April 17th is Marathon Monday in Boston, a day to cheer on and support the runners in the world-famous Boston Marathon. Marathon Monday is also excuse for people to justify drinking before noon. As someone who has both gone hard and taken it easy on Patriot's Day, here are a few tips that I have to make your Marathon Monday awesome, without leaving you too hungover to go to your 8 am class on Tuesday.
1. Go out and watch the Marathon.
Seems obvious I know, but many people solely use Marathon Monday to party (which definitely isn't a bad thing). If you plan on watching the marathon, you should be somewhere along the route around 11 am if you want to watch the first runners go by. Here’s a link to more information about which runners are running near which neighborhoods and when. It's very exciting to see these athletes do something that they’ve been training for months to do and it just might motivate you to got to the gym more than once a month.
2. Don’t bother with public transportation.
Just don’t. While the T trains and buses are running, expect delays during the marathon. Several stations, including the normally busy Copley Station, will be closed for most of the day. If you are a BU student, the BU Shuttle isn’t running at all. Your best bet is to walk to wherever you plan on going.
3. Be mindful of the route.
Parts of the marathon are in or near the Boston University campus, so be aware that many of the streets that you use to get around campus are either blocked off or have heavy pedestrian or police activity. And speaking of police….
4. THERE ARE COPS EVERYWHERE.
So don’t do anything stupid. This means don’t drink outside, don’t get super drunk and leave your place, and don’t purposefully act suspicious or belligerent to see what will happen, because they will stop you. They’ll also stop you if you are carrying things like large backpacks, water coolers, large blankets, etc. Here is a full list of rules that spectators need to abide by.
5. Eat breakfast.
If you plan to start drinking at 8 am, you should probably eat something first. Anything with eggs (or some form of protein) is always a plus.
6. Pace yourself.
If you plan on drinking all day, you probably shouldn’t start with pounding 10 shots in the morning to blackout by noon. It’s not fun, and it probably means you’ll end up becoming someone else’s responsibility. Day drinking is fine, just spread out a number of drinks you’re having at a time, and drink plenty of water in between alcoholic drinks.
7. Feel free to do the Allston crawl.
I know that the Allston crawl can seem intimidating/annoying, but during Marathon Monday there are TONS of day parties or “darties” that are happening, so the odds of you getting into one are much higher. This coupled with the fact that whoever is at the door is probably too drunk to control (or care about) who comes into the party makes it much more likely you'll find a good spot.
8. Be mindful of new/young drinkers.
The legal drinking age is 21, but that doesn’t stop anyone from drinking on Marathon Monday. Bars also have the tendency to not card on this day. This is especially a problem when young freshmen who typically don’t drink decide to go too hard too fast. Not only is this bad for their health and safety, it could also attract a lot of unwanted attention to a party. If you're hosting a party, make sure to keep a strong eye younger attendees. Which leads me to my next point…
9. Travel with/take care of your peeps.
This is SUPER important. It really sucks when your friends decide to ditch you to go to another party, or, if they're 21 and you’re not, to a bar. It’s much safer to roll with a group of friends and stay with them, so if things go south you have people around you that you can trust. Traveling with friends also deters creeps and thieves from bothering you, as they tend to come out in spades for high-population events like these
10. You don’t NEED to do anything.
If you don’t care for drinking or partying, or if you don’t care about the marathon, this could just be another Monday for you. You can use the day off to catch up on sleep, do work, or watch Netflix. Don’t feel obligated to do something if you don’t want to do. Enjoy your day off however you like!
