🤑🏅 These deals are worth running for ...

⛽ A free tank of gas was not on our April bingo card. But Jeffrey Glassman Injury Lawyers is covering $7,777 at the pump at John’s Gas in Dorchester today at 8 a.m. Drive! Don’t walk!

🥳 And happy birthday to B-Side Member Amundam Mancho! We’d gas you up … but it seems like Jeffrey Glassman’s got you covered.

👀 What’s on tap today:

Up first…

The runners are coming! The runners are coming! The Boston Marathon might not be till Monday, but the pregame starts NOW. 

Here’s how to do marathon weekend right:

🏃 Start with the expo and fan fest. They’re the heartbeat of the weekend’s activities. Running nerds will love the marathon expo at Hynes Convention Center, which is chock-full of marathon merch, panels, and even a freebie or two. Here’s the schedule. For folks who don’t care about their VO2 max, you can find free workout classes, a pop-up pub, food, and live podcast recordings at the fan fest at City Hall Plaza. Here’s the full lineup!

🤑 Take advantage of some DEALS. Everyone can enjoy $10 AYCE pancakes at South Street Diner on April 19 from 4 to 11 p.m., and complimentary cold brews all weekend at Adidas’ Hyperboost Hub at Dick’s House of Sport (if you try on their shoes!). As for our marathon runners, don’t pay for a THING this weekend. Our picks: Free sauna sessions at Moki and free Levain cookies. Here’s a full deal roundup.

📝 Do a little homework … Your assignment: Check out the city’s looooong list of street closures and parking restrictions and the MBTA’s station closures, consult the BAA’s spectator guide (which includes protected times to see the pro runners), and set up the B.A.A. Racing App to track your faves on the course.

👀 Lock down your spectating plans. We suggest the One Mile to Go Block Party at Kenmore if you’re looking for a watch party. If not, we’re partial to the relatively calm stretch of Beacon Street between Washington Square and Coolidge Corner in Brookline. But TBH, the best seat in the house is a restaurant on the route. Here are some spots to try — make a res if you can!

📅 Still have free time? Here’s how we’d fill it:

✈️✨ Show up early, eat something good, and relax before takeoff. At Boston Logan International Airport, MarketPlace Logan turns waiting at the gate into something better — whether it’s a burger from Shake Shack, ramen from Gachi Sushi & Noodles, or a quick browse through ink by Hudson. Suddenly, you’re not passing time…you’re actually enjoying it. Explore options in your terminal and start your trip before you even board. 

✈️ Your ride to Logan just got WAY cheaper. Enter: Massport’s new airport shuttle service from Uber and Lyft. Uber will run two routes to and from Logan — one in Boston and one in Cambridge — every 30 minutes from 2 p.m. to midnight. Bonus: This week, it’s just $3! Lyft’s route runs through Camberville every hour. The best part? Both will cost $16 or less, and shuttle riders get to skip the TSA line! You can book seats on both through the apps. Here are allllll the deets. Happy travels!

🏃🏾 There’s another Boston marathon this weekend. The 26.TRUE Marathon will be back for its sixth year on April 18 with its biggest race ever (400 runners!) and a new half marathon option. ICYMI: The unsanctioned race is a grassroots, community-focused alternative to the Boston Marathon, launched by the Pioneers Run Crew. The course runs through Roxbury, Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, and Mattapan, and welcomes runners who aren’t white, wealthy, or super-athletic (a.k.a. the Boston Marathon’s target demo). Wanna check it out? Here’s what to know.

🌷 We’re calling it: Spring has officially sprung! The proof: The Public Garden’s lagoon is full and its iconic swan boats are setting sail for the season April 18 with rides open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Here’s a peek at their pre-launch prep. Meanwhile, the annual Golden Strong Marathon Weekend Meetup is Sunday at noon, where oodles of very good golden retrievers and their humans will gather on the Common for the cutest meetup of all time (here’s a peek). Pets are highly encouraged! 

📚 Get in loser, we’re going on the Metro Boston Indie Bookstore Crawl. Now through April 25, you can get prizes just for stopping by your fav indie bookstores. You can visit any one of these 25 bookstores across Greater Boston and pick up a passport to play. After collecting stamps by April 25, you can redeem the passport for prizes at each spot, and be entered to win grand prizes like gift cards, private events, and merch (if you visit them all!). Here are the rules!

*Survey participants will receive an invitation to participate in a brand study and unlock exclusive discounts

📀 Party like it’s 1975. Vinyl Index’s annual Record Store Day is taking over Bow Market with a vinyl party on April 18. Think: DJ sets, music-inspired food and drinks, and TONS of records. 

🤑 Shop vintage for $1. Yes, we said $1! Buffalo Exchange is ringing in Earth Day on April 18 with a $1 cash-only sale at each of its Greater Boston locations to benefit the Plastic Pollution Coalition.

🍩 Meet the doughnut-eating champion. Some of the world’s top competitive eaters will face off at a doughnut eating contest at the Great American Beer Hall on April 18. 

🪩 Get down on the dance floor. The L Club, nathálie wine bar’s sapphic dance party series, is back April 18 with hyperpop music and a packed dance floor. This month’s theme: Spring fever. 

🖍️ Pregame your marathon cheering. Trident is screening “Good Will Hunting” and hosting a marathon poster-making sesh on April 18. We’d recommend something like this.

🍵 Try the hottest matcha in town. This weekend only, Levain Seaport is bringing back its viral cookie milk matcha. Be there at 10 a.m. on April 18 and 19 to get it while supplies last! 

🌸 Ring in spring with Molly’s Bookstore. They’ll be getting in the spirit by decorating bookmarks and tiny flower pots on April 18. Plus: You’ll get seeds to plant at home! 

🎤 Ugly cry to “Someone You Loved.” Sadboy king Lewis Capaldi is coming to MGM Music Hall on April 19, and there are plenty of tickets under $60.

🩷 💫 No plans this Sunday? Rise & Thrive Women’s Conference is taking over The Cyclorama April 19. Think inspiring speakers, women-owned vendors, and a crowd you’ll actually want to meet — plus music, fashion, and more. Not your typical conference. Grab a ticket here and we’ll see you there!

These Boston marathoners are giving “running it back”  a whole new meaning. Like, they’re planning to run the marathon twice … in a ROW. 

30,000+ runners will make the 26.2 mile trek from Hopkinton to Boston on Monday. But for seven of those runners, it’ll be their second marathon of the day. A group from Boston’s Trail Animals Running Club is waking up at 1 a.m. to run the course backwards first, just to turn around and run it back with everyone else. That’s a total of 52.4 miles. 

If all of this leaves you wondering: Why? As one runner told Marathon Handbook: “Accomplishing something you’re not sure you can do is one of life’s great joys.” If you say so, bestie!

— Written by Gia Orsino and Emily Schario

🏃 Thanks for reading! Leave it to Bostonians to find a way to make marathoner runners look like slackers.

💜 Special shoutout to today’s sponsor, MarketPlace Logan, for supporting local journalism and making airport dining something to look forward to. 

📲 The results are in: 37% of B-Siders said they use social media for less than two hours a day. One reader said: “Depends on how boring work is that day.” Lol.

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