The Race: TD Bank Mayor’s Cup Criterium
The Course: 60 minutes of racing, 0.7 mile laps
The Field: Pro Women
The Finish: Jen in 5th and the rest of us completely cashed

Arriving in Boston (a city I love) after leaving Vegas (a city I do not love) was a huge relief. I’d only been to Boston twice before, both times just for racing, but it’s my kind of city and I’d happily move there if not for winter. It was also exciting to deplane and see Andrew, who had left work in DC and flown directly to Boston to spend the weekend with the team.

The race was the following afternoon, which gave us just enough time to settle in, get a little sleep, have a dozen cups of coffee, and head out for the race. Since this was almost a month ago, the details are somewhat blurry – I remember feeling relieved yet sad that the season was coming to a close, and being exceptionally hyper on the start line because Mary had passed around caffeine pills to get our travel-weary bodies fired up. The race itself went well enough; despite a good bit of collective fatigue, Mary, Whitney, and I rallied to cover attacks and make moves. The team picked up some primes and set Jen up for the field sprint, where she finished 5th. Erica Allar, the super sprinter who signed with Colavita for the 2014 season, won the race.

Then it was time to celebrate the end of a long, hard, amazing season. The girls headed back to the house to get cleaned up before our team/sponsor dinner in Harvard Square, while I took advantage of the free sports club access provided with my race number to shower downtown and explore the city with Andrew.

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After setting out to walk the several miles between the race venue and Harvard Square, I remembered that walking sucks and we rented city bikes to ride the rest of the way to the restaurant.
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I was terrible at riding the rental bike. It was awkward and lumbering, so while Andrew hopped around nimbly and confidently, I focused on not crashing or getting hit. It was admittedly fun, if not a bit unsettling.

Following the team dinner, we all went out for drinks. I’d share details, except unlike Vegas, what happens in Boston stays in Boston. When the bar closed, we headed back to the house but ended up detouring (like, a significant distance of 30+ minutes of driving) for a visit to Denny’s. It pretty much sums up the Denny’s experience to say that a guy pulled up as we were walking in, rolled his window down, and announced, “Hey…if you throw up in there, they make you leave.”

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Whitney and I in rare form at Denny’s. This is apparently the way my face looks after consuming an Oreo milkshake, pancakes, eggs, biscuits, chicken sausage, and pancake puppies. Oh, and copious amounts of alcohol.
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Scoots was having a blast making friends at other tables. Meanwhile, Lance supervised our antics and Andrew missed the entire visit after peaking a few hours earlier in the night. Jen also missed the Denny’s trip because she was in the conduit. I’d explain, but there are no words.

While Jen and Whitney caught morning flights home, Andrew and I stayed in Boston for an extra day. We started our Sunday morning off painfully early with a sponsor promotional event at a grocery store. It was awkward at first, but then we got into things and then suddenly I was handing out dozens of tiny bottles of olive oil to unsuspecting customers while gushing about the “fruity and delicious” taste of Colavita.

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Nothing like talking up delicious olive oil after two hours of sleep. That hangover felt AMAZING.

After that, we had a lovely afternoon and evening together and tested the limits of how many jumping adults one trampoline can hold. It was a wonderful end to the season and I can’t wait (okay, that’s a lie, I’m happy to wait a few months) to get started on the next one.