I’m not a fan of shortening words for just for the sake of speaking less. MarMon sounds less like Marathon Monday and more like a word for a female Mormon. Is it really that hard to say Marathon Monday? Is your life actually better from the 0.53 seconds you saved from shortening the word?
Also, whoever invented the word “darty” needs to look at a dictionary, as that might be the dumbest “word” I’ve ever heard. Parties don’t exclusively happen at night — they can happen any time.
The combination of day and party doesn’t express the fact that the party is happening in the morning or afternoon. A day stretches from morning to night, so a “darty” could take place in the evening.
But I digress. My frustration isn’t really with the words used to describe the day.
This was my first Marathon Monday, and to say it was anticlimactic would be a gross exaggeration. I had made plans about two weeks in advance leading up to the day a lot of BU students seem to worship.
I was excited and looking forward to going out. In general, I’m not a huge party person and don’t appreciate huge sweaty walls, sticky floors or obnoxious people, and those seem to go hand in hand with party culture.
I always like to try everything at least once though, because you never know how you’ll feel until you actually try it. I also like to say that I did something. I feel like college is all about collecting experiences, and Marathon Monday is one I want.
Unfortunately, my plans fell through the night before, and I spent all day sleeping, cleaning and doing homework. I wasn’t exactly the poster child for a fun, awesome Marathon Monday. And I’m not going to lie, I had serious FOMO.
Everyone was out in the rain, smiling, laughing and creating memories, and I was in my room cleaning and packing for the summer. My roommate even asked me last night if she needs to bring her key, which is code for, “Are you going to leave the room tomorrow?” I told her she could leave it behind.
Maybe this is coming from a place of bitterness, but I think my main issue with Marathon Monday is that there’s a social expectation you have to do something big and wild. The day really has nothing to do with the Boston Marathon. I don’t think I had a single friend actually go and watch the runners.
Instead, they went to these awfully named “darties” and were passed out in bed by 5 p.m. And just to be clear, I’m not judging at all. I was going to be one of these people. I might be one of these people next year. The issue that bothers me is the expectation to be one of these people.
We got an extra day off of school. This might be an unpopular opinion, but my favorite thing to do when I don’t have school is to sleep in, wear pajamas all day, watch borderline unhealthy amounts of Netflix and eat take-out.
I literally have dreams about doing this. My bed is my happy place. Food makes me dance. Netflix is heavenly.
Plus, it was all rainy and dreary on Monday. Those are the perfect plans for a rainy day.
Honestly, I think I embraced the spirit of the day better than anyone. But the runners defied expectations. They ran 26.2 miles in the rain. They were productive. They accomplished something.
I also defied expectations. I didn’t go out, cleaned my room and did some homework. I was productive.
So at the end of the day, who’s the real winner: the kids who went out and had a blast or someone who watched the new Jumanji movie and ate leftover pad thai?
I think the answer is fairly obvious. Next year’s Marathon Monday better be more exciting.
In my four years at BU, I only truly *celebrated* one Marathon Monday (since when did it become MarMon? That IS dumb …) – my senior year. I also came back the year after I graduated to party with friends.
Was it fun living it up in South Campus, drinking with friends on the street, loosely cheering on the runners? Absolutely. Did I also enjoy myself my first three years, taking advantage of a quiet campus and then reffing broomball that night, hoping to not have to throw out any drunk kids? Also yes.
I’ve had my most fun on Marathon Monday, however, when I came back in both 2012 and 2016, to cheer on friends. I became a runner and a triathlete post-college and always know a handful of people running each year. As cheesy as it sounds, I’ve loved celebrating the human accomplishment more than I ever liked partying with friends in South.