Marathon Monday

All throughout my pregnancy, my friend Katie and I would muse about this year's Boston Marathon, and stare off into space thinking about how I'd actually have a baby by then. So bizarre to imagine at the time. I had a hopeful vision of myself rocking the sideline with a baby that would be about three months old, so theoretically she'd be able to hold her head up, and she'd be fitting into some of the gratuitous Patagonia items I'd already bought for her.

And I was amazed on Monday--seriously, shocked and awed--that we actually pulled it all off! Maya was an absolute rockstar for Marathon Monday, and I couldn't have been more proud of both of us. After those first two months of near insanity, I feel like we really pulled things together and were this in sync (do you spell it that way as a phrase and not the band?) little team. Anil and I started the day with Maya's first T ride. She took it all in like a champ. Then we had breakfast at Katie's apartment before heading out to Beacon Street to watch the runners. This was the third annual marathon party that Katie threw; she makes a mouth watering brunch and pours mimosas so that we all simultaneously waddle and wobble our way from her Coolidge Corner apartment to the sidelines. She writes a great food blog too--check it out if you want to see what I stuffed my face with. Let me entice you with the words homemade pop tart--YUM.

Check out my Patagonia-adorned family here. I got Maya this baby down sweater jacket because resisting wasn't an option, but lately I've been convinced that I was a tool to buy it because, really, what baby wears a down jacket? Well, mine does! It was perfect. Unnecessary yes, but perfect. She wore her Patagonia fleece booties too. If you ever forget what this jacket looks like on her, you can just look at winter photos for the next three to four years, because she has this exact version in sizes 24M and 3T as well. The 24M one was a gift from her future ski instructor (my friend Betsy, also the manager of the store) and the 3T was a return to the store with a small defect, so I was able to snag it. Good thing it looks so cute on her!

Anil had to go to work shortly after the first runners came by, so I put Maya in the Bjorn, and she slept that way for over three hours! Which also meant that I was standing on those sidelines with her strapped on my chest for three hours--that's equally impressive. Finally I went back to Katie's apartment to regroup, to feed and change Maya, then we all walked back to my part of Beacon Street and had dinner and beers. We walked past all the drunk college kids still hanging out on Beacon Street and I secretly resented all the girls holding beers and wearing skinny jeans, but Maya was being so good and cute that I got over it pretty quickly.

We were all pretty beat by the end of the day. Admittedly, we didn't run a marathon, but we were out and about the whole time that other people were running it. Below is how the day ended, complete with a burger and fries and a Goose Island IPA for one of us. I don't even know how to express how I felt having pulled all of this off, just like I'd fantasized about it being all those months of pregnancy. I think relief might be the most accurate word. I'm not sure I even believed it would go this well during all of those hopeful visions, and in all honesty, even the morning of I was sure I'd last a few hours then retreat home with my crying baby, happy that we did breakfast and at least made an appearance to cheer for the runners. Maya went so far above and beyond--she's my super baby. I'm starting to realize that we're actually leaving Boston, and I'm starting to let myself be sad to leave the friends and traditions we've made here, so it was special to have a day like this. Katie and I are already looking forward to telling Maya about her first Marathon Monday. And I've already recruited my parents to make the trip with us next year. Maya already has the jacket.

The moment that will live in infamy is me seeing a student that I taught at BC running the marathon, and yelling "I had a baby!" while pointing to my chest, as she ran by and waved. She was the one running the marathon; she was almost finished running 24.6 miles, and I was yelling about my baby? For some reason, the thought went through my head that she wouldn't recognize me with this baby strapped to my chest, so I felt the need to point it out; that's my best excuse. I did push during labor for as long as it took some of the faster runners to finish, but I at least kept from yelling out that part.