The Boston Marathon jacket is THE race memento. After the race you can proudly wear it around race expos and run clubs to intimidate impress brag share the joy of running. Because I google almost everything, I googled “Boston marathon jacket”. To my surprise I found websites full of jacket bashers. Most races sell race gear. Sure the Boston jacket may be a little more recognizable, perhaps in some eyes a little more prestigious, than other race gear … but is that just cause for a backlash? I wonder why people harshly judge those who wear Boston jackets, but wearing a New York marathon jacket is no big deal. Are people in Boston jackets behaving poorly and giving everyone in the jacket a bad rep? I’ll have to pay closer attention to run etiquette among Boston jacket wearers vs. other jacket wearers.
I secretly get a little burst of excitement when I’m out running and I see The Jacket – excited because soon I’ll have one too (before I BQed I’d see one and think I want one and that thought was a wee motivator during a tough run). In my over-eager mind it is an entry into a secret society of matching-jacket wearers. I’m convinced there is some sort of universal on-the-run acknowledgement that goes along with the jacket – something more than the usual head nod or slight lift of the hand as runners pass each other by. I may be setting myself up for disappointment. No jacket could live up to my expectations.
Nevertheless, if I like the jacket (fine, even if it is fugly) I will buy it and parade it around future race expos to show off my athletic prowess. That’s not true. Well, it’s kind of true. But also true is that I’m more concerned about setting unrealistic expectations, like I’d be the runner in the jacket huffing and puffing up the hill and people will be wondering how I ever made it to Boston. What if I shame the jacket?
Still, the big question for me isn’t to buy or not to buy (in case I wasn’t clear, I’m buying), but to wear or not to wear before the race? Google results tell me that if I wear the jacket before running the race I will suffer The Curse of Johnny Kelly. The curse is that I’ll have to run the Boston Marathon forever (Kelly ran the race a record 61 times and won twice). That is definitely a curse on my pocketbook.
This jacket is complicated.
