The Spars must have had me in mind- 2 minutes into my walk in the direction of the starting line I saw a sign for “Team Hoyt Runners” with an arrow. I felt completely happy and relaxed once I saw that sign and after following subsequent signs, I arrived at the Spars’ and went down into the basement to join the rest of the Team Hoyt runners. Everyone greeted me warmly (nobody questioned why I was the last one there) and we all talked more about race strategies and how awesome it was to be where we were. Again, I was hit with a wave of emotion- all of these people had been training the way I had and each of them was about to undertake the same incredible challenge. The goals for the individuals on the team ranged from 3 ½ hours to just getting across the finish line, but there was no competition or judgment. Everyone was supportive of each others’ goals because we all knew what an intense undertaking running a marathon is. Before heading to the start the team held hands and said a prayer (it sounds cheesy, but it was very calming and I sincerely believe that saying “Amen” in unison brought all of us, including those who are not religious, even closer together).

 

We made our way down to the corrals. I was waiting for myself to break down in tears, but it all felt oddly normal. I was headed to the starting line of the Boston Marathon with thousands of other runners. This was a HUGE deal, probably one of the greatest moments of my life, and I felt happy and excited, but it felt like I belonged there. We all entered our assigned corrals and greeted other runners around us. Runners are a very social bunch and I met about 15 new people during the 10 minutes we were waiting for the race to start. The official start time for my wave of runners was 10:30, but since our corral was about 10,000 runners back, I actually crossed the starting line 12 minutes later (thank goodness they calculate your race time based on when you actually go over the starting line rather than when runners start moving). This was it!