Someone Actually Screamed “Go Domain Shane” At the Boston Marathon

It may be a small world but the domain world runs deep. I couldn’t believe my ears when in the middle of the Boston marathon someone in the crowd yelled “Go Domain Shane”  Other than the beautiful girls giving away kisses along the route it was my favorite moment.

Initially I figured someone was merely reading my shirt as I went by.  You see, I was wearing and also gave out ,Domain Shane shirts to keep warm while waiting at the Boston marathon. I  figured a few people would probably run with them on and eventually pitch them to the crowd.  A souvenir for a Boston marathon watcher.  Would it bring new readers? Probably not, but I figured it would be fun and you never know. So when I heard the yell from the crowd I just smiled.  Another nice fan cheering on the runners. But then I got to thinking.

I dumped my shirt off in the corral.  I wasn’t even wearing a DomainShane shirt.  How in the hell would a person in the crowd of hundreds of thousands know my name, let alone that I ran a domain website?   People in my town all know me by face but Boston?  Guess who it was?……..Elliot Silver.  My friend and fellow blogger Elliot, was in town watching the race (in town for a long weekend) and just happened to see me running.  It was one of the great moments of the race for me.  So thank you,  thank you to Elliot, Theo,  and all the people that wished me luck and congratulations through comments, posts and emails.  Again I realize what a great group of people are in this industry.  While we all may be competing for the dollar, it’s nice to see us cheer each other on in our other personal endeavours.

And for those who still wonder how I did.  I ran a 3:28:50.  And I should have run faster and usually run about 3:15-3:16.  I had heard so many stories about the hills of Boston and it had me a little scared.  I am a flatlander from Illinois and don’t train on many hills.  I do a few races in Oregon though and they normally don’t bother me.  I also am not in prime shape.  Winter is a bitch to train and although I normally run 50-70 miles a week,my pace is always slower than in summer.  Long story short, I went out slow and after I realized the hills weren’t so bad I ran 7:15 the last 3 miles to make it a respectable time.  My friends ran a little faster.  In my running group we had a 2 hours 41 minutes guy , another at 3 hours 11 minutes, and my 51 year old friend ran a 3:18.  Not too bad for a little old running group from Champaign-Urbana IL.

And I promise, this is my last running post for a while.  Back to domain posts.

PS:  I had the pleasure of dining at the Harvard Club amongst some pretty impressive people with quite a history,  as evidenced by the panels behind me.