from Coastin', May 2001...
this story, written by Paula Weant, also mentions her husband, Jim Weant

Boston Synopsis by Paula Weant
The Boston Marathon was certainly an experience I will never forget. It was a dream of mine for several years to run Boston and I can finally mark it off my "things to do" list.

The town of Boston is fabulous and there is so much to see and do but unfortunately most of it involves walking. Jim and I arrived in Boston late Saturday morning. We went to the running expo to pick up our numbers and to buy the all important official 2001 Boston Marathon jacket and official 2001 poster. After all our money was spent, we started touring. We walked all around Boston on their tourist Freedom Trail.

Sunday, we ran in the 2.61 mile warm-up for families. There were over 2,000 participants. Thankfully, everyone ran at a slow pace. After the run, we walked all the streets we did not cover on Saturday and managed to see every inch of Boston by Sunday evening. By 7:00 p.m., Jim & I collapsed in our hotel room from exhaustion. All I could remember was how Troy complained when we all came to Boston several years earlier for he and Jim to run the marathon and we all walked till our feet ached. Well Troy, I finally understand why you were complaining and many years later, I am sony.

Monday morning came very early and our feet and legs did not feel a bit rested. Jim & I had to catch our bus to go to the start area @ 7:00 a.m. We arrived in Hopkinton (start town) a little before 8:00 and prepared for the 12:00 start. There wasn't that much to do for the four hours but eat, drink, stretch, & stand in line for the port-a-johns. Jim & I started going to our staging area about 11:20. Those of us with 11,000 and above numbers needed the extra time to pass the start line, walk down a hill, turn a comer, walk up a hill to get to our start area. They said the starting gun went off at 12:00 but the "conservative" runners could not hear or see the starting line. Approximately 8 minutes later we arrived at the official start line and was able to start a slow jog. We stayed in a crowd the entire race and since everyone around us had the same qualifying time, we all had about the same running pace. There were people lined along the entire course yelling and chearing for the fish camp jam twins in matching striped shorts. There were plenty of official water stops and the people had water and food stops in bewteen the official stops. The course is not that difficult and "heart break hill" is nothing compared to what we run up on our local running routes.

Jim & I completed the race in 3:56. Both were hurting but had no injuries. I am very glad I ran Boston and what made it even more special was having Jim with me. Jim had been suffering from back problems and was unsure if he would be able to run. I really wanted him to run with me but not if there was a chance he would injure himself. He started the race that morning with no idea if he could finish so he carried cab and subway money. I prayed as we passed each town that he would not have to stop. We successfully completed our journey together. He was with me during my first marathon and with me during my biggest. I never would have dreamed that when we started running together 17 years ago that one day we would run in the most famous marathon together. This will certainly be an experience for us to talk about when we are old and in the bike club retirement home.