So onto day 2 of my Boston trip.
It was MUCH colder so I bundled up with as many layers as I could reasonably wear. (I wore a wazzie wool base layer, Oiselle hoodie, a light rain jacket, jeans and a wazzie wool neck gaiter.)
Outside the Seaport World Trade Center
As I walked over to the Thinking Cup for a meet up with the Oiselle Volee, I was pelted by little pieces of sleet as I walked from the T stop. I was definitely thankful for a good cup of coffee and a breakfast sandwich with the Oiselle Volee and Oiselle Founder, Sally Bergesen and Dr Sarah Lesko (known just as Lesko to the birds) who is Sally's BRF (Best Running Friend) and Oiselle's head of Corporate Development. I met them both for the first time at the Women's March in DC and spent time cowbelling with Lesko in Boston last year. It was great getting to connect with birds I hadn't seen since last year and meeting new birds who were running on Marathon Monday.
From the Thinking Cup, I headed over to the Make Way for Ducklings statues in Boston Common since it was right across the street. I was so excited to see that they had spring bonnets with flowers and that pots of daffodils were placed by each of the ducks.
After that, I hopped on the T again to get closer to the Goodr/Rabbit pop up shop on Newbury street. I couldn't decide on a color for sunglasses, so I moved on to check out the Runner's World Pop Up on Boylston where there was a panel of experts offering advice for Marathon Monday. The main concern was just how to prepare for the cold rain. One great tip was to keep nutrition close to your body so it doesn't freeze up. Basically keep it in a pocket in your leggings rather than a running belt so your body heat can help keep the gu and chews. I also picked up a can of White Claw hard seltzer for later and some free sunglasses and a headband with their logo.
Afterwards I headed over to Trader Joe's to grab a quick lunch (I settled on a turkey club wrap) along with some of their Raspberry Lime Sparkling Water. I shoved the bottle of water into my backpack and ate my wrap as I headed to the nearest T stop. It was finally time to experience the expo in full. And unsurprisingly, it was a lot better than Saturday in terms of crowds because the marathoners were at home resting for the big race the next day.
I managed to get away only buying a couple pieces of merch--a hat from Right on Hereford, Left on Boylston and I finally settled on a pair of Goodr sunglasses in Swedish Meatball Hangover (yellow frames, blue lenses.) However the swag was much better since vendors wanted to get rid of as much as they could. Here's my haul for day 2:
I got a 5oz sample from Vital Proteins, 2 full sized samples of Mighty Muffins from Flapjacked, a pack of mints and cups of brown rice and quinoa from Minute Rice, a full sized Trimino protein water, a Pure Protein bar, 2 lara bar samples, a copy of Women's Running magazine, a can of White Claw hard seltzer (which I tasted at the expo) along with a headband and sunglasses and a poster board from John Hancock that you could decorate at the expo. (In this case, I didn't decorate it and intended on writing the American winner for the Boston Marathon to show to the runners.)
After a little bit of a break I headed back to Copley Square to meet up with a DC Oiselle Volee teammate to Uber to the team dinner at a Boston Volee member's house. It was super simple--pasta, meatballs, salad and cookies and good company.
It was fun getting to know other team members and getting to meet one of Oiselle's Haute Volee (their elite running team), Sasha Gollish. My fellow DC teammate wanted to get back early since she was running the next morning and we ended up Ubering back to downtown Boston with Sasha! (That was kind of cool.) After getting dropped off, I still had a little bit of a walk to get to the T and back to my hotel. The path to the T took me right past the Finish line. It was only 8:00 and the drizzle had started. I could see there was barely anyone there. I had to go check it out. And I am so happy I did.
It was absolute pure magic. I had chills just thinking about how history could be made in this exact spot in less than 14 hours.
I was so excited to see what would happen the next day. The forecast couldn't keep me away. Not a whole lot could. I had rain boots, a rain jacket, waterproof pants, and twizzlers, a blank piece of posterboard, a clear plastic bag and a sharpie packed away in my backpack. I was in it for the long haul even as the rain started.
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