Gate Agent Relieved She Can Stop Feigning Interest in Marathon

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A gate agent at Boston's Logan International Airport is happy that she no longer has to feign interest in the Boston Marathon.

"Thank God," said Diane Chambers, 36, who works in the airport's Terminal B, as she popped a piece of nicotine gum in her mouth. "That's over for another year."

She was still encountering marathoners Wednesday, Chambers said, but "only a handful" compared to the flood of Boston-Marathon-jacket-clad, medal-wearing, limping ectomorphs that dominated the airport Monday evening through Tuesday.

Chambers went on to note that she's used the word congratulations so much over the past 36 hours that "it's lost all meaning."

"I've never run a marathon myself," Chambers said, "but it cannot possibly be worse than standing here for eight hours with a fake smile plastered on your face, asking hundreds of people, over and over, 'How was your race?' or 'How'd it go yesterday?' when you absolutely just do not give a ****."

"I swear," she added, "I feel exhausted."

There is an upside. Despite the physical and emotional fatigue, Chambers said, today is her favorite day of the year.

"It's the day that's farthest away from the next ****ing Boston Marathon."