Published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette on April, 21, 2014
The 118th Boston Marathon is set to become the second largest in race history as over 36,000 runners are expected to make the journey from Hopkinton to Copley Square on Monday.
The increased field is due to last year’s twin bombings that killed three and injury over 260, causing the race to be stopped shortly after the four hour mark with over 5,000 runners still on the course.
The Boston Athletic Association invited those runners back to finish and made extra bib numbers available to charities and qualified runners to signify that last year’s events wouldn’t diminish the race’s character.
Within the increased field are 74 registered runners from Hampshire County and more with ties to the region.
Alison Wade, who was on Amherst Regional’s first state cross country championship team, has since relocated to the eastern side of the state. A once avid marathoner, Wade is running her first since having twins three years ago. She is a member of the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation team.
Alex Silverman of Northampton last ran Boston 30 years ago. He’s back after qualifying at the Lehigh Valley Marathon to run as part of runner solitude. South Hadley’s Jodi Fairbanks set out last year looking to run her first marathon, but didn’t get to finish.
Others are running with similar mindsets, but their own reasons. Here are those stories and a few others. Use their bib numbers to track them along the course at baa.org on Marathon Monday.
ALISON WADE: Amherst native, Natick resident
Charity: Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation
Bib No. 31752
Wade, 39, thought she retired from marathons. Then, like so many others, last year’s Boston Marathon bombings triggered a response .
She made the decision to be involved in this year’s race, but the question remained how.
“When the bombs happened, I knew I wanted to be apart of 2014 marathon,” she said.
The tragedy claimed the life of 8-year-old Martin Richard. Wade is one of 100 runners on Team MR8, raising money for the Martin W. Richard Charitable Foundation.
“I’m making some good from the bad stuff that happened last year,” she said.
Wade, who has 3-year-old twin girls, decided Martin was her cause and it was good enough to get her back out on the pavement.
“That was the story that came out of the 2013 race that struck a cord with me the most,” she said. “It stood out as so incredibly sad.”
The second bomb claimed Martin’s life, and injured his parents and younger sister, Jane. His older brother, Henry, escaped unscathed. Bill and Denise Richard founded the nonprofit to honor their son and his message of peace through education, athletics and community.
Before this year, running for a cause had never really struck Wade as something to do. She was a runner and felt odd asking for people to help support her in something she found joy in and did so regularly, but this foundation was different.
“This was an important enough cause for me,” Wade said. “As a parent, you can’t even imagine what it’s like to lose a child. Every time I encounter the Richard family, I don’t understand how they are handling this with such strength.”
This will be her second attempt at Boston. She pulled out of the 2005 race before her running hiatus. She won the 2003 Marine Marathon and is hoping to not over do it in her return to the sport.
“I’ve never ran a marathon as well as I thought I could,” Wade said. “This year, I’m hoping to run a more conservative pace than I think I can run, (around) low 3:20s.”
Wade’s Natick home is only a mile from the course and last year’s events, and this year’s resilience, hit close to home.
“I’ve always loved the Boston marathon, but I think living here has sort of amplified it a bit more,” Wade said. “Everyday there are marathon reminders around here. … It’s a lot of things you take personal. You think that this stuff doesn’t happen here and yet it did.”
TIM KLIEG: Amherst
Bib No. 23056
Klieg began running at age 50 when he ran his first marathon 13 years ago.
When he laces up his shoes on Marathon Monday, it’ll be the 50th time he’s running 26.2 miles.
“Boston is really special,” Klieg said. “Boston is just special. There is nowhere better than Boston to run a marathon.”
This year’s marathon means a lot to him and has a lot of emotion attached — his 50th marathon will be his 10th Boston and will be in the shadow of last year.
“It’s kind of special, because when I crossed last year, it was 14 minutes before the blast,” he said.
Upon finishing with a qualifying time for the 2014 race, he knew he was approaching the No. 50 milestone, but he wasn’t sure where he’d run the big one.
“I wanted to make it special,” Klieg said.
Minutes later he knew.
Having finished at roughly the same time as the bombs, Klieg said his friends instantly worried about his safety. Eventually, one tracked him down grabbing a drink at a nearby bar, not completely aware of everything that had happened.
He heard the explosion, but didn’t think the worst, as he continued going in the opposite direction and didn’t see any of the chaos.
