Marathoners ready to race after 3 years
‘The finish line belongs to the public’
The finish line of the Boston Marathon was buzzing over the weekend ahead of this year’s race, the first fullscale event in three years.
Marathon runners, many decked out in this year’s indigo and lilac jackets, posed for pictures on Boylston Street.
Jack Fleming, the COO of the Boston Athletic Association, said the open nature of the finish line is by design – crews used to work on the finish line setup right up until race day.
“The finish line belongs to” the public, he said, especially after the 2013 attack and the past two years of the pandemic. He encouraged fans to get up close with the
course so they can “reclaim the finish line.”
Colleen Farrell, a Brockton native who now lives in
Boston, said she was inspired in the wake of the 2013 tragedy to run the marathon and has now run six in
Boston, and 10 overall. Although the pandemic has made it more difficult for her to train, she feels ready.
“I used to be faster,” she said. “I know I can finish. And this year, it’s just about coming back. It’s been, I think the statistic is 1,099 days since (the April 2019 marathon), so for this year, it just means coming back to Hopkinton and seeing what happens.”
Others taking photos at the finish line came from farther away. Macy Heetland flew in from De Soto, Missouri. She said she feels ready for her first Boston Marathon, and third overall, despite catching COVID twice.
“That was a little bit discouraging at times because I never fully got it back right away before my qualifying race, but I feel like I’ve gotten stronger since then,” she
said. Although COVID hit her hard, she said she trained through both bouts of COVID.
“I took my mileage down a little bit, but other than that, it was good,” she said. “I required a little more sleep.”
Friends Alex Barrientos and Rob Buwalda flew in from Dallas for the race, which will be Barrientos’ second marathon and Buwalda’s fifth.
“It was hard at the start of the pandemic. Everybody lost their running mojo, all the races were getting canceled,” Buwalda said. Barrientos said he struggled with losing his running group during the height of the pandemic.
“You still train even though it’s by yourself,” Barrientos said. “Having that Boston Marathon eventually come back kept us motivated.”
Patrick Bovin traveled from Belgium to run the marathon. His goal is to complete the six World Marathon Majors: Boston, Chicago, New York, Berlin, London and Tokyo. He only has Tokyo left.
“I’m not ready, but I’ll run it, it’s Boston,” he said. “If you qualify for Boston, you show up and you run.”
Alison Miller Ortiz is a serial marathon runner from Dallas. Monday’s race will be her 23rd marathon and her eighth Boston Marathon. The promise of coming back to Boston, she said, “absolutely” helped her power through her training in the Dallas heat.
“The spectators are second to none… even New York isn’t the same,” she said.
“The people, the town, there’s just nothing like it. It’s like magic.”