very first Boston Marathon full of a mixture of emotions. Excitement that the day has almost arrived, sadness that this campaign is almost over and a lot of nerves!

Let me fill you in on one of the best weeks of my life so far...

Monday 10th April 2017  

We were up bright and early for our last run in the UK because we had planned to meet and run with fellow Boston Marathoner Kojo Kyereme. We've been following Kojo's progress on Strava and he's been a real source of inspiration to us as he tries to get under 2 hours 20 mins and possibly even win the vet 40 category in Boston!

John and I bounded excitedly up Worcester Park high street towards Nonsuch Park where Kojo and the 6am club meet. I have to say I was slightly apprehensive of running as part of a group that were so much faster and stronger than me, however I needn't have worried. Everyone was incredibly welcoming and supportive and the 7:30 pace felt surprisingly comfortable! After a few miles we said goodbye and headed back to my parents' house.

Eventually, it was time to head to the airport. Literally fizzing with excitement, we checked our bags and begun the waiting game. John was convinced that we weren't getting food on the flight so we thought we should head to Strada to have some dinner. After 2 weeks of abstaining from alcohol, I felt the time was right to indulge a little - a glass of prosecco before the flight - perfect! Feeling rather full after sharing pasta and risotto, we boarded the plane which left right on time.

We flew with Virgin for the first time and I was really impressed - quite a step up from the easyjet that I'm used to! Large, comfortable seats, a blanket, pillow and headphones. I got comfy and settled in for the 7 hour flight. It turned out that food and drink was, in fact, complimentary so I had a glass of white wine - it would be rude not too as it was free! Next they brought around a 3 course meal! Salad to start, followed by a chicken curry and a chocolate pudding! I didn't pre-order gluten free (which I need to remember to do for next time) but luckily, all 3 courses were safe for me to consume! Feeling even fuller after dinner, we watched 'Miss Peregrine's home for peculiar children' a great film - entertaining with a few scary bits (although I am a bit of a wimp when it comes to films!). Not long after our second dinner, the cabin crew brought around sandwiches, crisps and a chocolate bar! And not long after that came the'Fab' lollies - a real blast from the past!

After killing some time by reading some of my school book club book 'The Trouble with Sheep and Goats' it was time to start the descent. We were ahead of schedule and everything was going perfectly. We just had time to watch an informative documentary about Boston to really get us in the mood! After landing we spent a significant time queuing in immigration but nothing could dampen our excitement. We could not wait to get out and start exploring! A short taxi ride later and we had arrived in our hotel called 'Hotel 140.' It was rather basic by English standards but we quickly realised that it was in an amazing location.

We dumped our bags and headed out to check out the area. We quickly found the Boston Marathon Runbase shop (and made plans to go and spend a small fortune there the next day). John was feeling a little peckish - I really don't know how! So we popped into a bar hoping for a drink and small snack. I was rather taken aback when, on entering the bar, I was asked to present my ID (clearly I only look 21 - fab!). We ordered what we thought was a light snack - nachos. Light snack - HA! They were HUGE. We quickly realised that American portions were going to take some getting used to.

Eventually, the flight caught up with us and we decided to head to bed eagerly anticipating what the rest of the week had in store for us!

Tuesday 11th April 2017 

We were up early and keen to get out and explore. We decided to run the 'Freedom Trail' which is similar to Dorothy's yellow brick road except it's red! With a chorus of 'Follow the red brick road!' we ran around Boston stopping frequently to read plaques and take selfies. The sun was shining, it was a glorious day and I couldn't wipe the huge grin off my face - doing my favourite thing with my favourite person - perfect! After covering over 7 miles, we decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel for a shower.

We had a recommendation from our friend Francesca to try a place called 'The Paramount' for breakfast. When we arrived, the restaurant was RAMMED - a good sign. The menu was vast but contained lots of gluten ...initially, I was worried...until I saw a sign saying 'special - Gluten Free Waffle!' Woohoo!

Feeling incredibly stuffed but visibly shaking from all of the sugar, we stormed off towards the run base shop. Knowing that it would be rammed later in the week, we were pleased to find it empty! Buzzing around, picking up one of everything to try on, we were in runners heaven!

We continued wandering around and exploring for most of the day. We visited lots of bars which gave John a chance to check out the Boston Beer while reading his lonely planet guide. Next we visited the Boston Library before heading back to the hotel to have a nap and change before dinner.

