Marathon Man

Here in Massachusetts it's Patriot's Day, which means we have a parade down Boylston Street to celebrate Tom Brady and Tedy Bruschi. No, seriously, it's a day to celebrate Paul Revere and those kinds of patriots. And more importantly, it's the day of the Boston Marathon and an 11a.m. Red Sox game — and another day off from work for me. No complaints there. I love Patriots Day; it's one of my top 5 days of the year.

For me, there's no better place to be today than at the corner of Boylston St. and Hereford St. to get the full view down Boylston as runners turn the corner and see the last stretch of the race and all the people cheering them on. I can't imagine how great that must feel. It's my tradition that after standing in front of the Hynes Convention Center for a while, I move down there to cheer on the real runners, not the Kenyans and others who can finish in around two hours. Everyone knows the best part of the race takes place a half hour after the winners cross, when the hordes of regular joe (and jane) runners come down Boylston, and you can cheer on those who are struggling to finish and need the crowd support. That's the glory of sport.

And every year I say the same thing: One day I'd like to run the marathon. Sure, I have a long way to go before I'm in shape to run 26 miles — for now, I'll be content if I can walk six miles — but I would love to be able to say I accomplished that. I mean, really, we all drive to Natick because it seems so far away. But these folks have just run from there and beyond. So yeah, I'm totally impressed by people who have run marathons, and I look forward to being out in the sunshine cheering them on.