Tom Grilk wouldn’t be who he is without the Boston Marathon, nor would the marathon be what it is without Tom Grilk.
The 76-year-old, now an emeritus member on the marathon’s board of governors, has been involved with the famed 26.2 mile race for more than four decades.
Grilk recently retired from his role as CEO of the Boston Athletic Association, which he held for 11 years. Before that, starting in 1979, Grilk was a Boston Marathon finish line announcer.
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Grilk, a business lawyer once upon a time, got into running to manage his stress. After twice failing to qualify for the Boston Marathon, Grilk ultimately ran the race three times in the 1970s.
“And then almost by accident became a finish line announcer, which, as you might imagine, is much easier than running,” Grilk said.
Grilk was there for the Boston Marathon’s darkest day, when two bombs exploded at the finish line on race day 2013. Three people were killed.
Last month, Grilk spoke at the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum on the bond between Boston and Oklahoma City — a pair of cities, 1,700 miles apart, that responded with strength in the face of tragedy.
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Grilk and Kari Watkins, the executive director of the OKC National Memorial & Museum, have gotten to know each other through the years as marathon administrators.
Ahead of this weekend’s Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon, The Oklahoman caught up with Grilk over the phone from his home in Lynnfield, Massachusetts.
More: They dance and cheer and do so much for Memorial Marathon. Meet the Gorilla Hill Bananas.
Q: What message did you share about the parallels between Boston and Oklahoma City? What were some of the similarities in how the two cities came together amid tragedy?
Grilk: “Certainly at the highest level of abstraction, the two cities share the very, very unfortunate distinction of being the only two cities in the U.S. to have confronted a terrorist bombing in recent years. And the real parallel that I was focused on was the resilience that the population of the two cities have displayed over a period of time — at the time of the tragedy and thereafter.
“In Oklahoma City, there we were at the museum, which is a testament to the resilience of the city in both looking back to the horror of what happened and focusing on what it takes to move forward in the face of something as horrible as that.
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“Certainly the scope of tragedy in Oklahoma City was far greater than what we faced here. I don’t suppose one can assign different levels of gravity to tragedy, but three people died here on that day, a fourth died a few days later and a fifth died sometime after that. In Oklahoma City, 168 people died.
“In both places, what one reflects on is how horrible something was but then how strong people were. In Oklahoma City people ran into the building, ran toward the explosion to try to help. In Boston, the same thing happened. There were two explosions, and at that point the sensible thing to do is to get away. But there were people who ran back toward the explosions to help, to provide life-saving first aid.
“In Boston, we made every effort to be prepared for trouble and tragedy if it came. We had spent the preceding two years preparing for a mass casualty event at the finish line, hoping that would never happen, but knowing that it could. Whether it might be someone with firearms, or explosives, or gas or some kind of natural disaster, whatever it might be. Aided by federal funds we conducted two 24-hour live-fire-sounding exercises with police and other public safety officials running around with weapons, firing them on occasion. Ambulances screaming around, hospitals standing by to practice.
“Sadly, that practice had to be put in effect. The response was immediate. All the public safety people and the hospitals responded immediately, and then a lot of other people were just there, whether they’re spectators or runners going back to help or people who lived nearby stepping up to provide the initial life-saving support before the formal first responders could even get there. Without that, more people would’ve died. The early strength and resilience continued thereafter in Boston, and you folks have continued to see it in Oklahoma City.”
More: 2023 OKC Memorial Marathon: Al Maeder wins men’s race; Kristi Coleman wins women’s race
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Q: Had you ever visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum before speaking there last month?
Grilk: “It was an altogether new experience. I had communicated with Kari (Watkins) over the years just as two people who were responsible for large marathons, but had never been there. She sent me a note and said, ‘Hey, now you’re retired. Get out here.’ So I went.
“There are certain people that when they speak, you do as you’re told. I was very, very pleased to have that opportunity. For my wife and me, it was an arresting opportunity and experience.”
Q: What did you learn about Oklahoma City while you were here?
Grilk: “I learned that it was, has been, is a place that responds collectively to challenge, crisis, tragedy in a way to which probably many other places could only aspire. The whole city came together instantly … the museum stands as testament to the strength, the resilience, the commitment to people who live there. To remember what happened and to carry forward in a way that honors the memory of all those whose lives were lost or who were so terribly and adversely affected.”
