After two weeks of decent training and generally lovely weather in Washington DC, Boston greeted us with biting cold gusts of damp wind-not ideal for most tropical inhabitants like us. Although we were forewarned that temperatures in Boston would be cooler than in DC, nothing prepared me for running a marathon in this harsh weather. And to make matters worse, our travel agent messed up our hotel reservations at the Westin Copley Place Hotel. After a 1.5-hour flight from DC, it took over 4 hours before we finally decided to pay extra for another room, just so I could get off my feet and relax for the night.
But the stressful saga continued the following morning when the front desk still could not find our reservations (despite paying for it months ahead) and we had to be transferred to The Colonnade Hotel since the Westin was fully booked for the marathon weekend. The stress level was reaching critical level at this point and my head was ready to explode. To make the long story short, after giving a mouthful to our travel agent over the phone, we were finally able to get a room for our last 3 nights. But we couldn’t even check into the room yet because it wasn’t ready. It was already past lunchtime and with no breakfast and lunch on the day before my race, I was already fuming mad, stressed out, and starving. And I still had to pick up my number packet at the John Hynes Veterans Convention Center! Good thing the pick-up venue was just across and walking distance from our hotel. We saw a Chinese bistro along the way so we settled for a disappointing brunch of bland Americanized Chinese food before proceeding to the number pick-up. continue reading here
But the stressful saga continued the following morning when the front desk still could not find our reservations (despite paying for it months ahead) and we had to be transferred to The Colonnade Hotel since the Westin was fully booked for the marathon weekend. The stress level was reaching critical level at this point and my head was ready to explode. To make the long story short, after giving a mouthful to our travel agent over the phone, we were finally able to get a room for our last 3 nights. But we couldn’t even check into the room yet because it wasn’t ready. It was already past lunchtime and with no breakfast and lunch on the day before my race, I was already fuming mad, stressed out, and starving. And I still had to pick up my number packet at the John Hynes Veterans Convention Center! Good thing the pick-up venue was just across and walking distance from our hotel. We saw a Chinese bistro along the way so we settled for a disappointing brunch of bland Americanized Chinese food before proceeding to the number pick-up. continue reading here
