Letter from Boston Boston Marathon By MASAKO YAMADA	フレームで見る  英文をプリントする  脚注をプリントする
ボストンマラソン 毎年恒例のボストンマラソンは雅子さんのお気に入りの行事。いつもは道路に出て熱心に応援していた雅子さんですが、今年はちょっと違った見方をしました。化学部のマイクに誘われ、コーヒーのマグカップを持って、学生立入禁止の校舎の屋上からの観戦です。選手たちを見おろしながら、くつろぎのひとときを過ごしました。

The Boston Marathon has always been one of my favorite Boston events. When I was an undergraduate, I never failed to stand outside the campus to greet the runners as they came running by. Wellesley College is located at the halfway point of the marathon, and it's well-known that many runners look forward to seeing the cheering women there. I always yelled until I was hoarse. The road that goes in front of the college is rather narrow, so there isn't much distance between the runners and the spectators. I've had dozens of smiling runners slap my outstretched hand.

The year I moved to Boston, I experienced the Boston Marathon in a different way: I watched it from the finish line. The finish line was much more crowded than theroad in front of Wellesley College, and the road was much wider. Therefore, I didn't feel as close to the runners. Not too surprisingly, I didn't see as many smiling faces (they probably left their smiles back at Heartbreak Hill). However, I enjoyed the festival-like atmosphere of the city. There were lots of salespeople hawking food and cheap toys. I couldn't see the runners too well, but it was still a worthy event.

This year, I watched the Marathon from a completely different perspective. My friend in the BU chemistry department invited me to watch from the chemistry department roof. The roof is on the 6th floor, and we could watch the runners go by on the street directly below us!! I had never known that people could go on the roof of the Science Center, so I was thrilled to hear about this viewing place. Apparently, students aren't supposed to go up there.

Mike and I had only met a couple of weeks before and we'd only had one or two conversations since. Our conversations were largely about our research, so I didn't expect him to invite me to watch the marathon with him. However, the campus was deserted on marathon day, and we had noticed each other in front of the Science Center, so we decided to watch the event together.

Mike gave me a large mug of coffee before we headed out to the roof. There were actually other people on the roof when we got there. They looked like they were maintenance workers who knew the secrets of the building. They didn't tell us to leave. Another worker came over to us later and told us to just make sure to lock the door after we came down. Some chemistry students did come up for a while, but they left without staying too long.

Mike and I watched the marathon for hours. Of course I wasn't as close to either the runners or the spectators as in the past, but it was fun to get a bird's-eye view from the roof. The road directly below us had "Mile 25" (Kilometer 40) painted on it. This means that the finish line was only 1.2 miles (1.92 km) away. We could guess the final rankings pretty well.

I may have missed the heated atmosphere of the marathon by watching it from the roof, but I think the quiet conversation I was able to have with Mike more than made up for it. We chatted about lots of things while watching the runners go by. Of course, we made lots of comments about the runners, but we also talked about random topics like food and music.

I'm always a bit surprised when I talk to graduate students who have a deep interest in things besides science, but I suppose this is wrong. It turns out that Mike is an avid musician, and when I expressed surprise at this, he told me that his fellow band members are all very academic. He asked me, "Don't you see lots of people carrying a guitar or flute? Musicians are everywhere."

His kind of music (hard rock) is very different from my kind of music (classical), but I understood his dedication all the same, and I found his enthusiasm very appealing. He described his many experiences in the mosh pit of live concerts. He somewhat wistfully added that he's getting a bit too old to run toward the front of the stage right away, but he added that he still fantasizes about body surfing (being carried along on the outstretched arms of the crowd ).

I enjoyed these few leisurely hours of conversation while watching the Boston Marathon. Mike refilled his coffee mug numerous times. I even got a bit of a tan. One of my roommates later told me that he saw me on the roof and he asked me how I'd gotten up there. I told him that I knew an insider, and it made me feel nice.

Shukan ST: May 7, 1999

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