Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Day 14 - where we stop walking

We made it! Holy crap this was a long time coming. Two weeks doesn't seem that long normally, but when every single day of it consists of walking twenty miles - roughly 8 hours a day - it seems like months.

The weather helped out today. Not too hot and not rainy. With only 10 miles to go we slept in a bit and started walking around 10:45 am. It was definitely a more relaxed day. The guys, Ben and Josh, from Red Sox Stories came out an interviewed us while we walked through Newton, MA on Comm Ave and we stopped again for a bit at our buddy Scott's place on Comm Ave for a quick lunch. With all this we still ended at about 3 o'clock.

One observation that I had today which I shared both with the interviewers and John was that being a Sox fan seems much more like a religion than does being a Yankees fan. Not to say that New York fans aren't any less dedicated, but belief and faith have been such an important part of being a Red Sox fan for so long that a championship almost seemed like a mythical figure that everyone was waiting for.

With about two miles to go our buddy Will came out and walked the rest of the way with us. Some people talked about walking with us, but he is the only one who actually did. Other people helped us out and we are thankful for that but it was nice to have a new member of our small crew.

As we walked up Brookline Ave we saw several exciting things. First, of course, was Fenway Park. This is what we've been walking towards for 14 days so it was hard to believe that we could actually see it. Second was the Red Sox Stories guys filming us walking up. We didn't intend this journey to be televised or publicized in the beginning but it has been cool getting some recognition. Lastly was John's girlfriend Liz with a tray of Dunkin Donuts iced coffee. Beautiful. The final count was 44-19 if anyone cares.

After arriving and touching the stadium in unison we were taken inside the park and interviewed once more sitting in the seats. It was all a very surreal experience. I can honestly say that a ballpark has never looked so glorious as the Fen did today. Besides what we went through to get there it really is a beautiful park, being the oldest as well.

After that we rested at Liz's for a bit before going to the game. It didn't start well with a home run by the Orioles on the first pitch. It didn't end well either. Nevertheless it was the best game I've ever been to because of all we did to get there.

Finally I'd like to thank Katie, Corey, Sean, Brian, the other Katie, Tim and fam, Aunt Debbie, Pat and mom, and Paul and Meg for putting us up and taking care of us. We had great support both from these people who housed us as well as from our friends and family who gave us tons of encouragement. There were times when I considered throwing in the towel, but we didn't. As I told the TV show guys, the only thing I would have changed would have been better rain gear.

It was a great trip and thanks for reading along. Check back occasionally over the next two weeks or so as John and I will still do a few more entries with thoughts on the show, baseball, and updates on our awesome feet deformations. Also we'll be putting pictures online soon so look forward to those.

No comments: