Boston #2: “Do not anticipate trouble… Keep in the sunlight.”
Running through Natick I was thinking about last year. Mile 10 was when I faced the first major downpour. Guess what happened at when I passed the mile 10 sign this year? The sun came out! Happy Jen. Jen Skiba Mashpee, Massachusetts April 15, 2019 Age – 33 Bib # 15097 3:40:56 [After contending […]
Smiles and tears of pure happiness: Positively!
Being a “slower” runner means your own private finish line & a kick ass photo! Someone told me to run right down the middle of Boylston if I wanted the perfect finish line photo. I’m so glad I did! My first marathon, and all my photos are magical. (I’m absolutely working on speed, but when […]
Mom Tried to Warn Me, but I Wouldn’t Listen
The slogan for the 2003 marathon was “Everything you ever needed to know about yourself you can learn in 26.2 miles.” I picked up a great poster with this slogan on it at the pre-race expo. This slogan has rung true for me for past marathons and I hope the account below will shed some […]
Proud to Accept the Invitation
At 2:49 p.m. on April 15, 2013, I was recording video from the Boston Marathon finish line on Boylston Street, ten yards away from where the first bomb went off. I was trying to get a lot of those first-time marathoners and charity runners coming across. People who aren’t used to running that race let […]
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 […]
Still paying back for a race just under the wire…
I crossed the finish line at the Boston Marathon in 2013. It wasn’t the way I wanted to. I was wearing a white volunteer jacket with blue strips, pushing the yellow stretcher in the top right corner of the picture below, with three other volunteers. We were stopped briefly because the volunteer riding the rail […]
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 […]
WE ARE BOSTON STRONG and the whole world knows it!
I am 49 years old, married to a marathoner and have two beautiful girls. 2014 was my 13th Boston Marathon. Last year in Boston I had a great race finishing in my fastest Boston time – 3:17:10. When I finished, I grabbed my clothes and went to Exhale Spa for a wonderful shower. This has […]
Joy in the Journey Back to Normalcy
Boston strong? Absolutely. Boston loud? Hell, yeah. On a day when the finish line at the Boston Marathon was reclaimed, normalcy made a triumphant return during the 26.2-mile journey from Hopkinton to Boston… It was evident as we pulled into Hopkinton this would not be just another Patriot’s Day. Buses were everywhere. Cars were everywhere. […]
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. Nick and I are part of the PT team at the Lowell Police Academy that […]
The downhill start made it easy and all the fast runners made me go faster than I should: I went completely out of pace
I think my brain was kinda like “I think I can, I think I can, choo choo!” It’s funny how when you run downhill for several miles, even the flat path feels like a wall. Luckily around mile 15, there were a nice steep downhill right before the heart attack hills started (aka the Newton […]
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 had never done distance running, but something about this struck me. I went to the […]