The Boston Marathon is back next Monday, Patriots Day, April 18th for its billionth rendition, or so it seems. In reality, it is the 126th running–and did you know the Boston Marathon is the world’s oldest? That according to the marketing materials though I would say that probably the marathon at Marathon would be the oldest. Hmm. Anyway, the Owl is fond of the Marathon because she has (a) never run it and (b) used to be part of the scream tunnel at Wellesley before said scream tunnel changed to be about kissing runners. It never occurred to the Owl to kiss the runners but apparently that is a thing now. Mile 13 at the mother ship.

In recent years, the runner trackers make things a bit more fun if you want to see how your friend or neighbor is faring on the course. A few years ago, an Owlet and I went out to cheer on my friend Gary Allen who was running his 100th Marathon (!!!). Five decades of under 3 hour finishes. Whaaaaat? Superhuman. In any case, he is a native Cranberry Islander and not on the Weston list.

As registered, there are 14 Weston runners, but there are at least a couple of sneakies in addition. Mikaela Thompson, WHS ’15 (go ‘cats!) is running under her adopted city, and I believe there is another WHS alum in there but I could not confirm in time for print. Some of these runners are raising money for charities, and you should support them because that’s pretty cool (and pretty expensive). Please download the B.A.A app to your phone to follow these runners live: https://www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon

Here are the runners the Owl contacted and confirmed their participation:

Jijun Dong: Bib 20144

Tiao Xie: Bib 6825

Haiming Wu: Bib 8286

Xiali He: Bib 17072

Steven Hubbard: Bib 12631

By the way, the first four runners are members of a Boston-based Chinese running group named BEN, and have started a Weston running group that meets at the rail trail. If you are interested in joining this group, send the Owl a note and I’ll get you in touch with them.

Sage Nye (bib 25285) is running on behalf of Dream Big! An organization that helps low income women play sports by providing funds for equipment and showcase fees. You can find her page here: https://www.givengain.com/ap/sage-nye-raising-funds-for-dream-big-/

Mikaela Thompson (bib 24309) is running on behalf of Dana-Farber in honor of famiy members who have battled cancer. You can find her page here: http://danafarber.jimmyfund.org/goto/TeamMik.

The Owl will add the other runners (there are at least eight other Weston runners) when participation in confirmed. Don’t forget to wave hi to Spencer who will be out cheering on the runners again.