“Run Like the Wind!”: The 113th Boston Marathon

A warm hug from Caleb and Chloe in Wellesley

It is the day after the 113th Boston Marathon, and I am still trying to take it all in.

Not just the Women’s Elite race, where Kosgei beat Tune by a mere one second – and just 9 seconds ahead of U.S. favorite Kara Goucher. Not just the moment when I reluctantly overtook Dick Hoyt and his son Rick on Heartbreak Hill, and quietly gave tribute to a love that no one can imagine or conceive. Not when I ran a qualifying time that was my best Boston (3:58:23), at the same moment realizing that Bill Rodgers, who signed my Alzheimer’s Association singlet “Trish, Run like the Wind!” and finished – exuberantly behind my time – showed me in a moment what this race really meant. 

It’s not one of these moments. Or people, or anything else. 

The Boston Marathon is not just about my experience. Or Kara’s. Or Bill’s. It’s about all of them. And that’s what makes this marathon unique.

We are all running for our own reason. Be it glorified or gritty; be it publicized or private. We all run alone, yet together.

We each run our own race. But not without the people who cheer us on. The strangers and the deeply beloved. They are all there in full force, their energy egging us on to the Finish Line, even when it seems so very far away.

Who carried me in those last few miles? I’ll never know. Strangers who gave me the encouragement I needed. The memory of my mom, whom I ran in honor of. She was there, too, running beside me in spirit, finally free of her disease, but gone forever from my touch.

I crossed the Finish Line on Boylston Street in tears and pain. That’s the part we runners keep to ourselves. The volunteers who wrap us in polyethylene blankets, who gingerly remove our timing chips, who bestow us ceremoniously with our medals – they see it in our eyes.  They see all the emotion we have held for 26.2 miles.

There’s no explaining Boston. Because it means something so different for each person who takes on the journey.

I am just thankful to have been part of it.

Read Trish’s comments in the MetroWest Daility News at: http://www.metrowestdailynews.com/news/x1484624343/Local-runners-tired-but-pleased-with-their-performances