Man Wishes He’d Listened to Strange Woman Who Leapt From Shadows Back in February and Urged Him Not to Preorder 2020 Boston Jacket
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A local man who ordered a 2020 Boston Marathon commemorative jacket in February said he now regrets the decision, and wishes he’d heeded the advice of a stranger who eerily warned against the purchase.
Officials announced today that the 2020 race, which had already been postponed from April to September, would be canceled outright.
“Well, there you go,” said Troy King, 42, a runner who was set to run his first Boston Marathon this year. “Guess I should have listened to that crazy old lady.”
The woman in question, King said, appeared suddenly about halfway through one of King’s evening training runs in early February, leaping from “out of nowhere.”
“I had no idea who this person was or where she came from,” said King. “Just, boom, there she was, yelling about Boston.”
King described the woman as “disheveled,” “intense,” and “a little scary.”
“It was hard to follow her, but I recall she clearly told me not to order a Boston jacket,” he said. “Which was weird, right, because how did she know I was training for Boston?”
“She was adamant. Said that if I ordered that jacket, I’d be sorry. Then all of a sudden she stopped, like she’d heard something that spooked her, and took off.”
“I never saw her again.”
King, who said he managed to laugh the episode off, did in fact order a 2020 Boston jacket later that week, spending $110 on the item, telling himself he wouldn’t wear it until after he finished the race.
Given news of the cancellation, of course, that won’t happen.
“Just goes to show,” King said, “it pays to listen to your elders. Even if they’re weird.”
