If you start at the finish line does it count?

As I left town for a weekend in the suburbs, I walked past many ambitious marathoners who sported yellow Addidas sponsored plastic bags from their shoulders—the sign that they had picked up their badges and other gear at the Hynes. Since I let some Marathon friends from Atlanta use my Boston digs, I headed West on the Framingham commuter line along with many more runners who were on their way to lodgings closer to Hopkington and the true starting point.