When I first set out with the intention of running the Boston Marathon for the Alzheimer’s Association in memory of my dear grandfather, I had some idea of the challenges I would face in my training and fundraising. Some, but…
I truly believe anything is possible, if you want it badly enough. For me, qualifying for (and running!) the Boston Marathon was a big dream for many, many years. I’m sure people thought I was crazy talking about BQ’ing when…
My first attempt to train and qualify for Boston came in 2004 with the Chicago Marathon. I was training really well, and then while playing a large group game at camp, I did an unintentional back flip. Afterwards my knee…
I started running to lose baby weight with a 2001 New Year’s resolution. My goal was to lose the last 10 or 20 pounds from my second pregnancy. I initially used running as a tool to see how ‘small’ I…
In October 2007, I had just completed my fourth marathon in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 3:43, which was so close to a BQ I could almost taste it! I didn’t feel great throughout the whole training program, but blamed it…
My running life began when I joined my high school’s track team in January of 2000. I had never run before and thought I might be a shotput/ discus/ javelin thrower or jumper. After it became clear I lacked any…
As a college student in the city, I made running the Boston Marathon for a charity team a before-graduation goal. On April 16, 2007, I checked that goal off the list, and in the process caught the marathon bug. 4:25:31.…
My eleven siblings and I were raised on a dairy farm in Reedsville, Wisconsin, by awesome, hard-working parents. Quite often instead of us taking the bus home, our Mom or Pa would pick us up from school in our old Ford…
In 1982, I was 25 years old. I qualified for The Boston Marathon at the Dallas White Rock Marathon in December of 1981, with a time of 3:05. (I had run one marathon before White Rock, the New Orleans Marathon,…
I fell in love with the Boston Marathon in 1964. I was running through the woods with the neighborhood dogs when I first saw it. For me, running was a form of communion with nature and a way to rejoin…