Boston Marathon Logistics

[Jeff Linger]

I've been trying to look into the best way to get to the start of the Boston Marathon. The bus leaves from downtown boston to hopkinton at 6am with the race to start for people like me some 4.5 hours later. Ugh! The real kicker of this is that I'll be staying with my cousin who lives about 15 minutes from hopkinton. Essentially, I'd have to drive an hour into Boston to be there by 6am so that I could ride back out and then sit and wait. Does anyone have any suggestions for a better way to get to the start?

Also, any FBRers running boston shooting for the 3 hour mark? Wondering if maybe we can meet up and work together during the race.

[allie]

i did not ride the official race buses but rather took a shuttle from my hotel...i would assume most hotels offer this service on race morning, and i don't think it would be much of an issue if you hopped onto one (if you pay the $20 fee, of course). and the hotel shuttles tend to depart later or have options like "leaves every half hour". but then there's still the dilemma of having to leave your cousin's super-early to travel to boston. maybe a taxi? pricey, but it's an option.

and about the wait...a cheap yoga mat and an ipod were great company for me. the wait-time is inevitable with the logistics of the race and the volume of runners. also, a cheap square of fleece fabric from wal-mart makes a great throw-away blanket that you will be glad to have if it's a cold morning. they also have free coffee, bagels and bananas to keep you occupied.

good luck!

[Jon Allen]

Why don't you just have your cousin drive you as close as he can get an hour before the race?  You may have to walk a bit, but I don't think that is much worse than standing around for 4 hours.

[Matt Konold]

Jeff,

I'm staying in Framingham (about 4 miles NE of hopkinton), and plan on having my wife drop me off at the "State Park" just outside of hopkinton and taking a shuttle in.  The Marathon website mentioned that there would be shuttles for runners at a couple locations for people who will travel to hopkinton on their own.  I think this is mentioned in the FAQ section of the website.  I too am shooting for a 3:00ish time.  I think I'll be a little over, but am in the neighborhood.  Rhett is in a good position to go for sub 3:00 and we're planning on at least meeting up pre-gun.  We're both in corral #2 of the first wave.

[jtshad]

I am staying downtown and will use the official buses.  I did this in 2006 and it worked fine.  The buses leave the Common around 6:45 (for the first wave which you indicate you are in) and it takes the better part of an hour to get to Hopkinton.  Then, once there, the village is actually not bad with other runners and food, beverages (assuming good weather, not like 2007!).  You then have to drop off your bag and make the 0.5M walk from the village to the start (which I used as warmup time) and get into your corral about 15 minutes before the race.  So all said and done, the time in the village is only 1-1.5 hours.  (Which you might need just to get into a porta-john, the lines get huge!).

[Jeff Linger]

Matt,

How did you get your wave and coral # already? Was I supposed to get this in the mail? baa.org says this info is mailed out in early April.

[jtshad]

Jeff, go to the Boston marathon homepage and enter you name in the entrants search...voila!

[Matt Konold]

The name search only gives you your bib number. . . I actually have no idea how I came to the conclusion I'll be in the second corral!  I think I was reading some forums on the typical breakdown for times/corrals.  I guess I'll have to wait a week or two to be sure.

[jtshad]

Your Bib number indicates your corral (each corral is 1000 #/runner increments).  Therefore if your number is 2XXX, you are in the 2nd corral and so forth.

[Jon Allen]

So if my bib number is 943,501,329,633, does that mean I'm going to be starting from a corral somewhere in Illinois?

[Sasha Pachev]

So can we brag that we are the only website on the Internet where people are discussing Boston Marathon logistics on a forum?

[Jeff Linger]

I'm sure there are others Sasha, but we're the only one doing it that really counts.

I'm bib #5857 so I guess that means I'm in corral #5? And I see that Cheruiyot's have bib #s 1, 3, and 7. Brian Sell is #16. Ryan Hall from Chicago is bib #1202 but where's Ryan Hall from Big Bear Lake? I thought he was running? So if you've got a sub 1000 bib # you're in the elite wave? So I guess because I only ran a 3:11 qualifier I can't move up and run with you guys. Corral and wave movement is only allowed backwards, not forwards. Anyone else from FRB in corral #5?

[James Moore]

Jeff last year I qualified in the first corral but I actually started in the second corral and let many people pass me in the first 400 meters. I might have been in 1100-1400th place at the beginning and I finished 177th despite getting passed by alot of people at the end. Point is, being buried at the beginning isn't going to hurt you as long as you're not too anxious to move up. If you go for sub3 and start in the 5th corral you'll be passing alot of people, I would be pretty excited if I were you. It makes the race fly by.

[Jeff Linger]

Thanks for the encouragement James. I'm not so much worried about my corral as I'd like to find another person trying to crack the 3 hour mark to work with.

[jtshad]

Ryan Hall has bib #2. 

The bib numbers I am confused about are some in the 200's that have a "HC" code at the end of their info and have no times indicated on marathonguide.com for the last 2 years.