The Absent Spectator

Congratulations to all those who ran! Y'all put up some impressive times. I was quietly cheering at my computer screen, wishing you could hear me, refreshing way more often then you were each going to hit another 5k marker. Quite exciting. I can't wait to read your post race posts ;D The BAA had a great website set up where you could find runners and "track" them (up to 5) through each 5k split. It updated your pace and projected finishing time! I was totally rooting for each of you every mile!

In other spectator news, we did watch the marathon coverage on TV -- the womens race turned into an exciting battle to the finish! We watch as 10 becomes 6... 6 becomes 2... coming down to the wire as the miles are ticking past. The women have been running for 2 hours 20 minutes and the announcer informs us, it could come down to these last 4 minutes (CRAZY AWESOME!), the finish, the kick, who looks stronger, which one will win? 12:00pm sharp, two ladies battling to the finish, rounding the corner at Boylston, we're on the edge of our seats to see who will pull away, who will hang on, and who will win. It's a battle of epic proportions... or, wait, check out this driver, GOLF channel!? what the?! We're sitting there stunned, what just happened? Where did the feed go? Who won? Did she surge, did she come back, did she pull away? My friends, by the time we got the podcast going it was over. We watched the finish of the mens race and the laurel wreaths awarded, even the baseball game when that was all over, but the end of the womens race... NO, that was not to be. We have sent several angry emails to VS, who in the final minutes of the closest womens finish in the history of the Boston Marathon, shut down their feed and put on an infomercial for a pivoting driver that "lets you know" when you've got a bad backswing! Rediculous. Apparently the savvy absent spectator relies on multiple modes of media in case stupid cable channel executives pull the plug on the sporting event you've invested 2.5 hours of your life on watching to the conclusion (including watching their tons of commercials) to put on some random and irrelevant paid advertising. Next time we'll know. Or next time we'll just RUN BOSTON. ha!

Hey ladies, Congratulations again on a great race!