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I catch most of the Boston Marathons because there are always runners that I know. One of my favorite years was 1986 when my cross-country team handed out the finisher medals, an eye-opening sight for a great group of high school girls. There have been high times like the year NAHS alums Lynn Liberatore Johnson and Jessica Blake both broke three hours. Then of course there are years my favorites struggled. One year I introduced Bill Iacuessa (an XC Coach from London) to Laurie Blake (NA assistant coach at the time). I knew they both were aiming for 3:30. They started the race together but didn't finish together – or at all. Laurie ended up at the medical tent at 18 miles, Bill at Cleveland Circle. So much for getting involved! I make a better spectator.

This is the first time I've headed up at Boston to follow pre-race hoopla. There is a constant flow of events. My final destination Saturday was the 4PM KIMbia get together in the Oak Room of the Copley Plaza. Along the way, my first stop was the athlete's Expo at the Hynes Auditorium. It was jam packed with runners and running fans, checking out the booths of clothing, promotions for other marathons and tasting of energy/health foods. Of course, I sampled them all – some were quite good and others tasted like the mud I wash off oysters before opening them. There were some good deals on clothing, but I came home empty handed. For some reason spring is the season I don't run enough to wear out what I have.

Leaving the Hynes, Arlene and I headed down Beacon and across the finish line, our walk coinciding with the taking of wedding pictures. I wonder if those two will be running as a couple on Monday? Again, the area was packed. I felt like I was standing among the highest concentration of quality runners at the US - that is until I entered the Oak Room.

Let me first admit that I was a sprinter in my competitive days, and my longest run is still only a ten-miler. I thought my first marathon would be at 50, then 55 but now I won't even say 60. I'm pretty sure my first marathon is never. But even my presence couldn't dilute the high octane of the room.

Baba is everything you see on the KIMbia sight and more. His smile is large, constant and contagious. The plan was for him to spend maybe 15 minutes as a meet and greet. Instead, he spent the next two hours acting as the host, flashing his smile and talking on any subject. He couldn't be any looser, and unless he's a world-class actor, he loves every minute of life. You wouldn't know in less than two days he'll be toeing the line in a race he's devoted six months to, not as a hobby, but as a job that only has one performance based pay day.

An older Kenyan gentleman was sitting in the middle of a group and glanced in my direction a few times before finally waving me over. I was pretty sure we'd never met. We hadn't. It turned out to be Isaiah Kiplagat, the Chairman of Athletics Kenya (Kenya's counterpart to Craig Masback). He had noticed my Kenya shirt and had a few questions for me. I hope I didn't throw off US-Kenyan relations!

Young runners were there because of the open invitation from chasingKIMbia. Included was Matt Stevenson who is a regular visitor to the site. I finally got to meet the person I've only known as “the other Matt.” He's here from Illinois, and looks very fit for this, his sixth marathon. He'll be wearing bib#3671.

I also talked to one of the “Come to Kenya” finalists from ‘06, Ben Williams, a PHD student in genetics at Harvard. It wasn't the day to get into serious conversations about the genetic factor in Kenyan marathoning success, but it was clear he thinks a lot about it.

But the main focus was on serious marathoners, past and present. Elana Meyer, world record holder in the half-marathon was there. Last year she climbed Everest to the base camp at 20,000'. This year she's scheduled to make an assault on the summit.

I met New York Road Racing president Mary Wittenberg, with whom Matt and Emily have been with on frequent runs (including a Wellfleet 14-miler last summer). Matt will be involved in a project for the New York Marathon this fall.

I never got a chance to talk to former marathon world record holder Steve Jones who stopped in as well.

One person I did get to meet, and who immediately became of my favorites was Uta Pippig, three-time winner at Boston (94,95,96). She saw Arlene and I standing with Emily, immediately made the connection and came running over. She and Emily originally met in Boulder last fall. Uta told us about seeing Emily running on Commonwealth Ave. this morning, and provided an animated mimic of Emily's focused running. Apparently Uta yelled to Emily a few times but Em didn't hear her. I can picture it now, Emily deep in thought listening to a law related pod-cast, the distance covered determined by the complexity of a case.

As often as I take pictures, I missed the one I would have loved to take. Uta was going to supper with Matt, Emily and Tom and wanted to know if we were coming along. When we explained that we weren't credentialed and therefore would be unable to go where they were headed, she frowned and gave Arlene a big consoling hug. I'm sure a hug from Uta was not what Arlene expected when she got up this morning.

I spent a while with Bob Gusmini (of KIMbia video jumping fame) talking about Falmouth where he traditionally puts up the top runners before the race. If you spend the night in the Gusmini house, it is considered good luck. I won't need luck since I won't be running Falmouth, so I'll only be stopping by for a post-race victory burger.

Two signs of proof that the world is small! First, Bob was sitting with Mike Conway, a serious master's athlete who happened to run for Northeastern while I high jumped for Uconn. It gave us the opportunity to relive some old moments about what track and field looked like in the 60's and 70's, dirt indoor tracks etc. The other was that the same wedding couple being filmed earlier was having pictures taken outside the Copley. A member of the party looked in the window and came in to say hi when he saw Matt. It turned out he coached with Matt for a year at Babson. Like I said, small world.

I have to mention one recurring theme. Everyone kept asking me whether I went to Iten, Kenya and then why not. After all, the invitation was there. It was tough to explain how I'd given up, “the chance of a lifetime”. I'm not sure they understood that for me, the chance of a lifetime is to coach my team, something I wouldn't give up for a trip to the top of Everest.

As I was leaving, I spent the last few moments with Godfrey Kiprotich whose storytelling fame is much greater than my own (although mine is at least based in fact). After telling us the Matt para-gliding story he again told me, “Dwight, you must come to Iten.” I said I would - and I ‘m pretty good at keeping promises.