115th Boston Marathon, 18 April 2011 (Part 3 - Race Pack Collection 17 April 2011)

After a 4.5 hour journey on the Lucky Star Bus from New York, our bus finally pulled into Boston's South Station.  And with our luggages in tow & a haversack on my back, we had to cross rivers & mountains to get to the subway station (ok, i was just kidding about the river & mountain, but you get the idea)... we had to take the escalator, walk a lengthy pathway before we could reach the South Station subway.  Grabbed 2 pieces of the Charlie Card from the subway staff before topping up each card with $10.  Then took the subway to Downtown Crossing Station before changing to the Orange Line, bringing us to the Back Bay Station.  We exited towards Clarendon Street and walked along it, hoping we were walking the right way.. Luck was with us as we found the hotel rather quickly.  Unfortunately, our room wasn't ready yet even though it was 4pm.  We left our luggages there and after getting directions to Hynes Convention Centre, we hurried out of the hotel & walked about 20mins towards the Centre, taking pictures of the Finish Line in the process and it was great that the roads at the Finish Area were closed.

After being "interupted" along the way, we reached the race pack collection venue at 4.30pm, 1.5hrs before it officially closes... what a close shave and memorable adventure to get to here.  A good experience no doubt, which makes it even more memorable.

Priority #1 - Collect Race Bib.  Showed the lady my Number Pick Up Card and my IC. It was quickly retrieved.. possibly due to very few bibs still remaining in their stack.  Proceeded to collect my 'S'-sized long sleeve Event T-Shirt, which i must say, was of top quality and i really love the design and the oustanding yellow with blue lettering/logos.

Priority #2 - Race Expo shopping.  As it was quite near the close of the Expo,  not many good stuff were still available, especially at the Adidas booth.  Managed to scramble for a short sleeve & long sleeve t-shirts with the event logos.  Unfortunately the jacket was out of stock, which was a pity as i thought it looked nice.  Learning point - Go Early if you want the good stuff.  Went to view the many other booths and took quite a number of photos of those.  Various brands were present & i also grabbed some items at the ASICS booth.  Quite a number of booths had also begun closing even before we arrived there... well, at least it helped us save our pockets :)  I always loved attending the Boston race expo as it was a fantastic chance to view many sports items available & it was a real mental/financial challenge not to be tempted by the many products available at such reasonable prices.. imagine a pair of shoes can cost about USD 75 or USD 90 and some models are not even available in Singapore yet... After spending only 1 hour or so, an announcement was made to signify the close of the expo & we reluctantly made our way out of the Hynes Convention Centre...

We then walked around the city, in the search of a place to have dinner... finally found ourselves in a Japanese restaurant just opposite the Prudential Shopping Mall..  it was a lovely place and food was good too!  Satisfied with our fulfilling meal, we headed back towards Hotel 140, stopping by at the CVS Pharmacy to grab some drinks & breakfast food.

Once back at the hotel, unpacked our stuff, went through my race pack items & got ready my race day attire.  I had brought along a singlet & long sleeve compression top so i would have options as my decision would be made based on the expected weather on race day.  Decided to go with the ASICS Long Sleeve top.. helps prevent sun damage too as the race would only start at 10am.

Finally went to bed at about 12am... and looked forward to my 2nd Boston Marathon on 18 April 2011.

115th Boston Marathon, 18 April 2011 (Part 2 - Amazing Race: En route to Boston 17 April 2011)

Was awake since 4am on 17 April 2011, the day i was to make our way from New York to Boston. Alarm was set for 5.15am, but with my mind quite active, i got up earlier & had a refreshing shower. Packed our stuff & grabbed a bagel with cream cheese, downed 3 cups of orange juice and hopped into the shuttle van to JFK airport.

Our repeated attempts to check-in at the JetBlue kiosk were unsuccessful, until Yeehua exclaimed in a shocking tone that our flight was cancelled, and the notification via email came only at 6.12am that morning (our flight was scheduled to depart at 9.20am)... We had to join the never-ending queue, in the hope of taking the next flight available, and ensuring i was able to make it by 6pm to collect my race pack at the Race Expo.

As we waited in the queue, we mulled over how we can avoid such a situation in the future and started surfing the internet via our handphones on alternative transport arrangements.  After some frantic searching on the internet, we came to a decision: if there wasn't any available seat on the next flight to Boston, we'd make oiur way to New York city and take the hourly bus service to Boston for the cost of $15 per person.

True enough, there was a waiting list for the 1226pm flight & only 1 seat was available at the 2pm and 6pm flight. Deciding to opt for a full refund, we quickly made our way to the AirTrain and got ourselves onto the subway heading towards Bowery station, which took 45mins to get to.  Upon exiting the station, we walked along Chrystie Road with our luggages in tow, in search of Lucky Star bus company.  After a 5-10min walk requiring us to lift our luggages (fortunately it was still light as we'd just begun our trip) over potholes/uneven ground, we managed to secure 2 tickets to Boston for USD 30 (much cheaper than the JetBlue flight), leaving at 11am.  With a sigh of relief (we didn't really panic though, as there was just sufficient time to get to the race expo after a 4-5hr bus journey), i went to grab 4 fresh sandwiches at USD 2 each & 3 bottles of water for our bus adventure.  An adventure in itself, searching for a suitable bus company, and lucky enough to have free wi-fi on board Lucky Star buses.  And here i am still on the bus at 2.30pm, making full use of the on-board free wi-fi to blog about our 'Amazing Race' from New York JFK Airport to Boston.  I don't think i will forget this 'good' experience easily...  Looking forward to the next leg of the Amazing Race... from Hotel 140 to race pack collection by 6pm at 900 Boylston Street, Hynes Convention Center.

To be continued..

115th Boston Marathon, 18 April 2011 (Part1 - En route to Boston)

Starting this new blog with a report on one of the top 5 world marathon majors... the Boston Marathon, 115th edition, taking place on 18 April 2011, in Boston.

This will be my 2nd appearance in the 2nd consecutive year... the exhilarating experience in 2010 warranted a 2nd appearance in 2011.

So here I am, having just arrived in New York on 16 Apr at 3.45pm (3.45am Sunday Singapore time), after being 'imprisoned' in the China Eastern flight for a total of 19 hours, not including a 6 hour stopover in Shanghai Pudong airport. Will be staying for a night in Howard Johnson Inn JFK Airport before leaving for Boston the next morning via Jet Blue.

It's a very cold day in New York, 8 degrees celcius.. and rainy weather to welcome us into the US. It's time to get warm & comfy.. and probably venture out to New York City for a short night trip, and relive the previous trip to New York, way back in February 2005. To be continued...