Keep Calm and Marath-On
Preparation: Here we are… After a long time coming, the Boston Marathon is finally only a week away. For those of you starting to get worn down by the constant talk of it from us deranged people who find these…
Category M 18 – 34
A text message suggests it would be a good idea to go on Facebook and tell everyone I am OK
My journey as a runner began in 2010, when a co-worker shared information on the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training program. She was going to be mentoring runners for the 2011 Maratona di Roma. Prior to this, I…
Give This Man a Medal!
[Our thanks to Pat Cook of Middlesex Community College for sharing his story of a 2013 marathon hero.] This is a story about my friend and fellow “E Streeter,” Lowell Massachusetts Police Officer Nick Laganas, and his first Boston Marathon.…
There was one more person I met that day who helped get me through it
My first and only marathon happened on April 15th, 2013. Boston had been a goal of mine since graduating from the University of Delaware in 2008. I had lived in Somerville, Massachusetts, ever since then, and seeing 25,000 people running…
A Finisher’s Medal and a Cowbell
In 2010 , like my now husband Brian, I came home from the Boston Marathon with a finisher’s medal. A year later? A cowbell. Okay, maybe I am simplifying things just a bit. The previous year, with Brian running with…
A Tongue-in-Cheek Critique
My first Boston Marathon experience was a major letdown. A drag. An abysmal weekend. Never has a marathon been talked up as much as Boston has. Ever. I’ve been reading race reports and articles about Boston for years and it’s…
Easier than hunting game in Zimbabwe…
I would consider myself a rookie compared to many other guys and gals on this site, but I’ll tell my story as well. Boston was only my second marathon. I had qualified with my first 26.2 mile race, even though…
The little old lady start line volunteer told me “Oh honey, you can go on waaaaay up there”
Eventually we found our place in line at the start. It was kinda funny though. Thanks to my qualifying time of 2:54, my bib number was 1966 – which meant I was actually in both the first wave and the…
Number Six of my Fifty State Marathons and my Proudest Accomplishment
The Boston Marathon represented the end of a two year pursuit for me. In 2000, I set a goal to qualify for Boston and reached that goal in the Twin Cities Marathon that same year (a personal record of 3:09:52).…
Someone steals my thunder
The Fenway Hotel was about a mile from the finish line, but it may as well have been a thousand miles away. On blistered feet, space blanket covering my body, which was caked with dried sweat, I shuffled back to…
A Spot on the Second Row
There are days when everything just seems to fall in place. For me, Monday, April 21, 1975, was one such day, although there was a good bit of worrying on my part as it was unfolding. After the debacle that…
Running on Great Shrimp Scampi in Tretorn Tennis Shoes
One day I was searching through my race results, to look over my marathon finishes. I ran sixteen marathons in the ’70s. I was somewhat surprised to find I only had printed results for seven of them. Through the years…