“The memory is there, but I’m looking forward to going through it again, especially for the 10th time,” he said. “When I hear a loud noise, sometimes I think of it.”
Klieg has dedicated his run to his friend Chase, who is battling an aggressive form of cancer, and for all those effect by the bombings.
“I’m just doing it out of respect of the people that got hurt there,” Klieg said. “The pain I’m going to feel from running 26.2 miles is nothing what they felt.”
NANCY COOK: Belchertown
Group: Western Massachusetts Distance Project
Bib No. 20465
Cook, 49, left last year’s Boston Marathon mentally going through the “what ifs.”
She was running on a bad knee and thought she was going to run a conservative four-hour marathon. That morning her knee felt fine and she was ready to get on the course.
She finished in 3:40:31, well before the bombs went off.
“It hits home that it could have been us,” Cook said. “To be there and be a part of all the energy and celebration, all of that will certainly be emotional.”
Cook isn’t a stranger to the Boston Marathon. This will be her fifth consecutive and 10th overall. In 2007, she ran a personal best 3:05:59, earning her a Masters title.
“It’ll be interesting to how different a race it will be since I’ve been involved with it for so many years,” Cook said.
As a cancer survivor, she said she keeps running because she can. Running helped her through chemotherapy as she completed the 2010 Chicago Marathon while undergoing treatment. Some years she raises money for the American Cancer Society, but this year she is running with the Western Massachusetts Distance Project. If the top Masters on the team run well, Cook said they could be a top-five team at the end of the day.
Cook’s competitive nature also helps keep her going. She runs Boston every year that she qualifies and at other races, she consistently places in the top portion of her age group.
The Boston Marathon “is my favorite. To qualify and be a part of it every year it really renews my spirit,” Cook said. “As long as I qualify, I’ll be running that marathon. They call it the grand daddy of them all … there’s nothing else like Boston.”
JIM and KATE REIS: Northampton
Group: Sugarloaf Running
Bib Nos. 28373 (Jim), 28372 (Kate)
The Reises have spent the last five years as a father-daughter racing duo and Boston will be their second marathon together.
They are hitting the pavement thanks to the Sugarloaf Mountain Athletic Club’s lottery, but will be running in memory of Martin Richard and all those effected by last year’s bombings.
“We are trying to honor the people that were killed and wounded and just wanted to be part of the special race,” Jim Reis said. “(Martin) was an amazingly sad story.”
Through the lottery both earned non-qualifying bibs and found out the day after Christmas, just as training season opened during a rough winter.
“We were ecstatic, it was our best Christmas present,” he said. “We feel pretty lucky to win these lottery slots to get into it.”
Jim Reis has run multiple marathons and 2014 will be his third Boston. Even without last year’s events, he said he would have been back in the future because of it’s presence in the racing community. Jim said Kate is running her second marathon, first in Boston.
“I’ve ran New York City and some others. It’s the best organized, the fans are better,” Reis said. “New York City wasn’t as exciting as Boston. Boston is just more organized more fun, more screaming, more excitement, more history.”
ALEX SILVERMAN: Northampton resident
Bib No. 24475
It’s been 30 years since Silverman last ran from Hopkinton to Copley Square, but he hasn’t departed from the sport.
“It’s been a long time and I’m running there this year because of what happened last year and in runner solitude,” Silverman said. “And to celebrate Boston, it’s a great city.”
After running a marathon or two a year since his last Boston Marathon, Silverman is as ready as ever to return. He qualified at the Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Marathon, finishing in 4:02:00.
He finds marathoning and the Boston race infatuating because of its history and would hate to have last year’s events tarnish its dignity.
“The history, the fact it goes back to 1897 and that fact that it was the epitome of amateur athletics,” Silverman said. “People just doing it because they love it.”
MARISSA JENKINS: Northampton native, Waltham resident
Charity: Perkins School for the Blind
Bib No. 34042
Since she started running, Jenkins, 34, has increased her racing mileage.
On a whim, she applied and was accepted as a charity runner for her employer, Perkins School for the Blind, in Watertown.
Last year’s Marathon was her first ever. She’d just passed her family and friends in Wellesley when the bombings forced her to stop at mile 19 in Newton.
As word of the catastrophe spread along the course, Jenkins didn’t know what to do. She wanted to keep running, but at the next medical check point, a volunteer forced her and others to stop.