More: Shoe geeks? Sneakerheads? The shoe culture is alive and well in OKC’s running community
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Q: Since the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is a qualifying race for the Boston Marathon, what did you share with folks here about running in the Boston Marathon?
Grilk: “I did have a chance to speak to a number of people who were going to be running in the Boston Marathon, which took place earlier this week. I told them most of all, enjoy it. Take it in. Have some fun with it. Don’t necessarily try to run your fastest race, it’s a very difficult course, it’s got a lot of hills in it. The last five miles have a lot of downhill in it which really, really hurts your upper thighs. Don’t go too hard in the beginning because you won’t enjoy the end.
“And the finish line in Boston, unlike any other major marathon in the world, is right on a great, big downtown street. You’re running into an urban canyon full of screaming people who are cheering for you. That last 670 or so yards is something one should be able to savor and experience rather than stumble through exhausted. I’ve tried it stumbling through exhausted, and that’s not the way to do it.
“I congratulated them on their accomplishment in getting there. Sometimes the hardest thing about the Boston Marathon is getting to the starting line.”
BOSTON (WHDH) – Getting around the city was made easier Tuesday after the Green Line reopened after a two-week shutdown affecting all branches.
The MBTA needed the closure to replace underground beams dating back to the 19th century.
Service returned Tuesday on the B branch between North Station and Babcock, on the C and D lines from North Station to Kenmore, and North Station to Heath Street on the E branch.
(Copyright (c) 2025 Sunbeam Television. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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After four seasons in which he emerged as a veteran leader and key bench player for the Red Sox, Rob Refsnyder’s time in Boston is over.
Refsnyder has signed a one-year contract with the Mariners, the club announced. According to a major league source, the deal will pay Refsnyder a base salary of $6.25 million in 2026. It also includes $250,000 in incentives.
Refsnyder, who turns 35 in May, was a journeyman utility player when he signed with the Red Sox as a minor league free agent in December 2021. Over the last four seasons, he found a home in Boston, where he mashed left-handed pitching and became an important clubhouse voice. Along with Trevor Story and Alex Bregman, Refsnyder helped form a core of older position players who helped the Sox navigate treacherous waters in the fallout of the Rafael Devers drama (and subsequent trade) over the summer. On the field, he was plenty productive, too, as he hit .269 with nine homers, 12 doubles and an .838 OPS in 70 games in his limited role in 2025.
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In 309 games over the past four seasons, Refsnyder hit .276 with 27 homers, 119 RBIs, 48 doubles and an .804 OPS while serving as one of the best hitters in baseball against left-handed pitching. In 2025, he posted a .302 average, .560 slugging percentage and .959 OPS against southpaws, pairing with Romy Gonzalez to form a potent pair of right-handed platoon options for Alex Cora. Refsnyder’s .596 slugging percentage against left-handed starters was the fourth-best mark in baseball. Since the start of 2021, Refsnyder ranks third in the majors in on-base percentage against lefties (.405) among players with 300 plate appearances.
Refsnyder expressed strong interest in returning to the Red Sox in 2026 but in recent weeks, the writing has been on the wall for his departure. There aren’t many at-bats to go around in Boston’s crowded outfield/designated hitter picture and recent comments from manager Alex Cora made it harder to see Refsnyder returning in his role. Specifically, the club wants Wilyer Abreu — a platoon player to this point in his career — to get regular starts against lefties in right field, a position where Refsnyder logged 21 starts in 2025. Cora also praised the athleticism of Nate Eaton, who may take over Refsnyder’s role as a versatile, younger and cheaper version in 2026. Eaton had a .673 OPS against lefties in 49 big league plate appearances last year but the Red Sox think there’s more in his right-handed bat. Kristian Campbell is expected to focus on outfield work in spring training, too, further crowding a group that includes Abreu, Roman Anthony, Ceddanne Rafaela, Jarren Duran and potentially Eaton and others.
The Mariners will be Refsnyder’s seventh major league team, joining the Yankees, Blue Jays, Rays and Twins. He had previously signed two deals to remain in Boston, agreeing to avoid arbitration at $1.2 million for 2023, then signing a $1.85 million extension for the 2024 season that included a $2 million option for 2025.
One autumn evening in 2020, the late poet Louise Glück walked into the snug dining room of the Somerville Peruvian restaurant Celeste. Glück found her usual table — the one between the two air conditioning vents — and greeted her usual server, Gonzalo, who waited on her every time she stopped in for ceviche de pescado and an IPA. But this evening was different from the others.