Today also happened to be our anniversary so we felt a special meal was called for. We'd passed a restaurant called 'The Atlantic Fish Company' quite a few times during the day and each time it had been busy and the food looked good. Luckily we'd had the foresight to book because when we arrived at 8pm it was heaving. We waited for a little by the bar before being shown to a perfect table. Some Prosecco to celebrate alongside a lobster and crab starter, swordfish and a gluten free chocolate dessert - all delicious and we both agreed that it was probably the best meal we'd ever eaten.

Feeling on top of the world, I meandered back to the hotel after a fantastic day with the man I love!

Wednesday 12th April 2017 

Today's run was a 'dress rehearsal' the idea being that you do a couple of miles at marathon pace wearing the shoes and sometimes kit that you are planning on wearing for the race. We chose to continue the theme of wearing our Boston tops (they didn't smell too bad -yet!) but did wear our race shoes. John had done some expert planning and sorted a route which incorporated the last 7 miles of the marathon course. We got a free Uber to Newton to our starting point at a statue to commemorate an inspirational Boston Marathoner called Johnny Kelley! A lovely coincidence which is sure to bring a smile to my face when I pass it at mile 19 on Monday. After a few selfies to mark the occasion (naturally), we started off on our 7 mile route.

We started with the infamous 'Heartbreak Hill'. I'd been pretty chilled about this up until now, feeling confident that it would be an 'American exaggeration'... Oh how wrong I was! 1/2 a mile of steep ascent...after 20 miles...I was starting to feel a little worried. My worry continued when the next few miles (supposedly all downhill) were all very much undulating. Hmm...definitely need to rethink my race strategy -  very glad that I was able to experience this first hand before the race.

After 6 1/2 miles we made the famous left turn onto Boylston street (a very famous main road) and the finish line was in sight. Crossing the finish, we were handed a bottle of chocolate milk - John's favourite post-race drink - another amazing coincidence!

Showered and changed, we decided to walk to a different area of Boston called Fenway. The Maestro had very kindly booked tickets for us all to see the Boston Red Sox baseball team on Friday. While being thrilled about this, I was also concerned - what does one wear to these kind of events?!?!? This resulted in a walk to the stadium to purchase some appropriate attire.

The stadium was very American - the typical mix of traditional but with a clean, modern feel. We headed straight for the shop - in true American style - it was huge! You can literally buy Red Sox everything - including pants!

After trying on many options- we opted for red hoodies - matching of course!

Next, John took me to one of his 'Lonely Planet' suggestions - the Bleachers Bar. It didn't look like much from the outside but has an amazing view of the pitch. After a beer and vodka, we went in search of lunch. Burger was on the menu today - and incredibly we found a place that did gluten free burgers - wow! I also had my first tatertot which was like a potato croquet! To top it all off we had vodka milkshakes - you know you're having a good day when you are drunk before 1pm!

Suitably merry, we decided that we needed some culture. The Boston Museum of Fine Art wasn't far away so off we went. Looking at the map, we realised that this place was HUGE! The first thing I noticed was that they had a special Matisse gallery. Now I remember studying him at school so we went to see his work first. It was ...rather basic... to be polite! The map clearly showed that the museum held some of Monet's works - now those we knew would be good so we tried to navigate to the right gallery. The museum was like a maze with hundreds of galleries separated by similar looking corridors - we got rather lost but stumbled across a number of interesting galleries. My favourite contained a collection of old instruments - many of which were one off inventions. After finding Monet and also Renoir, we decided that we were now cultured enough and headed for the hotel.

Feeling rather sleepy, we had an afternoon nap which quickly turned into a full nights sleep! Clearly jet lag had caught up with us!

Thursday 13th April 2017 

After a serious nights sleep, we woke up feeling refreshed and energised! It was another beautiful day so we went straight out for a run around the Charles River - simply beautiful. After our amazing breakfast on Tuesday, we were eager to re-visit Paramount but wanted to skip the ques. John cunningly planned our route to finish at the restaurant just as they were opening - we pretty much had the place to ourselves - time for more waffles yum!

Today was the day when the rest of our crew was due to arrive so we packed the case and checked out of the hotel. We couldn't get into our apartment until 3pm so had some time to get a few more tourist boxes checked. We visited a vast, ornate, bronze tea door and a stunning church. The Prudential building is visible from all over Boston, and has been a useful landmark to help us find out hotel each day, but up until now we'd not been inside it. At first glance, it just looks like a shopping center, but take a trip up to the 50th floor and you are rewarded with amazing views across the whole of Boston. We had heard that there was a bar on the 52nd floor but had been warned that it was rammed at night so had previously decided to give it a miss, today though, as we were in the building we thought we'd pop up for a drink. Reaching the 52nd floor and we were pleasantly surprised - it was almost empty! We decided to have lunch there and I am so pleased that we did. The views were amazing and we opted for the traditional Boston lobster!

