Boston or bust

I just read a a quaint story about a runner who qualified for Boston, but has no desire to run the fabled race. His talk of preferring to run in a small hometown race reminded me of my first race with about 650 marathoners total.
It was small, but my mom was on the side of the road to cheer me on. Here's an excerpt from the story:

If I run a spring marathon any time soon, and in all likelihood that won't be next spring, it'll be the Run for the Red Marathon, or some other small town marathon with a big-race feel.

For me, the race was much more than testing myself for 26.2 miles. It was a community and family event.

At Boston, I'd be a number. The thought of getting to the starting line, finding my family after the race and waiting in line to get my bag of sweats gives me nightmares. And considering the weather conditions of this year's race, a nor'easter, I can't imagine doing all that in horrible conditions.

The two things I liked most about the Run for the Red Marathon were having people call out my name along the course and then having family, friends and well-wishers join in the celebration afterward.

And I noticed it wasn't just me. Most of the runners had someone, and in some cases a lot of someones, they could share their experience with....

The Run for the Red has a hometown feel that makes spectators get excited. In all likelihood their neighbor, cousin or co-worker is in the event.