An iliotibial (IT) band injury had caused her to carry her cell phone incase of emergency. After she stopped, her aunt in California got through and told Jenkins what happened.
Jenkins later reconnected with friends and went to grab something to eat. With Jenkins still in her marathon garb, she drew a lot of questions at the restaurant as news aired on the TVs. It was then that everything sunk in and she was overwhelmed with emotions.
“At first I was doing it to just run a marathon and doing it for Perkins, but then it meant more to me,” Jenkins said.
Crossing and being handed the medal was going to be a big moment, said Jenkins, who battled through knee injuries, mental challenges and fundraising.
Jenkins has another IT band injury, but is ready to finish what she started last year.
As a nurse at the Perkins School, her charity hits close to home.
“Perkins just has this kind of draw,” she said. “The staff are amazing in what they do everyday. The kids, you get so close to them and build relationships with them. They are the reason that everyone is there. I feel kind of selfish because I get so much out of my job from them.”
Jenkins grew up in Northampton and graduated from Northampton High School in 1997. The Waltham resident lives close enough to the course to train on it. One run took her along the part she has yet to run, leaving only the final steps uncovered.
“I wanted to save crossing the finish line for Monday,” she said. “I’m ready to have some happy memories and tears of joy instead of the tears of sadness.”
CALEB ROUNDS: Northampton
Bib No. 8208
Rounds, 43, qualified at the 2012 Hartford Marathon and circled April 21, 2014 on his calendar.
“It’s big on my mind,” Rounds said. “I was going to run the marathon whether that happened or not.”
Rounds started running at 17 while on a trip to Greece, where he ran his first marathon — the original from Athens to Marathon.
“I wasn’t going to have another chance,” he said.
A 20-plus year hiatus ensued until his sister suggested they use running as a bonding tool. The suggestion gave him a new hobby.
“For me, the training is very satisfying,” he said. “They always talk about how you train for hundreds of miles, I can’t remember how far I’ve run.”
The family bond has stuck too, so much that he hasn’t made a point to tell anyone besides those that live under his roof he’s running because he doesn’t want to draw attention to it.
“They feel obligated to come, and quiet frankly they get bored. I don’t feel like making them do that,” Rounds said.
JIM DUDA: Pelham
Charity: Credit Unions Kids at Heart
Bib No. 27031
Because of last year’s tragedy, Duda, 59, decided to lace up his shoes and run this year on behalf of Credit Unions Kids at Heart. It will be his first marathon.
Through the charity, which benefits Boston Children’s Hospital, Duda has been given patient partners for motivation. Lianna, Mia and Hannah Morrison have all received life-saving treatment and continual care from the hospital.
“One of the things that has just been amazing, are the runners because most of them have very personal connections to the hospital,” Duda said. “I’ve got this wonderful chance to be hanging out with the top one percent of humanity.”
Duda’s mission is to raise money for the hospital, but choosing to do it as part of the Boston Marathon was directly related to last year. After the bombings, he felt he had to do something.
“I’m sort of angry about it and want to make a statement,” Duda said. “I don’t think I really had (thought about running a marathon) until the bombing. … There are a lot of runners that feel that way.”
His charity group has trained on the course. One weekend, a bunch of charity running groups set out on the course for one of the final long runs and to his surprise, spectators were out with signs and water.
“You get the sense that there really is a community that is pulling behind the marathon this year and you combine that with the kids that I’m running for and it’s really special,” he said.
JODI FAIRBANKS: South Hadley
Bib No. 33483
The most daunting thing about the 2014 Boston Marathon for Fairbanks, 25, is that she has never ran 26.2 miles, and that’s not without trying.
She was stopped last year while running for WALK Boston. She’s back this year, running as a deferred runner and looking forward to finishing her second marathon.
“I’m just really excited,” Fairbanks said. “I’m a little bit nervous, not because something could happen, but because I’ve never actually finished a marathon.”
Fairbanks picked up running 5-kilometer races in college and given the opportunity to run Boston last year, it escalated to marathon distance. Having the partial experience from last year has been encouraging in training.
“I’ve ran a lot of races before … Boston is it’s own race,” Fairbanks said. “It’s unbelievable how much support there is. They are just helping you get through 26.2 miles … You have over 100,000 friends that day. It’s definitely the best race I’ve ever run, even with everything that happened last year.”