Next stop - our apartment. We took a taxi to Dorchester, arrived at our apartment and waited for the others to arrive. Couldn't wait to have the whole crew together!

After returning from the shops (feeling slightly apprehensive about the area we'd found ourselves in!) to pick up supplies, Dave (Grandad) arrived! He was feeling a little down after a delayed flight and long journey but a beer and game of Quidler perked him up. A few hours later (after managing to convince our neighbour to turn his music down!) and The Maestro (Dad) and Nat (supporter in chief) arrived! Finally we had our whole crew together!

Friday 14th April 2017 

Everyone was up early and looking forward to running together for the first time in the US! Dad had planned us a route around the local area - I was feeling slightly worried about this after noticing that the area wasn't quite the Redland that we were used to! However, my worried were unjustified ....we'd made the mistake of leaving our apartment and turning right...stepping out the apartment and turning left resulted in a wholly different area! We took a lovely route through a park and along the river.

Having been in Boston for the longest amount of time so far, John and I were the experts ...what did we want to show our friends first... The amazing breakfast at The Paramount of course!

Next stop, the marathon Expo - (all marathons and major races have an Expo - it is where runners pick up their numbers and have an opportunity to purchase every running related item known to man!) We'd all been looking forward to this and I darted round between exhibits trying every freebee available and almost purchasing a $6000 massage chair that could have kept me entertained for hours!

We stopped at home briefly before putting on our new Red Socks kit and heading to our very first baseball game! The Boston Red Sox were playing the Tamper Bay Rays. The stadium was absolutely heaving. There was food everywhere and the atmosphere was awesome! After a few beers and glasses of wine, we were all merrily joining cheers of 'Let's go Red Sox!', waving our foam fingers and trying to work out the rules of the game. Baseball is a game of 9 players - it's very similar to rounders that I play with the kids at school (just without the -less sporty ones in the class doing handstands or making daisy chains at the side of the pitch!). Each player gets 1 go each and, in that go, they get 3 attempts at hitting the ball. Surprisingly, for professional players, they seemed very bad at this! Many players were out without even getting off the first base! While, in school rounders, each side gets to have one go each, in baseball, each side gets 10 goes each! This makes for a very long game...we managed 6 rounds before we headed for home.

Saturday 15th April 2017 

We're clearly getting more used to the time zones as we are running later and later each day! Today was 4.3 miles (a far cry from the Maestro's "It will be 4 miles to the centimeter - I've planned it meticulously") but a lovely run all the same!

Wanting to keep off our legs as much as possible today, John and I left Dad, Grandad and Nat to explore the freedom trail and headed for Boston Park. On route we bumped into Alberto Salazar (Mo Farah and Galen Rupp's coach). We spent a wonderful morning lying together on the grass in the sunshine by a pond - I literally couldn't be happier.

We managed to sit relatively still for quite a while (impressive for my ADHD-self!) and only decided to leave when our 're-hydrating' caught up with us and we needed a toilet stop!

We spent the rest of the day napping, resting and relaxing - much needed after all the walking around and exploring we've done the last few days.



In the evening, we all headed out for a meal at a local restaurant. I opted for the duck which was delicious. While the boys had a few pints, I was very controlled and stuck with water. Not long to go now!

Sunday 16th April 2017 - Easter Sunday!

And so we reach today with just one day to go until the race! We took our last run around the block this morning. When we arrived back at the apartment, we found a note on the door. The Easter Bunny had been! Unfortunately, we'd missed him, but he'd left a selection of chocolates hidden around the apartment! With great excitement, we charged around searching for the very well hidden delights (thanks to Dad and Nat for organising!) some of which remained hidden until many hours later!

Today had been the hottest day so far - with highs of 27 degrees C. We chose to make the most of this by sitting outside while we had brunch at the same restaurant that we visited last night. Topping up my tan, while eating an omelette, made for a blissfully relaxing morning. After drinking lots of water (and keeping each other updated on our urine colour - to check our hydration levels) we headed back to the apartment to relax and rest some more.

