This is the first in what I hope is an annual ritual: my liveblog of the Boston Marathon.

Now, I have no access to a TV, and can’t see the route from the office in Charlestown, but here’s a crack at it:

A bunch of people, much fitter and braver than I, are out there running, somewhere between Hopkinton and Boston.

Oh, and one’s just taken the lead! Now he’s behind and someone else has passed another person farther back the pack…

Just kidding. Every year I see those guys and girls taking to the streets (and my sister, last year, in her first qualification far the Marathon), and every year some little, stupid part of me goes, “Wow, that would be a pretty cool accomplishment…”

Thereby trivializing the hours and hours and months and months of work that goes into training and qualifying for the Boston Marathon. Thankfully, the vast majority of runners will be far too tired to come over to Charlestown post-race and kick my a**…