The Boston Marathon

The Boston Marathon is the world's oldest annual marathon.

Outside of the Olympics, the Boston is the only major American marathon that requires a qualifying time, making it a "people's Olympic event," and with appx 500,000 spectators, it has become New England's most widely-viewed sporting event.

How could we miss that?! Husband and baby and I decided to watch the race in Newton near mile marker 19. Although the finish line downtown would have been much more exciting, we didn't want to risk losing out to unspeakable crowds and traffic, and we heard some pretty amazing things about this location.

We were running late and took a few detours due to road blockage, so we parked in the most random place and followed the crowds. Just then the police and lead cars passed by, it was so exciting.

(timer says 1:28:22)

We missed the wheelchair division, but arrived just in time to see the first elite woman pass, who I believe went on to win the women's division with a time of 2:26:11. Like whoa.

We walked uphill to find a better view, and soon enough the elite men were passing by. They were crazy fast. That guy in purple might be the same guy who won the race. His time was 2:05:52.

Then the real magic happened. There's nothing more inspiring than seeing a bunch of people like you and me (who happen to run at an above-average pace for a very long distance) all take on something so incredible.

I was a huge sucker for the name shirts. GO [random guy named] STEVE!

But we especially loved cheering on any of our Colorado homies...

...and the crazy costumes.

Beautiful...

Someday!...

This marathon would be a dream to run, if only for the spectators alone! How awesome would it be to have screaming fans the entire course?

Watching a race like this is what inspired me to run my first marathon in 2005. I loved my marathon in St. George, but afterward swore I'd stick to half marathons (at most) from then on out. But shoot, after this, I may have to change that! Don't hold me to it, but here's to hoping.

The race picked up even more after that, but a sweet baby soon realized how tired he was, so we headed out. Long or short, it was worth every minute.

Tower Park Battle

This is a repeat for many of you, but I figure I may as well post this here too.

LAST weekend we celebrated Patriots' Day with the rest of New England. It was totally awesome.

Patriots' Day celebrates the beginning of the Revolutionary War, when the first battles broke out in Lexington and Concord... just minutes from our house!

All sorts of re-enactments and events were happening all weekend. We were too busy sleeping to enjoy some of the big battles that occurred early in the wee hours of the morning, as they did 235 years ago, but luckily for us, there was a smaller battle Saturday afternoon.

It was called the Tower Park Battle, found on this site, (named for the park, not an actual historic battle), performed by the Lexington Minute Men, and it was so cool, so hilarious, and so FUN!

It is really amazing to be among such rich American history.

Here are some pictures...

It was rainy and chilly, but bearable, and oh so green.
We walked through some road blockage to get to the park...

(I love wet streets. Funny thing...have you ever noticed that streets are always wet in movies, rainy or not?)

Battle spectators, and smoke from the gunfire (the shots were seriously loud):

Bah! The British are coming!

Oh phew...

Retreating...

And we won!!!

Boston Public Garden

Spring has arrived in Boston! We have been playing outside nonstop. Last week we went downtown and walked through the Boston Public Garden, it was beautiful.

Street corners around the park:

The Garden:

Mr. George Washington himself:

clinton, ct

My baby and I have driven to this little town in Connecticut a few times this month. The four-hour round trip isn't great when your only destination is a doctor's office, but it is a such cute town! I wish I had more pictures of the adorable houses and shops, but we were short on time and I was far too enamored with the boats and beach. :)

Below is where I stopped for lunch. Piccadeli Station, a new little bakery/deli... delicious!!! I've been craving it ever since.

The Boston Temple

My husband and baby and I walked these temple grounds today. The weather has been absolutely incredible in Boston, it made for a gorgeous Easter Sunday!

Oh how I hope to shoot a wedding here this summer. :)