So...the only things left to do:

-trim toenails
-cook dinner (egg fried rice with orange cheese) and pack some up for breakfast
-make sure watch is fully charged
-pack race bag
-go to the toilet about 1,000,000,000 more times
- try to get some sleep
-RUN A MARATHON!

Marathon Eve Feelings...
As I said at the start, I have a huge mixture of emotions in me at the moment. I am very very very excited (helped by consuming vast quantities of mini eggs for breakfast!) and really can't wait to get to the start line. I am also very nervous. More nervous than I've been for a race before - probably because I've put so much more into this race than any other. 18 weeks of training; running almost every day and sticking (mostly) to a serious marathon plan means that I am more prepared than I've ever been but it also means that, I've got more to loose. I've put so much time, money and effort into this and I am desperate for it to go well. Most importantly though, I want to enjoy myself. It will be difficult not to focus on the time and my pacing but I am going to try and relax as much as possible and soak up the atmosphere.

I can't wait to reach the finish line (hopefully alongside Grandad) and see John's proud smiling face waiting for me. I'm sure that John and The Maestro are going to pull something very impressive out of the bag tomorrow. They've both trained incredibly hard and I hope they get the reward they deserve.

I am so incredibly grateful for the support and encouragement I've received from everyone. Everyone who has read my blog and followed by journey and everyone who has commented and given me advice. I am especially grateful to Dave (Grandad) who is (hopefully) going to run alongside me tomorrow and who has paced me at many races leading up to this one. To the Maestro, whose guidance has been so instrumental in my training. But mostly, I want to thank John who has inspired me to challenge myself and push myself to the maximum every day. He believes in me more than I believe in myself and I know he will be proud of me whatever I achieve tomorrow.

Marathon History:

Brighton Marathon 2015 - 3:55 with an injury! 

Berlin Marathon 2015 - 3:28 

Marathon Goals and Plan:

Bronze Goal - 3:27 - a PB would be great.
Silver Goal - 3:13 - this would qualify me for the New York Marathon in 2019
Gold Goal - 3:05

Having ran part of the course, I am now aware of just how difficult this marathon is going to be. The course is hilly and challenging. I am going to try and run the first half of the race at around 6:45 - 7mm pace. The (when the hills really kick in) I have a buffer so I can slow down a little during the really challenging section of the course (miles 16 - 22). To get sub 3:05 I need to have an average pace of 7:03 (or less really as I will end up running further than the 26.2 miles).

Well, there is nothing more I can do now. I've trained well and I'm confident in my training, I've hydrated well, I've rested well and eaten possibly a little too well!

So I guess I'm ready for the Boston Marathon! 

If anyone wants to follow our progress, you can download the Official Boston Marathon app, race numbers are;
Me = 15057
Dave = 8472
John = 3173
Marcus = 3273 



Kelly's American Observations: 

Toilets 
-The toilet seats are HUGE! and very difficult to flush - every toilet appears to have a different flushing system so I found myself randomly pressing, pulling and waving and each toilet I used trying to get the thing to flush!  
-All toilets - even the really plush ones that are mega clean - have toilet seat covers available - pointless! 


Food
-The portion sizes are ridiculous! 
-Chips come with everything.
-There appear to be no kids meals - no option to order a small meal and the waitresses look utterly baffled when you try and get them to bring you a 'small snack!' 
-The quality of the food is exceptional - all meals have been delicious and presented with incredible attention to detail. 
-The service in all restaurants is next level. Tap water is brought round to you instantly (rather than English waiters trying to sell you expensive mineral water!) and topped up every time the level dips below 50%.  

Vehicles 
- All emergency vehicles look almost 'vintage' but are clearly brand new. 
-All trucks are huge and immaculate. 
- Drivers are surprisingly polite and more than happy to stop to let pedestrians cross.


Streets 
- The pavements are immaculate. 
- There were hundreds of people busily tidying the whole of Boston to get ready for the marathon - new flower beds being planted, new water fountains being installed and new pavements being put down. 

People 
-American people are incredibly friendly and welcoming - especially when they find out that you are running the marathon. 
- Americans LOVE the Boston marathon - everyone fully embraces the spirit - there are signs and posters everywhere, everyone is talking about it and everyone is wearing some kind of marathon apparel. 

Conclusion - I love this country! I have to say, I wasn't expecting too - especially when you take into consideration recent political events. There is no evidence of Trump in Boston. Boston is a wonderful city with fantastic people who fully embrace marathon fever!