If you want to read about the days leading up to the race and the race itself, check out these posts Pre Race HERE and Race Report HERE.

I finished the race and was immediately freezing cold.  I started shivering and could not stop.  I was ushered towards a warming building which was pretty far away, and then had to wait for 10 minutes as they ushered people in.  I finally made it in but did not have any of my warm clothes as my parents were still on their way  Initially we were supposed to meet under the S of the family meeting area, but I was too cold, so I called my mom and told her I was in the building and instructed her to give my bag to a volunteer at the front with instructions to give it to me.  I saw plenty of other people getting their bags this way and so I thought it would be no problem.  Eventually I had been waiting for almost an hour so I figured I should probably try and contact my mom again.  Everyone who offered me their cell phone however, had no service so it was impossible to call.  After some more time I decided to head outside to the lobby to see if I could find someone with service or see my parents outside.  Turns out they were pushed up against the doors trying their best to spot me.  I finally got my bag after about 2 hours and was in dry clothes.  I felt muuuch better and was excited to get to a brewery to have a celebratory beer.

However, my parents did not have that luxury and had been standing in the rain for the past few hours.  They rushed to the street car as soon as I passed them and were miserable and wet.  They decided to go home and I went to Harpoon brewing to meet a friend.

When I arrived at Harpoon, I ordered a flight and was surprised to hear that the first round of drinks for runners was on the house, so my flight was free!!!  I sat down and eventually found Cesar and Jen and some of their friends,  I enjoyed my flight and a beer and then decided to grab some food with another friend who was at a burger place.

We went to Boston Burger company and had a delicious burger and a beer.  The feeling of post marathon eating and drinking is great because you know you burned a lot of calories that day and “deserve” to eat and drink whatever you want.  The Leafs game was on TV and I caught the first period at the Burger place.  Cesar is a sharks fan and so was interested in moving to a sports bar to watch the remainder of the leafs game and then the sharks.  Meredith was down and so the four of us headed to a sports bar down the street.

The Leafs decided to show up this game and won the game, making the series 2-1.  I had a few Mass beers and eventually found the mystery beer on the menu.  $4 for the bartenders choice and in this case the Bartender was very nice to us.

We got all sorts of craft cans poured for us and eventually a free shot.  Eventually Meredith was tired and we figured it was probably time to go home.  When we got the bill the bartender said that we were the only runners that came in that day and so we got the benefit.  She comped us a lot, so we gave her a big tip and went merely on our way!

Tuesday night was departure day for my family.  My sister and brother-in law had a flight to catch and my parents were heading to Cape Cod.  But before all of that, we had a 9:15am brewery tour at Sammuel Adams.  They increased the number of tours they did during Marathon weekend and invited all of the runners to come by for a free tour.  I couldn’t say no to a brewery tour, so I jumped in the trunk of the car (we didn’t have enough room in the car and the brewery was not easily transitable.  We made it to the brewery and joined the 9am tour.

The Boston brewery is the smallest of their 3 and only had a 10 barrel system.  They do most of their barrel aged and sours here and most of their one off and special beers, like the 26.2 Gose they brew each year specifically for Marathon Weekend.  We did a quick tour through their facility and then headed to the tap room, where we got pours of Boston Lager, Summer Ale and the 26.2.

For 10am, the pours were pretty generous and I was feeling great afterwards.  They also gave us the taster glasses and every marathon runner got a free commemerative pint glass with the BAA logo on it.  They had also bottled 26.2 for the first time this year and it was only availible in their retail shop, however they were charging $20 for a 750mL bottle and I really didn’t have anywhere to bring it anyways.  My dad ended up getting a bottle so maybe I can see how it ages in June.  I would say for a free tour, it was a great way to spend the morning.

After the tour, the brewery has an arrangement with a local eatery which I had been told was good, so we decided to go to Doyle’s for lunch.  I had the Beef dip and a beer from down the street and my dad got to try the Sam Adams cherry wheat which they had mentioned at the brewery but did not have.  As an added bonus if you ordered a Sam Adam pint, you got a free pint glass.  This one did not have the BAA logo on it, but it was still more free stuff.

After lunch we returned back to the AirBNB, loaded up the car and headed out.  I accompanied my sister nad brother in law on the train to the airport since they needed help with the baby and then my mom picked me up at the airport so that we could go to breweries in Everett.

First stop was Down the Road brewing which I had heard had an ample number of pinball machines.  This was obviously pretty exciting to me so had to check it out.  I had two flights which included some NE IPAs, some Berliner Weiss and a Gose.

Overall I enjoyed the sour offerings best but the IPAs were pretty good too.  Cesar and Jenn had joined us and so we chilled on the couches and drank beer before eventually playing a game or two of pinball.

Up next we headed down the street to Night Shift brewing which was the second of two breweries I was told to make sure I visited while in Boston (The other being Trillium which I had already been to).  Night Shift had a wide variety of styles but seemed to specialize on Saisons and farmhouse type ales.  I tried a Gose and a saison as well as a dark ale and IPA.

The beers were great and so was the company.  I found out the next day when at the airport that I had left my card at Night Shift, but when I called the credit card company it looked like someone was trying to order Hulu on my card repeatedly so I guess it was a good thing I am getting a new one.

Anyways, Cesar and Jenn were headed to meet some friends and I had to go to Cambridge to meet up with David which is where I was staying that night.  Food was on the mind though and I had not yet been to shake Shack so thought that was a pretty good option.  I got a burger and shake and it was honestly ho hum for the price.  I would have rather gone to a proper restaurant and paid about the same for a much better burger.  It was then time to say goodbye to my parents who were headed to Cape Cod.  It’s not that sad as I will see them again in June for my Cousins wedding.

I headed off down the street of Cambridge to meet up with David, who was gracious enough to let me stay at his Grad student housing at MIT.  I had brought 4 tall cans which I had not gotten the opportunity to drink and planned to split them with David throughout the evening.  However after splitting two, it was 10pm and I was very sleepy and ended up just falling alseep before getting through the other two.  I woke up in the morning and headed to the airport for my next adventure.

I left David with one of the beers but decided to bring one with me to finish in the food court prior to boarding my flight.  It was a 10% double IPA and was an excellent way to kick off the morning!

After finishing the beer, I hopped through security and jumped on my flight to my next destination!