Nobody likes it when races get cancelled, but 2020 has seen an epidemic of cancellations. I didn’t really want to run a “Virtual” Boston Marathon because most of the magic of the Boston experience comes from running the storied course from Hopkinton, Massachusetts, to Boylston St. in Boston’s Back Bay. But sometimes (especially in 2020) you take what you can get.

Boston Gets Postponed

The 124th Boston Marathon was originally scheduled for Patriots’ Day (the third Monday in April), April 20, 2020. On March 13, registered runners got the following from the Boston Athletic Association (BAA):

So on one hand, boo! The race wasn’t happening in April. On the other hand, yay! The race had been rescheduled for 9/14, which is my birthday! I ended up running a virtual marathon on April 20 anyway, knocking out 26.2 miles around my hometown of Cedar City. At the time, I was still looking forward to running from Hopkinton to Boylston St. in September.

But that wasn’t in the cards.

Boston Goes Virtual

On May 28, some 30,000 runners from around the world got the following notification:

Well, damn. What a disappointment! At this point, I figured I could still run the virtual race in September as part of my training for the St. George Marathon … which always happens the first Saturday in October. Right?

Not so much.

St. George Gets Cancelled

On August 11, around 7,000 runners got the notification everybody was expecting but also dreading:

Today we reach out to you with extreme difficulty, to announce the City’s decision to cancel this year’s October 3, 2020, St. George Marathon.

Obviously, lots of things have been cancelled because of COVID-19. I honestly believed that St. George would happen as always, because races have continued here in Utah in spite of the pandemic. But shit happens, and lots of people are missing a lot more than races these days. Besides the lost lives, we’ve seen lost jobs, businesses closing down, and entire states (and countries) on indefinite lockdown. It seems like every other week brings on a new crisis, and we’re all rolling with the punches as best we can.

Planning My Virtual Boston Marathon

For the Virtual Boston Marathon, participants had the option of running 26.2 miles over two weekends in September, beginning on the 4th and finishing on the 14th. I was already planning to run the Cedar City Half Marathon on September 12, and I considered just doubling my run that day and counting the distance twice.

But then I remembered how excited I’d been when I found out the race had been rescheduled for my birthday. I decided I would run the Cedar Half on Saturday, take a day off, then run my Virtual Boston Marathon on Monday—using the course of the now-cancelled St. George Marathon. Running races almost back to back isn’t fun, but sometimes desperate times call for desperate measures.

On September 3, I got my starter’s box…

Everybody got the same bib. To be honest, I didn’t want to wear “2020” on my chest, regardless of where it came from. First of all, it wasn’t my actual bib number (which was 10608). Second of all, who wants “2020” on anything—except maybe a finisher’s medal. 2020 is bad luck. Boo!

Running Boston … Virtually

So I printed my own bib on a sheet of Tyvek. I also screen-printed a shirt that said “RUNNING IS NOT CANCELLED.” On the back was the BAA logo and “Boston Virtual Experience.”

I enlisted the help of my daughter, who followed me in her car to St. George so I could leave my car at Vernon Worthen Park, which is where the St. George Marathon ends. She then drove me backwards up the course, stopping twice so I could cache water and Gatorade along the way. Finally, she dropped me off in Central, Utah, as close as I could figure to the race’s usual starting line.

I wore my Black Watch kilt from SportKilt. We took a couple of photos, and then I was off.

It was a lonely run—just me and the highway and the oncoming traffic. I got a few honks, but otherwise the only break in the monotony came from two phone calls I got from vendors who didn’t realize I’d taken the day off work. Here’s how one of those conversations went:

Me: “Hello?”

Him: “Hi, David. This is Drew from CenturyLink. I wanted to ask you … hey, what’s that noise?”

Me: “The wind?”

Him: “I guess. But it sounds like you’re breathing hard.”

Me: “I am. I’m running the Boston Marathon.”

Him: “Wait—you’re in Boston?”

Me: “No, I’m in Utah. But I’m running my Boston Marathon.”

Him (clearly confused): “Um … maybe I’ll just call you back tomorrow?”

Me: “That’d be great. Thanks!”

I took a couple of photos during my run, but only a few.

The day got much warmer, the closer I got to St. George. Temps were inching up into the mid-80s by the time I chugged in to Vernon Worthen Park and stopped my watch. According to my Garmin, I covered the distance in 3:22:33, which would technically be a Boston qualifying time if I’d been running a certified race. It took me a few seconds to realize I also had to stop the app that was tracking me for the BAA. My official time was 3:22:47.

I took a couple of selfies, then sat and rested for a while on a shady park bench. Then I asked a nice old lady who happened to be walking by if she would take a photo of me. Here’s how that went:

Me: “Would you mind taking a picture for me?”

Her: “Heavens, yes. What’s that all over your shirt?”

Me (looking down): “That’s salt. I just ran a marathon.”

Her: “You did what? Where did you run here from?”

Me: “Well, I started in Central over three hours ago.”

Her: “Central! That’s a long way!”

It was a long way, and a long day. But it was worth it. The only thing better than running the Virtual Boston Marathon in St. George on my birthday would’ve been running the actual Boston Marathon in Boston on my birthday. I doubt that will ever happen, but you never know.

UPDATE: Boston Finisher’s Package

On October 20, I got my finisher’s box from the BAA:

It contained my medal, my finisher’s jersey, a Boston Marathon Patch, a cool Samuel Adams bottle opener, and some other tchotchkes. Not exactly the same as when you run the race in person, but in 2020 we’ll take what we can get.

Virtual Boston by the Numbers

According to the BAA, of the 17,952 runners who signed up to participate, 15,972 completed the Virtual Boston Marathon between September 5 and September 14. (A few actually ran after the cutoff date due to wildfires and such. 2020 really sucks, y’all.) Here are a few more stats that I found interesting:

• Runners in all 50 states completed the Virtual Boston Marathon.
• Runners in 84 countries finished the race.
• Top 5 countries for finishers: United States (11,685), Canada (1,161), United Kingdom (456), China (387), Mexico (241).
• Top 5 states for finishers: Massachusetts (2,336), California (1,191), Texas (750), New York (656), Pennsylvania (434).
• Top 5 cities for finishers: Boston (281), New York (175), Chicago (136), Beijing (115), Toronto (111).