Beantown or Bust!!

I've arrived! Its rainy and cool, but that doesn't dampen the enthusiasm that surrounds this marathon of marathons. The energy is palpable. And it kinda psyches me out .... but I will be fine. I forgot my camera cable (AGAIN...did the same in FL but was able to borrow dad's. I will take some with my phone and send them to myself.)

Yesterday, my friend Margo and I drove up to the cities after lunch and met up with a mutual friend, Paula, at her home. Then they were off to visit Margo's parents while I went to Run 'n Fun (Burnsville) and then met a friend for dinner at Major's. Then we all met up again at Wayzata Community Church to hear Anna Quindlen speak. She was interesting. She did a reading from her newest work and then took questions. The Q&A was interesting. She ends each writing session in the middle of a sentence--not the end of a chapter, or even the end of a paragraph. She finds it much easier to pick up writing again that way. She also gets to know her characters in her mind for 6 to 8 months before she actually starts to write. She said that she knows the beginning and ending of a book before she starts to write, but the middle is what is unknown and what she needs to develop as part of the process of writing. She also lets go of the characters immediately upon finishing the work. She also said that hates to write! Interesting. She said she dinks around doing everything she possibly can before sitting down to put "pen to paper" so to speak. Anyway, interesting talk.

On my first flight out of MSP this morning I was sitting in my seat, all comfy, and a guy sits next to me and asks if I'd like to move up to business class. Well ... sweet!! His girlfriend was up there and they wanted to sit together. So away I went. It's wonderful to have that much leg room. I sat next to a grad student at the U of M. She was on her way to DC to do some lobbying for education. She is doing her masters' work in Policy and wants to open a school for troubled youth. She did her undergrad work at Florida A&M with a major in music education. Her instruments were voice and violin. She's lived all over the US and said that nowhere feels like home.

 Then I had just a brief layover, just enough time to eat a bagel, before boarding the flight to BOS. On that flight, the gal across the aisle was a runner (most of the plane seemed to be filled with runners) and had qualified at Whistlestop, as did I. She was from Stillwater and was running her first Boston. The guy next to me was running his 7th Boston (and 20th marathon) and qualified for Boston last year at Boston. He's re-qualified each time he's run, except for the first. Remarkable accomplishment. He was from Green Bay. I got a little sleep on this flight, which was welcome.

I got on the T after purchasing a 7-day pass ($15 for unlimited rides--a steal) and headed for the Hynes Convention Center, schlepping my suitcase and carry-on around with me. On the way in, a gal from CA started talking to me. This is her first Boston. She sounded very intimidated, which she had no reason to be. She'd qualified! And I'm sure she was younger than me. She has just as much right to be running her as anyone else who'd qualified. The expo was VERY busy. Pretty much shoulder to shoulder. The adidas area was absolutely nuts. I had to ask a volunteer how to get OUT of there. She said to wait where I was and in a few minutes, they'd put down these ropes and I could cross and keep walking until I got on a concrete floor and then I'd be in neutral territory. And I was still schlepping around my bags. This was beginning to get old. And cumbersome. I didn't buy a jacket or anything. At least not yet. I don't know how I feel about the teal and yellow color clothing for the women. I like the guys much better--royal blue and yellow. Very bright. And, on Tuesday, everthing at one sporting goods store in the Prudential Center is 1/2 off. So I might wait and take my chances. Or maybe get a fleece top instead of another jacket. I'll ponder it tonight.

So then I made my way around the expo. It's really the expo of expos. Booths for everything imaginable. I didn't even need to find lunch. I just ate my way through samples at the expo...CLIF bar, Success rice, apples, Luna bars, pears, Gatorade, Planters nuts. As I sometimes tell people, I can't to ANYWHERE without seeing someone I know. I was chatting with an author at the Runners World booth and I hear this guy talking about the cold in Minnesota. I said I was from Minnesota too. And he proceeds to say " ... I've seen you run!" Well, small world. He'd run Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer and apparently remembered me. :-) I also ran into Dave and Pam Phillips. They're staying out of town a ways. Still undecided about their plans for the pasta dinner and Tuesday and Wednesday. I'm considering taking the train up to Portland, ME for a couple of days. A 2-hour ride for $24 and I've never been to Maine.

In a couple of hours I'm meeting Lionel and Carolyn for dinner at Eastern Standard. It's just a couple of T stops from here. I am very anxious to see them and catch up with them. They left Rochester about 10 months ago. Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to a Red Sox game. I'm hoping it doesn't rain. But if it does, I spied some rain ponchos and umbrellas at Walgreens on Boylston street, so I'll stop there and get something to protect me from the rain. Stopped at Trader Joe's today after leaving the expo. It's right across the street. Got some bananas (19 cents each) and some cinnamon raisin english muffins. I think I'm good to go. :-)

Well, I think I'll go up and relax in the room and then take a shower which will feel heavenly. Thanks for stopping by, and I'll chat with you again tomorrow.

Toodles!