Glück had been awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature the day before and, amid a wave of public attention, craved the normalcy of enjoying a meal at one of her favorite restaurants. Ahead of Glück’s standing reservation, Celeste’s founders Maria Rondeau and chef JuanMa Calderon had filled the dining room with friends to ensure the new Nobel Laureate could dine in peace. A tabletop bouquet was the only memento marking her achievement.
“All she wanted was to be at Celeste and not think about anything else,” said Rondeau. “At the same time, we were nervous. We’d waited on the same lady every day, but now she was something else. It was a moment of joyous togetherness.”
Glück’s connection to Celeste is uniquely intense — so intense, in fact, that Rondeau and Calderon’s new restaurant opening in Back Bay, Rosa y Marigold, shares a name with Glück’s last published work. It’s also a particularly profound example of how Boston writers have long found comfort, camaraderie and sometimes safety in the city’s bars, cafes and restaurants.
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From the bygone Harvard Square Spanish spot Irunåa where Robert Lowell hosted post-workshop office hours to the old Ground Round off Soldiers Field Road where reporters for The Boston Globe, Boston Magazine and the Boston Phoenix grabbed drinks after media-league softball games, local eateries have literally and figuratively fueled generations of Boston academics, journalists, novelists and poets. So, we asked some of these writers to tell us where they typically go for a coffee, a meal, a conversation, or a moment of peace.
Zarlasht Niaz, novelist
Zarlasht Niaz, author of novel-in-verse “Unfurling,” at the Newsfeed Cafe at the Boston Public Library. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Zarlasht Niaz recently came to Boston from Minneapolis to begin her tenure as the Boston Public Library’s 2025-26 writer-in-residence. The Afghan American writer is managing an online literary journal that centers writing from and about Afghanistan while working on her debut novel-in-verse. Despite her newcomer status, she has already found some gastronomic staples.
Niaz regularly stops into BPL’s Newsfeed Café for arepas from the Somerville-based Venezuelan catering company Carolicious; lattes from a talented, unnamed barista — “When that person’s working, I get really excited,” said Niaz — and live public radio programming from the other NPR affiliate in town.
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She also frequents Anoush’ella’s South Boston location, whose Eastern Mediterranean flavors call to mind home food. “They have these salads with a lot of different herbs and they remind me of the salads I grew up eating,” said Niaz. Turmeric House in Braintree hits similarly. “A perfect cup of chai. A perfect kebab. Yeah, I can’t wait to go back.”
Stephen Greenblatt, literary historian
Author Stephen Greenblatt at Cambridge restaurant Giulia, on Massachusetts Ave. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Having devoted decades to unpacking the work of Renaissance writers, particularly William Shakespeare, it’s no wonder that the National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning literary historian Stephen Greenblatt gravitates toward cuisine that could’ve conceivably appeared in “Julius Caesar.”
The Cambridge Italian staple Giulia is his undisputed go-to. “I know Italian food quite well, because we spend quite a lot of time in Rome,” said Greenblatt. “Guilia is unusually creative.” He often orders the pappardelle with wild boar topped with black trumpet mushrooms and parmigiano.
“The chef, Michael Pagliarini, is extremely talented and alert to what really good Italian food is like,” he said.
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Greenblatt also ventures to the eastern edges of the Mediterranean basin when visiting Oleana (which recently received a Michelin Guide recommendation), but his dessert of choice there is decidedly American. “I like Oleana quite a lot, particularly for the wonderful baked Alaska, which is, I think, one of the great desserts that one can get,” said Greenblatt.
Golden, poet and photographer
Golden moved to Boston in 2018 following a celebrated poetry slam guest performance at Haley House in Roxbury and quickly became a fixture within the local literary scene. In the time since, the Black, gender-nonconforming trans writer and photographer has turned out two collections of poetry and images, served as Boston’s 2020-21 artist in residence, and earned a handful of high-profile fellowships. Golden is now relocating to their home state of Virginia to pursue an MFA, but they depart with close community ties, including connections to a couple of keystone Jamaica Plain restaurants.
Galway House, on Centre Street in Jamaica Plain, Boston. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
“When I first moved to Boston, I lived on Centre Street by Jackson Square and we would always go to Galway House,” said Golden. “They have affordable, consistent food and a lot of community members I know love going there.”
