Me with the clock…and the mile 5 marker…and a speed limit sign.

Almost every April since 1997 I have watched a little bit of the Boston Marathon.

Most of the time I have seen it in person, but there have been years that I’ve just watched on TV, looking for the spots I recognize.

What I’ve never done before is watch the race in person from start to finish.

That’s a confusing choice of words, now that I’ve written them - I don’t mean from Hopkinton to Boston - the start to the finish.

I mean I’ve never been in one spot and watched everyone go by, from the first person to the last.

Usually I watch one or two of the giant waves go by, and that’s about it.

When I lived in Boston I remember seeing the leaders come through.

In Framingham I’ll usually go late morning/early afternoon for the wave where there are people who I might know running.

(Often that’s after I watch the leaders for a while on TV and then head down to the route - either by car or by foot - to watch the rest in person.)

This time, though, I saw it all.

I had tried to volunteer before - it’s a very difficult nut to crack.

This year, I was able to get one of the clock-watching spots that my running group has available for Boston Marathon volunteering.

So I was stationed in my volunteer jacket and my volunteer credential at the clock at Mile 5, just as you enter Framingham.

I got there around 8am, and as I walked to the spot from where Kathy dropped me off (this was an easy logistical problem - with the road closed I needed to walk over to the clock) I passed the Mile 5 water station, where there were a few porta-potties (which answered one of my other more complicated logistical questions - I took it easy on the coffee Monday morning just in case).

Nothing happened until the wheelchairs came through at about 9:20 (and Kathy caught the shot there at right on TV - that’s me in the white hat)…and then it was one thing after another - someone came and set the clock for the men’s start, then the men came through, then the clock was reset for the women, then the women came through, then the clock was reset for wave 1 (which I didn't see because I took a quick jaunt to the porte-potty).

Then it was wave after wave of runners. I missed some of the runners I was looking for early on, but the app was wildly accurate and I caught almost everyone else I was expecting to see.

I brought a couple of snacks - a Clif Bar, Honey Stinger waffle, and Pop-Tarts. It was enough to get me through the day.

Things died down by about 12:30, but then came the worst part, which I was prepared for - we had to wait for the clock to be picked up.

This was still interesting though. We saw the last runners on the course…and the final walkers. Then the 6-hour time limit car, with buses to pick up injured runners, and the truck to collect the flags and mile markers.

Then there was street sweeping, which was interesting because we were right at the town line - Framingham had a street sweeper come through and turn around at the border, then Ashland had one come through and turn around at their border.

Finally, at 2 o’clock, the clock guy came to collect his clock.

It was a beautiful day to wait an hour-plus for the clock to be picked up. It was a little chilly early (we were mostly in the shade), but the day warmed nicely.

I like this - on my BAA page I got a little volunteer badge (I got a real-life volunteer pin too - it’s a nice little collectible). You know how I feel about cool virtual badges and collectibles.

The jacket is great, too - I’ll definitely be running in that one in adverse weather.

It was a great day all around - I really love being involved in the marathon in any capacity. I hope I can do this again.

But maybe not next year. Next year I might like to be giving high fives at the mile 5 clock from the other direction.