“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 […]
“Not just anyone can run in the Boston Marathon.” (signed) Mom & Dad
What happens on the third Monday in April in Boston? Ask a Bostonian and they’ll say it’s Patriot’s Day. Ask any runner and they’ll tell you it’s the day of the Boston Marathon, the granddaddy of all marathons. One day in 1997 while on a run, my friend Miles and I were talking about Boston […]
Two Bostons with Weather Extremes
I ran my first marathon in October 2013 at the Detroit Free Press marathon. First of all, I couldn’t believe I was going to complete a marathon. It seemed so recently when running just one mile seemed like an eternity. I really didn’t have a particular goal except to finish. I thought it would be great if I could get […]
Thirsty and sweating before we even began.
2016 was my fifth consecutive Boston Marathon. Despite a training season peppered with injury, and being only one week post-flu, I was excited to be in Boston and felt ready to run. The celebration of the 50th Anniversary of women in the Boston Marathon along with the 120th Anniversary year made this year feel extra […]
For the rest of my earthly life I can say I am a Boston Marathon finisher
After six months of fundraising and training, the time finally arrived to make my way to the Bay State to run the 119th Boston Marathon. Training for this marathon wasn’t easy. I fought a tight hamstring the whole training period and was worried how it would feel the day of the race. Would I be […]
The Sound of Music meets a scene from the Terminator
I don’t even know where to start! Boston 2014 was quite possibly the most amazing display of humanity ever. Boston pumped love, perseverance, support, and empathy; every second, all weekend. I have never in my life experienced this type of non-stop caring and selflessness from every single person I bumped into during my entire trip. […]
How could I be giving so much, yet running so slow?
After running back-to-back 2:58:30s in 2013 and 2014, I had set my sights squarely on going under 2:55 at Boston. However, I crossed the finish line on Boylston four minutes slower, not faster. I feel weird saying this, but I’m not as upset as you might think. Clearly, that was not the race I had […]
My heart and lungs were ready to party, but my calves and hamstrings ached and dragged…
They filed in. The seasoned pros knew where to go and lost no time heading into a dark room. Where it led I don’t know. Some ended up upstairs. I saw race-favorite Shalane Flanagan’s chiseled and determined face stretching on the balcony above. I’d been there for an hour and a half already, in the […]
We were Unstoppable
The headline of the Boston Globe on Tuesday, April 22, 2014 read “UNSTOPPABLE.” That sentiment could not have been more true. Meb Keflezighi, the American winner, was unstoppable; Shalane Flanagan, the Boston native women’s favorite who despite coming in seventh broke the American women’s record, was unstoppable; the 31,878 runners were unstoppable; and all eight cities […]
“I had no cell phone, no I.D., no money, no hotel room key. However, I did have my lipstick.”
First of all, I want to explain how I even got to run the Boston Marathon in the first place. If you know anything about the sport of long distance running world, you probably know the Boston Marathon is the big race. This year was the 117th Boston Marathon. Elite runners from around the world […]
A big “Thank You” to Boston for delivering the world’s greatest marathon
So many people have written such beautiful words to describe what we all felt in Boston on Patriots Day this year. I expected all the emotion of 2013 to come flooding back on the road from Hopkinton. But it wasn’t until the morning after, while reading messages of love and support from friends and strangers, […]
From the (happy) beginning through the (horrible) ending
As I sit down to share my experience at the 2013 Boston Marathon, I’m still not sure where to begin or where to end. Do I focus only on what happened after 2:50pm on Monday and those who were injured and killed? Do I talk about the hundreds of heroes that rushed into harm’s way […]