Forthcoming race-day note
If you scanned this on race day: hi. I'm running Boston this year, and this page is a placeholder for the fuller musing I'm writing about the race's history, the road that brought me here, and why this day belongs just as much to the people cheering as the people racing.
1897
First Boston Marathon
The race that turned a city into marathon shorthand.
26.2
Miles of shared effort
From Hopkinton to Boylston, never really run alone.
2022
When I started running
The fuller essay will trace everything that changed after that.
What This Will Become
I wanted the QR to land somewhere real right now, even if the complete essay comes later. The final version will braid together three threads:
History
The fuller essay will trace how Boston turned endurance into civic ritual: the oldest annual marathon, the point-to-point pilgrimage from Hopkinton, and the strange hold this course has on people who may never run it.
Journey
I started running in 2022. The eventual piece will be about discipline, identity, and what changed once running stopped being a hobby and started becoming one of the clearest mirrors in my life.
People
The day belongs to the families, friends, volunteers, and strangers ringing cowbells in the cold too. Boston is one of the clearest reminders that no race is ever fully individual.
For Today
Whether you're out there racing, tracking someone you love, waiting near the finish, or just soaking in the atmosphere, congratulations on being part of one of the best days in running.
If you are running today: congratulations. You earned the right to be here.
If you are family or support crew: congratulations to you too. You carried miles of this before the race even started.
If you are just lining the course because Boston Day feels electric: thank you. Crowd energy is part of the architecture of the race.
Race-Day Note
The point of the QR is not to pretend the whole essay is already finished. It is to create a real place to land, say hello, and mark what the eventual piece will try to honor.
The Boston Marathon is part history, part mythology, part neighborhood block party, and part private reckoning. I want to write about all of that carefully once I can write from the far side of the finish line.
Until then, thank you for scanning, and I hope your Boston weekend gives you exactly what you came here for.