Greetings lovely readers! I hope y’all are ready for this week’s blog! I realise that y’all just read my last post on Friday, so it hasn’t been that long, but I figured y’all would miss me too much, so I’m back ☺️! Y’all know the drill already…grab those snacks and drinks, and get ready for another storytime with me! For this week’s storytime, I’m going to take y’all on a little Monday rewind of what has been quite arguably the best day I’ve had at Wellesley! One word: MARMON!! I remember starting out in my first year at Wellesley and hearing a lot about MARMON. I never truly understood what it was or what the day would entail… I figured it was going to be super exciting though, particularly due to the fact that everyone around me was buzzing with excitement, so I could already tell that I was in for a good time ☺️. To be really honest with y’all, I don’t think anything could have fully prepared me. If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be caught up in a full-on college frenzy where the only objective is to scream as loud as humanly possible and hold up the most outrageous signs you can imagine… well, let me take you through it. So what is MARMON…. Well here at Wellesley, we are lucky enough to be positioned exactly at the halfway point of the annual Boston Marathon. So on this day, the whole Wellesley College community forms a massive scream tunnel that goes all the way down Central Street. We stand there for literally the whole day and scream and cheer for the runners as they come through. The energy and atmosphere in the air is honestly so electric y’all…..
These are my friends Erika (rising senior) and Elle (rising sophmore).
This first picture is from my first MarMon at Wellesley. The picture below is from this year’s MarMon during my sophomore year. I had so much fun during both experiences, and I wanted to show y’all the signs my friends made because they were so ridiculous and hilarious!
Picture this: hundreds of students screaming at the top of their lungs, waving homemade signs, and jumping up and down like they’re at a concert. And this is just the warm-up. Seriously, this thing goes for hours and hours. For context, we all wake up at like 6am in the morning because we truly are so dedicated to making sure that the day is amazing and fun-filled! We truly pull an all-day shift for MARMON 😂. From 6am – 3pm, we’re outside, and we don’t take breaks—we are so serious about this! Y’all I’ll be so real… I was so exhausted by the end of the day 😭😭. My voice was basically gone from all the yelling I’d done, my tummy was full because I had eaten so much food, and my eyes were struggling to stay open…. To those wondering if I would do it again?? WELL YES! It was without a doubt one of my favourite days at Wellesley ever! I have so many amazing memories from that day that will definitely stick with me for a long time 🥹! If there’s one thing MarMon has in abundance, it’s signs. And not just any signs—no, these are the kinds of signs you’ll look at and think, “Did they really just do that?” Some are witty, some are hilarious, and some are just completely nonsensical (which, honestly, is the best part). I saw a sign that said “Kiss me I’m Canadian” and another that read “Marathon Runs On Kisses”—some in the crowd give out kisses to runners in addition to screams. We really go all out with the signs, and the penmanship is so insane 😂. Some signs were hand-painted masterpieces, others were scrawled hastily in markers on cardboard, but they all served the same purpose: to make everyone around you laugh and cheer even louder. And the best part? When a runner spots your sign in the crowd, they light up. You’d think they just got a standing ovation at the Oscars, the way they grin and wave. It’s this kind of electric back-and-forth energy that makes MarMon so ridiculously fun.
Here’s the part that really gets you: the screaming. Oh yeah, there’s a lot of it. The whole crowd erupts with noise for every runner that passes, yelling their name, shouting their team’s motto, or just letting loose with random, euphoric chants. It’s as though the entire campus has decided to collectively lose their minds, and somehow, everyone has a part to play. And then there’s the cheering that happens when a particularly determined runner takes the lead, or when someone just looks like they’re pushing their limits. The energy is so contagious you can’t help but get wrapped up in it, screaming even if you’re just standing there holding a sign and wishing you were as fast as them.
MarMon isn’t about the finish line or who’s first across. It’s really about that shared experience that we get to have as a community – the amazing bond you feel with your classmates as you all scream your heart out, wave your sign, and laugh until you can’t breathe. It’s a huge celebration of energy, spirit, and, most importantly, community. You don’t even need to run the race to feel like you’ve been a part of something amazing and unique. Just the act of showing up and being in the crowd—with all that enthusiasm, laughter, and joy—is enough to make you feel like you’ve experienced something truly unforgettable and something that you will cherish and remember forever. The sheer energy and enthusiasm in the air are unlike anything else. It’s about cheering until your voice cracks, holding up the best sign you can come up with, and knowing that for those few hours, the entire campus is one big, loud, happy, chaotic family. MarMon might be loud (I am a naturally loud person so it’s nothing new for me y’all), it might be messy, and it might not make any sense at all—but it’s the kind of tradition that makes you feel a little more connected to your classmates, and a lot more alive. Next year? Prepare to be sick of me y’all because I’m going even more crazy and wild! I’ll be back with even more ridiculous signs and even louder cheers because you really can never cheer loud enough….Don’t miss it. You’ll never forget the chaos—or the fun. You will also sleep like a baby afterwards because you’re so tired but it is definitely worth it!!!
Anyways y’all, thank you as always for joining me again this week 🫶. I look forward to catching up with y’all very soon!! In the meantime, I recommend all of you guys go online and do some research on MARMON…You might even see a couple news articles and videos too that will keep you entertained😀.
With Love,
Your Favourite Brit x ♥️