Spectators and runners, some veterans and some new to Marathon Monday, said they came out to the streets of Boston for the competition and the experience of being there.
‘[The atmosphere] here is unlike any other marathon I have experienced,’ Heather Droppert said, walking through the Prudential Center with her husband Justin after they completed the race together. It was his first marathon.
The newlyweds from Des Moines, Iowa said they prefer Boston’s marathon to New York City’s, despite its higher difficulty.
‘It’s a deceiving route that looks easy, but the down hills are hard,’ Heather Droppert, who has run in the Boston Marathon and others before, said.
The race is the world’s oldest annual marathon and typically attracts between 20,000 and 30,000 runners and 500,000 spectators.’ This year, 26,331 runners, 34 wheelchairs and 21 hand cycles entered, according to the Boston Marathon website.
While standing on Commonwealth Avenue securing the marathon route, Police Officer Myles Lawton said he expected at least that number in the crowds for the 113th marathon.
‘There’s the Red Sox game today [and a Celtics game tonight] too, so there may in fact be more people this time,’ he said. ‘It’s a good day to be a sports fan in Boston.’
Lawton, who grew up in Dorchester, said he always thought of the Marathon as another Boston sport.
‘It’s a family event and everyone comes to it,’ he said. ‘The city comes together.’
Though the first race did not begin in Hopkinton until 9:30 a.m., Starbucks shift supervisor Jennifer Eber found customers already waiting when she arrived to the 755 Boylston St.store.
‘We had a line already formed at the door when we opened at 6 a.m.’ she said.
Spectator Greg Bass of Dallas, Texas waited to see his wife, Jodi, running in her fourth Boston Marathon.
‘This is the race she runs in the most,’ Bass said. ‘It’s the one we enjoy coming to the most.’
A group of women from Lululemon Athletica in the Prudential Center cheered on co-workers running the marathon to support Fit Girls, a program promoting healthy bodies and minds for fourth- and fifth-grade girls.
Employees Theo Jordan and Briana Endicott said runners had been coming to the store all weekend.
‘We’ve heard some great stories,’ Endicott said. ‘One woman whose son is blind is running to support his school. She’s running blindfolded with a lead.’
Jordan said the Boston Marathon had more interested spectators than other marathons.
‘There are more people actually here as spectators, rather than just passing by,’ he said.
BU students also took to the streets on the day off. For some, like College of Arts and Sciences freshman Marcella Sacco and Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences freshman Julie Goldberg, the marathon festivities were a new experience.
‘ ‘I heard [the marathon] was a big deal in Boston and everyone comes out for it,’ Sacco said.
Goldberg said they came ‘to cheer and have a good time.’
Others, like School of Management senior Daniel Rose, attended their last marathon as BU students.
Rose said he woke up at 9 a.m. to cheer on the runners.
‘I even stayed in last night so I could wake up early,’ he said. ‘I’ve come out [for Marathon Monday] every year for the past four years. And who knows, maybe next year I’ll come back just for that.’
Though some students said they were cited for public drinking, Rose said many BU upperclassmen stayed in the bars, opting to sit and drink with friends away from the street and potential trouble.
‘It’s the scene,’ he said. ‘We all come out here with our friends to cheer and have a good time.’
Sacco said she was excited for next year.
‘Now that I was here to see it, it lived up to all the hype,’ she said.
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