The arctic tern holds the record for the longest annual migration recorded by any animal as it moves between Greenland and Antarctica in a zig-zag route that covers 44,000 miles a year.
In another part of the globe, around 1.3 million wildebeest travel nearly 1,900 miles each year as they follow the rains around the Serengeti.
And in Boston, Kevin and Mom make their annual pilgrimage to that Holy Grail of marathons sponsored by the Boston Athletic Association, the oldest continually run race of that distance in the world: the Boston Marathon.
Sometimes it’s just the two of us. Sometimes other family members and friends have come. But in the ten years since Kevin first ran Boston – It was the year after the bombing – it’s become a special event.
We visit the same pizza joint, the same bookstore, the same Irish pub every time. We predetermine where I’ll stand along the route and cheer when he runs by. We relearn the “T,” Boston’s excellent public transportation system. And we immerse ourselves in the lore of winners, past and to come on Monday, April 15.
So if I’m negligent about blogging for the next week, please chalk it up to following our natural instincts. Just like the monarch butterfly and the barn swallow too.
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