“We’re here for the good vibes, supporting” all the runners, Reyes said. They planned to the head to the finish line in Boston and then take in the Red Sox game at Fenway.
Also in Hopkinton near the start of the race, friends Thunn Wongchaisuwat, Lucas Arnold, Alex Lutz, and Jack Heaton held a sign that read, “The Kenyans already finished” with a picture of the Kenyan flag.
Two Kenyan runners, John Korir and Sharon Lokedi, won the men’s and women’s races, respectively, on Monday, with Lokedi shattering the women’s course record by nearly three minutes.
Including Monday’s results, runners from Kenya have won six of the last eight Boston marathons in the men’s division and five in a row in the women’s race.
In Brookline, Lucy Wesemann, Emily Liu, and Halle Frey, all immunology students at Harvard University, were dressed in banana costumes leftover from Halloween and cheered on Wesemann’s dad, Duane Wesemann, an associate professor of medicine at Harvard.
They made a fitting sign with a drawing that showed how immunotherapy kills cancer cells and wrote “You’re killing it” underneath.
Near the finish line on Boylston Street in Boston, a group of women got together to cheer on their friend, Emma Rosen, with a tongue-in-cheek sign that read: “Someone date my friend Emma so she can stop running these races (I’m tired).”
“She broke up with a boyfriend on marathon weekend two years ago and because of that she decided to run Boston,” said Madie Fitts, 25, of the North End.“We all make fun of her because the only thing she talks about is her marathons.”
All joking aside, they’re very proud of her, Fitts said, and Rosen has a sense of humor — her friends predict she’ll hang the poster in her home.
Rosen has run Newport and New York already and says she plans to run every major marathon.
“After every single marathon, we get a drink from the local area. This time it’s Sam Adams,” Fitts said. “This one is special because it’s local. I’m excited for her to do all of them.”
Rosen, who played field hockey in college and coaches 10-year-olds, is running for the Play Ball Foundation, which seeks to improve middle school sports access in Boston.
“She genuinely cares about the foundation,” said another friend, Kelly Prinner, 25, of South Boston.
Some brought signs with a simpler approach that need no context. Erin Sperry and Neal Peterson had a simple message for the runners on their sign: “run.”
“It’s straight to the point,” Sperry said.
Their design was inspired by the cover for Charli XCX’s album “brat.” Sperry and Peterson said they were there to cheer on their friend, Will Schmidt.
Sperry said she hopes Schmidt is “listening to her right now.”
“It’s brat marathon,” Sperry said, laughing.
Here are some more signs seen along the 26.2-mile course from Hopkinton to Boston on Monday.
This story will be updated.
Nick Stoico can be reached at [email protected]. Claire Thornton can be reached at [email protected]. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto. Christopher Huffaker can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @huffakingit.
