Boston Marathon: The 7am bus is SO unnecessary!

You have to understand that the bus trip takes about an hour.

good luck getting there by car, they shut that shit down

Sure, the one hour bus ride makes sense -- but that still leaves 1.5 hours of totally dead time (subtracting an hour for warm-up). And yes, I do realize that Hopkinton (aptly referred to as "that shit" above) will have lots of road closures the morning of -- I just want to know how close I can get to the start line, and if there's anything interesting to do in the athletes' village if I *do* have to drag my ass out of bed early and take the bus.

You can nap, snack, hydrate, piss/crap. You might even talk to the people around you and learn something. You can read a book. You can put on sunscreen. You can listen to an ipod. You can pick your butt. It is part of the Boston experience - deal with it.

Quit whining you pussy. Part of the Boston experience is the trip to, and hanging out in the village.

Try talking to people. I totally enjoy talking to people in the bus and village. I've met some really cool people, fast slow and from all over the country. Maybe you'll learn how to run faster get into the first wave next year. Be happy you are there instead of looking for things to bitch about.

You can get dropped off at the State Park and get to the start line.

To me, the athletes village is not great. First, too many over-hydrated, adrenaline crazed people when I'm already in the pre-run mood zone. The music/announcing is too loud. The porta john line is a good 20 min. and if the ground is wet and muddy you are fighting for 2 sq ft of space to sprawl.

Now, the upside. Lots of happy people. ( This is not a contradiction to paragraph one. For many this is a defining moment in their running lives, so they are happy).

Last yr I focused on talking with people from other countries. Really enjoyed someone who traveled from New Zealand just to run Boston. He didn't figure to BQ again. I made some Koreans happy by repeating Lee Bong-ju with thumbs up. And showed my lack of universal language skills with several Germans.

Lastly, the early start will change the tempo that morning. Not enough lounge time til noon. My advice is to prepare to get to the start line by 10:10. Last yr they didn't strictly adhere to the coral system for very long.

I suspect I'll end up taking the bus, and it sounds like there's enough to do (people to chat with, excitement in the air, etc.) that it won't be ridiculously boring. I worry about the porta john lines, though; I typically count on a PJ stop ~10min before the gun, and that sounds like it's pretty much out of the question. Are there private (or semi-private) areas in the vicinity to take care of business if worse comes to worst?

For "Yeah, right": I won't bother to post my qualifying time, gender, or age bracket, but for someone my age who's only been running for 3 years, I'm damn proud of even being in the second wave. If you just want to be a hater, go post on the "New RD" thread or something, okay?

just don't piss in people's yards, they get "pissed" at that.

You could take other transportation to the start, but it's not really easy or obvious. I stayed with family about 5 miles from start last year and because they're so local, could get me to about a 1/2 mile from corrals. My reaction, unless you have someone who is VERY local, take the bus.

Other than the elite group and first corral, the rest of the penguins in attendance with numbers are also unnecessary.

Well if you really want to preoccupy yourself, you could do the double Boston. Start out in Copley, run to Hopkinton, run on back to Copley Square in Boston. You won't have to even look at the Athlete's village...but you might have to wake up early to get to the start.

Ha! wrote:

Other than the elite group and first corral, the rest of the penguins in attendance with numbers are also unnecessary.

Part of the Boston experience is taking a long bus ride and sitting around with 20,000 people you don't know, but have everything in common with. If you kicked your own butt enough to get into the race, take a couple of hours and soak up the atmosphere. It is unmatched IMO.

BostonQuery wrote:

I worry about the porta john lines, though; I typically count on a PJ stop ~10min before the gun, and that sounds like it's pretty much out of the question. Are there private (or semi-private) areas in the vicinity to take care of business if worse comes to worst?

The organizers will have PJ's on the way to the corrals, and near the corrals themselves, just to reduce the incidences of runners using some guys petunias for a latrine. Some day, that's going to be the straw that breaks Hopkinton's back, and the race will have to start in Holliston.

I do find it kind of interesting that the buses aren't rolling much earlier, in spite of the start being moved up 2 hrs. That indicatates to me that they were bringing people out too early for the previous 111 years.

JimG wrote:

I do find it kind of interesting that the buses aren't rolling much earlier, in spite of the start being moved up 2 hrs. That indicatates to me that they were bringing people out too early for the previous 111 years.

Have they been busing people for even 40 years?

The organizers will have PJ's on the way to the corrals, and near the corrals themselves, just to reduce the incidences of runners using some guys petunias for a latrine. Some day, that's going to be the straw that breaks Hopkinton's back, and the race will have to start in Holliston.

Or do the truly sensible thing and tighten the qualifying standards enough to reduce the overcrowding brought on with allowing too many braindead penguins in.

I met my girlfriend in line for the 7am bus!!

I'll second the "get dropped off at the State Park" option. It's about a 1.5 mile trot to the start from there - nice warm up. Sure beats sitting around in the school gym on 6 square inches of personal space.

Whaaa?? wrote:

Have they been busing people for even 40 years?

Or do the truly sensible thing and tighten the qualifying standards enough to reduce the overcrowding brought on with allowing too many braindead penguins in.

Guess my toungue wasn't planted firmly enough in cheek.

As for the second, this may be coming. This year, however, is the first time they have ever closed the field before the entry deadline due to size. It's maxed out.

What is the cuttoff time for the second wave?

I'm only asking because you plan on doing a 1 hour warm up. I can't imagine that anything close to that would be necessary for someone racing at your pace, whatever it may be.