The Haven, one of the Boston area’s only Scottish spots, is another JP essential for Golden. “I love the Haven Burger — it’s one of my favorites. And I love a good French fry and you can’t go wrong with that there,” Golden said. “I love filling food and food that you can enjoy with friends. That’s where my brain goes when I’m deciding where to eat.”
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Laura Zigman, novelist
The fiction of Laura Zigman often hinges on the heightened emotionalism that comes with navigating life’s highs and lows, beginning with her debut 1997 novel “Animal Husbandry,” which was optioned and became the basis for a romantic comedy starring Ashley Judd and a young Hugh Jackman. But when it comes to going out for a drink or something to eat, Zigman looks to avoid drama at all costs.
Bar Enza, located in the Charles Hotel near Harvard Square, is her ideal venue for meeting friends. “They have really nice wine and cocktails, even though I really don’t drink anymore,” Zigman said. “When you come in for a drink, they’ll give you a velvet banquette that’s beautiful where you can talk and actually hear each other and I just love it.”
The entrance to George Howell Coffee and Lovestruck Books, in Cambridge, Mass. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
For coffee, Zigman prefers George Howell Coffee nestled inside the nearby Lovestruck Books. The location itself is freighted with Cambridge cafe history, standing not far from where Howell’s original Coffee Connection once operated between 1975 and 1996 before Starbucks acquired and rebranded it and its 18 local sister stores.
“Coffee Connection was one of those places that I just lived in when I was a teenager,” said Zigman. “They had French roast, French presses, and big barrels of coffee beans with burlap covers. The new George Howell inside Lovestruck is great — it’s cozy, smells like coffee, and it’s pink and red inside.”
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Paul Tremblay, novelist
Author Paul Tremblay, by the Hamilton Restaurant and Bar, near Coolidge Corner in Brookline, Mass. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Brookline Booksmith near Coolidge Corner is a key location for the multi-time Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novelist Paul Tremblay. He visited the shop for the first time early in his writing career to attend a Stewart O’Nan reading and, in the years since, has gone back numerous times to do readings of his own and participate in author events.
Virtually every trip Tremblay makes to Brookline Booksmith goes hand-in-hand with a stop at Hamilton Restaurant and Bar, whose distinctive red awning with a silhouette of its namesake Founding Father casts a shadow on Beacon Street less than a block away.
“Invariably, before the event starts, usually at 7 p.m., all the writers involved and sometimes their family too will meet at Hamilton,” said Tremblay. “It’s such a relaxed vibe — a pub-style place with friendly staff, good food and drink, and, when the weather is warm, a nice outdoor space.”
When Tremblay is nearer to home in the Greater Boston suburbs, he regularly visits Northern Spy, a Canton-based restaurant from the owners of Loyal Nine that serves New England cuisine and operates out of Paul Revere’s historic Rolling Copper Mill.
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“It’s a newer restaurant and it’s got a beautiful interior,” he said. “For people who dare trek outside of Boston and want to meet, it’s a go-to place.”
Megan Marshall, biographer
Biographer Megan Marshall looks across Belmont Street from the window of Praliné French Patisserie’s location in Belmont, Mass. (Robin Lubbock/WBUR)
Megan Marshall arrived in the Boston area in 1973 and has since seen slews of writer-saturated restaurants come and go. She remembers meeting the eminent editor Justin Kaplan at the long-defunct Harvard Square fondue place, Swiss Alps, to get guidance on her biography of Elizabeth, Mary and Sophia Peabody, which eventually earned her the Pulitzer Prize. And she recalls grabbing coffee and cinnamon toast from a drugstore with an old-fashioned soda fountain that once stood on Boylston Street in between research sessions at the Massachusetts Historical Society.
These days, Marshall often finds herself at the Cambridge French patisserie Praliné. “They’re such lovely people there and they speak French, which makes me feel cosmopolitan and their croissants are, I think, the best in the Boston area,” said Marshall.
She also enjoys Praliné’s imported French loose-leaf tea, Mariage Frères. “I get little boxes of it to give as presents. People I know who have spent time in Paris say, ‘Oh, you must be just back from Paris,’ because there’s this impression that you can only get Mariage Frères there,” she said. “But you can get it at Praliné and impress anybody you know who’s Parisian.”
