While running various errands yesterday, I found myself near the corner of Chestnut Hill Avenue and Beacon Street in Brighton, where I saw a couple people jog around the corner from Chestnut Hill onto Beacon, heading east.  They were not remarkable in any way.

Later, a couple more people rounded the same corner in the same direction, also running, and also looking wholly unremarkable.

Soon thereafter, several more people ran around the corner, followed some time later by others, and those people by others.

At some point I began to reflect that a statistically unlikely number of people were all running in the same direction (but not quite at the same time) on the same streets, and then that a statistically unlikely number of them were wearing jackets with the John Hancock logo on the back.

Like the answer to a riddle, the pieces fell into place: they were all running the Boston Marathon route!  John Hancock Financial Services is the event’s main sponsor.

My question, then, is this: is it normal for 30 people to all be training for the Marathon on any arbitrarily selected Saturday near the beginning of January (for an event in April), or was this some specially scheduled training event?