#1993 in 1993: Making Your Will Exceed Your Skill
Ah, Boston on Patriot’s Day… You can see most anything, like that man on stilts I caught on camera next to Fenway. The morning begins with the Marathon way out of town, even beyond Ashland, and certainly a long way from the Prudential Center. And then at 11:00am there is the annual Patriot’s Day game— […]
Back to Boston: My breakfast becomes a DNF
I am extremely grateful I had the opportunity to take part in the Boston Marathon for the second straight year. In 2015, I posted a 3:44:27 at less than 100 percent. Fortunately, I still had a qualifying time to get me in for this year. Despite breaking my foot in August, I patiently worked my […]
One of the most surreal and satisfying days of my life
Imagine your first round of golf being at Augusta National, experiencing your first horse race at Churchill Downs or entering a stadium the first time at the Olympics. Then imagine actually taking part in the Masters, Kentucky Derby or Olympic Opening Ceremonies. That’s what it felt like for me to run the Boston Marathon on […]
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 […]
Achieving a Major Goal, Even at a Shuffle
Where do I even begin to try to start with a race that has been several years in the making? After qualifying in 2013 for the 2014 Boston Marathon with a 3:13:33 at the “Last Chance for Boston” (after battling back from stress fractures in both legs), I missed getting into the race by eleven […]
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 […]
How I cut my deficit to Boston Billy by over 20 minutes…
After running Boston in 1978 in 3 hours 20 minutes, I came back to run the race again a year later. The rapid growth in the marathon’s popularity in those years was evident: in ’78 there were 4,764 official runners; in 1979, the number swelled to 7,927, the first year the number of racers exceeded […]
Then the rain moved out though, and spirits picked up again
Can’t believe how my third Boston unfolded for me. Through training, I was targeting a 3:05. We got in to Boston Saturday around lunchtime, and by that night I was starting to feel lousy. I hoped it was just allergies and that I wasn’t getting sick. I didn’t feel that much better through Sunday, and […]
A continuous clap and a constant roar
On April 15, 1996, the world’s oldest marathon was about to become the world’s largest marathon. But it wasn’t going to be easy. The northeastern United States had experienced its snowiest winter on record, and simply because the calendar read “April” meant little to Mother Nature, who pursued her relentless polar assault into the middle […]
Choosing to run rather than drive the bus
In April of 2000 a relationship began. A runner fell in love with a city. Back in the summer of 1989, after doing some hiking in the Green Mountains, my cousin and I took in a Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park. It was my first look at the city, but only a five hour […]
Third time’s the charm!
My Boston Marathon story starts on January 4th, 2011. That was the day I weighed in for “The Biggest Loser” challenge at work, and I tipped the scale at 300 pounds. That’s the most I have ever weighed in my life. At the time, I could barely walk three miles without stopping. I spent the […]
Buddy, you are a WINNAH!
There are days in our lives we know our family and friends will mention at our funerals. Today is one of those days for me. The Boston Marathon experience is so incredible I could write 20 pages about it (and probably will at some point). There is one critical point I want to share now. […]