NU student recounts experience of running in 2002 Boston Marathon

By Kyle Blaikie
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

Monday, April 15th, I skipped all my classes and headed down to Boston with no idea where to start; I just knew how long it was. 26.6 miles later, I finished the Boston Marathon with pain in my legs and a great story to tell.

I got as close to the starting line as the commuter rail would take me and watched all the leaders sprint ahead. I watched all the registered runners with numbers on their chests cruising by looking like they were in pain. They were all sweating, and you could see their leg muscles bunch as their feet pounded the newly wet pavement. Lightly covered with the morning's drizzle, I got butterflies in my stomach and prepared to jump into the race.

I waited for a nice break where there were few runners and then lightly jogged into a nice, steady pace. With my adrenaline pumping, it was tough to maintain a slower speed, because I wanted to sprint ahead. After six or seven miles, the rain stopped, and I was starting to get tired. After ten, my legs were numb, and the sun was out.

There weren't that many barriers or blockades on the side of the road. One place where there were huge barriers was at Wesleyan College. When passing, hundreds of excited college girls were on top of these barriers and leaning out to touch the runners. With all of these attractive young girls yelling at the top of their lungs, I ran to the side of the street and slapped their hands as I ran. Out of nowhere, one girl grabbed onto my arm and started fondling my backside.

Needless to say, I should have gone back and gotten her number; however, I continued running.

Mile 24 and 25 were tough. The sun was pounding on my back, and I was dehydrated. The crowd got more intense towards the finish line, and everyone was giving beverages on the side of the road. Some of the beverages were not helping the dehydration, and neither was the cheeseburger. I still finished strong, and it was an overall good experience.

I am going to run it again. I am not going to register; it's more fun without numbers. I ran it just to run it. I didn't get an official time, and that didn't matter. The good experience that I took away is worth any sore muscles that I am going to have for the next week.

Back to Guidon index