Day 7: The Boston Road

on April 15, 2023

Our hotel in Albany was part of a heritage home previously owned by Alice Morgan Wright – a sculptor, suffragist, and animal rights activist. Sounds like quite a powerhouse for a woman who was born in 1881 and died in 1975! The home was beautifully preserved and furnished, and it was so nice to have breaky surrounded by tulips and looking over the park. Our little apartment came complete with a functioning mail chute – says a lot about the era that it was built in!

Albany is the capital of NY State, and is home to many of the big government departments and services. The architecture reflects a city that has continued to progress while respecting the past. Very modern looking buildings like the Empire State Plaza (designed in the 60s) sit seamlessly beside the very traditional New York State Capitol (1899). It has to taken a lot of effort and money to ensure the spaces are fit for todays activities.

We particularly loved ‘The Egg’, a performing arts venue in the Plaza built in the 80s. Striking and somehow timeless!

We opted for highway 112 – the Scenic Byway – through rolling hills and little towns. Very exciting to pass out of NY and into Massachusetts 😀 Lunch at a diner in Gardner created great debate as to whether we were Australian or English. I wasn’t around so Andrew opted to help keep the peace told them we pretty much had a foot in each camp. Some things aren’t getting in the middle of!

…and then it was off to Hopkinton – the start line of the marathon. I was quite emotional when we arrived… this journey and experience means so much.

You only live once and have to take your chances, so any opening in a barrier or pedestal by a road was fair game.

When the Chief of Hopkinton Police approached us we were ready to plead Australian… instead he offered to take our photo by the marathon sign, and then stopped the traffic while he took my photo on the start line. He was very excited to be starting wave 2 of the race on Monday, an opportunity he’d been waiting to get for 30 years. This town seems as passionate about the marathon as we are.

I cried tears of gratitude and then lined him up for a selfie. What else did you expect???

We drove the course, and I’m glad that I now understand how lumpy it is. Today these are average US towns on the road to Boston – the only signs that something special is about to take over is the random abundance of port-a-pottys, and a promise of parking fines on Monday.

I’ve loved learning the history of the race, particularly through the documentary ‘Boston’. The stories that stick with me the most are of the women. The first woman to run it (unofficially) was Bobbi Gibb in 1966.

In 1967 Kathrine Switzer officially registered without declaring her gender. The race director at the time tried to push her off the course and was promptly knocked to the ground by her boyfriend. After this, American Athletics barred women from competing in races against men. After much debate about whether women were physically able to run the distance the first official women’s race at Boston was held in 1972. I’m so grateful to people like Kathrine Switzer for pushing the boundaries that mean I can compete, and can run the WHOLE course… if they’d taken the same approach as tennis my marathon would be 25km.

There are monuments along the course that proved hard to spot. This one is of Johnny Kelley who won twice, placed in the top five 15 times, and completed it 61 times. An absolute legend of the marathon. Heartbreak Hill was coined after he took the lead, only to be passed up the hill. He also had one of the best shows of tulips we’ve seen 🙂

We finally made it to the city. It was strange to be somewhere so busy again! We walked to soak up the finish line area… it’s getting exciting!

I finished the day with a run along the Charles River. It was another warm evening, sailing boats were out, and hundreds of young people were out enjoying the breeze. Plenty of runners about, although I was the only one proudly displaying my hometown 🙂