Boston Magic

 A weekend in Boston with Brian, his siblings, and mom to watch him run the Boston Marathon was quite magical! Everything about it was so fun, and new, and perfect. The company, the weather, the entertainment, and our first time (and surely not the last time) Boston Marathoner!

We all got to Boston on Saturday, April 16, arriving in shifts-

We met up with the girls from Utah on the Freedom Trail since they arrived the earliest on a red-eye from Salt Lake. We saw Paul Revere's House and enjoyed the gorgeous spring afternoon in Boston.

We got to check into our hotel, took a little rest, and then met Todd at the Expo for Brian to pick up his race gear and load up with marathon souvenirs!

Can't you just see the excitement on his face?!

This saying is so fitting for marathoners--Brian really makes it seem like this impossible feat is nothing with his hard work and dedication.

2022 was the 50th anniversary of women being able to participate in the marathon and it was so cool to be a part of that celebration!

Brian LOVES Tracksmith (basically all of his running gear is from there), so we had a blast visiting the only store front they have!

Checking out the finish line got us all really excited!

We finished with dinner at Quincy Market so Kelli could get another crab roll and it didn't disappoint!

Sunday was our slow day so Brian could make sure to be rested up for the race the next day. He and Todd started the day with a shake out run-

We checked out the view from the top of our hotel in the FREEZING cold wind-

And then made our way over to Fenway Park for a Red Sox game!

Even though I'm not much of a baseball fan, this was such a fun experience and the perfect way to spend a "rest day" with Brian and his fam.

They even pulled out a W for us!

After the game we went for a stroll through Boston Commons before our dinner reservations-

They thought they were so funny being photo bombers.

Haha! They actually were!

Brian loves to eat asian food for his pre-race dinner and this was a fun, unique place to try out!

We concluded our rest day pretty early to make sure Bri could get good sleep, but he did have to show off his race attire to Russ on FaceTime- 

Before we knew it, it was go time and we were out finding our spot on the course to cheer our guy on-

We found this perfect spot in Wellesley at the half way point and had so much fun seeing all the elite men, women, and hand push athletes come through! We even met a member of the church on our restroom hunt who worked at the cutest juice shop and had a blast talking to him. 

We cheered and cheered and kept our eyes peeled, and Brian showed up right when he said he would and we weren't one bit surprised- 

He stopped and gave me quick smooch and it was just the best moment of the whole day! We were all so excited to see each other and he looked SO GOOD and we just knew he was going to slay the second half of the race!

We immediately went to the train station to get to the finish line and Boston Transit totally screwed up and made everyone that was planning on seeing their runners finish, completely miss them. The train was over 30 minutes late and took so long at stops because there were so many people. You would think the city would have that one figured out by now. I was mad and shed a few tears, but we followed him on the app and watched his avatar cross the finish line and Kelli gave the best cheer with her cowbell when he did.

If we couldn't be there, it was the next best thing with the best people. 

We hustled to find him as soon as we got off the train and it was so exciting when we finally found him!

He said, "That was the race of my life!" and we just gushed over how proud we were of him and how happy we were that he was able to run the race he had trained for!

He was freezing cold on that shady street, but we made him get some pictures, helped him get his wobbly body dressed, and got him back to the hotel to get him recovering!

ISN'T THAT TIME INCREDIBLE?!?!

Brian soaked in a tub, massaged his legs, and rested for a bit before he was ready to hit the streets again to shake those legs out.

We hit a couple more spots on the Freedom Trail-

We LOVED all the red brick SO MUCH!

Then we hit up this incredible Italian restaurant and savored every bite of our delicious meals-

Kelli was cracking me up with her napkin tucked into her shirt, but she loved that mushroom ravioli as much as she thought she would and none of it got on her shirt!

We rounded the night out at Mike's Pastry and it did not disappoint.

We were all so sad to wake up to our last day because we had so much fun together! Todd had to head out in the morning and the rest of us didn't leave until late afternoon. We bid farewell to Todd and then Brian and I got over to Tracksmith at 9am to make sure Brian could get an awesome poster they give out for free to runners with their time stamped on it-

Isn't that awesome!?

We met back up with the Utah girls and finished the last couple spots on the Freedom Trail-

USS Constitution

Bunker Hill

Kelli challenged a sore marathoner to a race up the stairs and I think they tied.

Good effort, Kell!

Love these peeps.

Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport and say goodbye and we weren't very happy about it, but all felt so good and inspired as we parted ways. Even though Brian was the only one to run the race, his commitment, enthusiasm, and zest for doing something he loves really left us all inspired to do the same. What a MAGICAL weekend!

We loved getting the official race pictures as they trickled in over the next few days-

These two pictures are when he was searching for us near the finish line that Boston Transit failed to get us to. He said even though we weren't there, it was so good to have the distraction of searching for us. That made me feel better about missing him. 

Left on Boylston!