“Though in a crowd of stunned runners and spectators, I felt alone”
After months of training, my wife and I had arrived at the marathon event of the year, the 2013 Boston Marathon. We started together in Wave 3, Corral 6, running for an American Medical Athletic Association charity. In four hours our day would drastically change. A knee injury forced me to slow my pace and […]
“It took 38 marathons: five years and four months for my Boston dream to become reality”
Do you have a bucket list? Do you have goals to check off? For five and a half years, my big dream was to qualify for the Boston Marathon. The Boston Marathon is the mecca for many long distance runners. The race has a rich history. Having to qualify with a time from a previous […]
At Mile 23: “Come on, Stay strong just a little longer.”
We took the family on a road trip to Boston trying to make running the Marathon into a family vacation. We headed out Friday morning for eight hours of driving towards New York. Just the day before I had run with my son’s cross country team and had tweaked my knee. That was my first […]
In a “my legs are tired” way, not in a “I might die, need to walk, or maybe vomit” kind of way
Wow. Well, obviously the aftermath brought a lot more emotions and many things to process far more important than the actual race. Things I never dreamed I’d be considering when recording my first Boston experience. But her I want to focus on the good and the positive that came before… My husband Monte and I […]
Homeless In Hopkinton
The first person I spoke to from Hopkinton, Massachusetts the eve of the Boston Marathon was a cop. My good friend and running mate, Greg Heilers, had just dropped me off at the corner of Main and Grove Street in Hopkinton at about 6:30 PM. As I opened the passenger door to his rental Kia, […]
Playful Prelude, Somber Postscript
Follow That Unicorn! (Eleven days before) When I first took up running a few years ago, qualifying for the storied Boston Marathon seemed about as realistic as making out with Mila Kunis. This seemed especially true after barely completing my first marathon in just under a grueling four hours. Well, maybe it’s time to give […]
Remembering Happy Moments That Cannot Be Taken Away
Like many others, I sat down to write my race recap a couple of times in the immediate days after the race. It’s hard to write about something that forced you to feel so many conflicting emotions. I went to write one sentence and then slowly deleted it, thinking “Is that what I really want […]
Dual realizations on Boylston: “I am almost done” vs. “The finish is a lot further away than I thought”
Note written May 5, 2013: the Boston Marathon was nearly three weeks ago. Usually I try to write a race report within hours of finishing. Because of the bombing at the finishing line many of my post marathon thoughts have been about the families impacted by death and injury that afternoon, as well as the […]
My early splits were at the mercy of the pack. In the crowd, it was too risky to pass.
As I tapered the week leading up to the 2013 Boston Marathon, I couldn’t wait for the chance to write my post race report. I was so excited. I was healthy and trained for a sub-three hour marathon IN BOSTON! However, I had only an hour of utter elation post race before the senseless, horrific […]
The second explosion was exactly where my family had been waiting
I’ll forever remember the 2013 Boston Marathon as the day I came way too close to losing absolutely everything, when my family was almost taken, leaving me with nothing, alone and broken. It started like any other race morning: very early, but that’s the only normal thing about the Boston Marathon. I left the hotel […]
735 Days
Two weeks after the 2015 Boston Marathon, I am finally finished with my thoughts about the entire experience. Those of you who know me are aware of the emotional challenge these last two years have been. They, of course, pale in comparison to the pain and heartache countless families have had to deal with in […]
No One Ever Asked
March 25, 2013. I had no idea at the time my life would forever be changed on this date. It’s the beginning and I guess I’ll start there. All four of my children were in school and my husband Jeramiah was still at work. I was shopping at our local Target store when my phone […]