♥ ♥ Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates this holiday!!! I hope you have a wonderful day with your family. ♥ ♥
Last Monday was the annual running of the Boston Marathon. It was a cool, sunny day, perfect running weather. And the race goes straight through the center of my town. So we go most every year. My husband likes to see the top runners. I like to see the runners who dress up in wacky costumes. Though my favorite runners are the Navy runners I've seen in the past. Yum!
There are some unique facts about this marathon.
• Boston has the world’s oldest marathon, begun in 1897.
• Boston also holds the record for the all time highest number of participants in a marathon- 38,708 entrants in 1996.
• This week, a world record for running a marathon was set by Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya with a time of 2:03:02. Congratulations to him! Alas, though his time is a record, it won't be an acknowledged record because the Boston course is a "net downhill" which means, basically that it's too much downhill (ending, as the course does, virtually at sea level). Though I can see the fairness of this rule, it does mean that no world record can ever be set in Boston, which seems harsh. Hopefully, this won't discourage elite runners from entering this race.
It’s a state holiday in Mass., though not because of the Marathon. It’s Patriots’ Day, and not because of the football team either!
No, this holiday is unique because it commemorates the start of the American Revolution when the British marched from Boston to Concord and Lexington, and hostilities were opened on the Lexington Green. The famous ride of Paul Revere was taken at this time to warn the colonists of the approach of the British.
On a side note, consider the importance of names. Everyone knows the famous opening of Longfellow’s poem: “Listen my children and you will hear- Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere-”
William Dawes rode with Revere. But what rhymes with Dawes? So how many people know he was part of the duo? ♥
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