2009 - A Race in Memory of My Mom...

Katherine Plichta

I ran my first marathon in January 2008, in Disney World of all places. As I was running, I overhead another runner say, "Keep this pace, and we’ll qualify for Boston!" I had never thought about Boston, and I hadn’t been paying attention to my time in the least.

I was just running as fast as I could without running out of steam. I wondered what the qualifying time was, and whether I could actually make it. But I couldn’t think about that now. I needed to finish before I could think.

I was twenty-two miles in, and my legs started feeling heavy.

Another mile and they felt like bricks, as they had during my first twenty-miler. I had gotten through that, though, and I would get through this as well. "If my mom could take on cancer," I thought, "I can finish a marathon." This had become my mantra. Whenever I doubted myself or found myself in a painful situation, I would remember that what I was going through was comparatively a piece of cake. Another mile passed. "Just keep running, Katie. Nothing else matters. Just keep running." The same people kept passing me. They would stop and walk, and then sprint, while I just kept a steady pace. When I saw the finish line, though, I started sprinting. It was a quarter-mile away, but I sprinted the whole way in. I saw my mom on the sidelines, grinning from ear to ear and holding a sign that said, "Go, Katie, Go!"

2009 - "Run with endurance the race set before us…"

Brad Box

On Sunday night before THE MARATHON, I set the alarm in the hotel for 5:20 eastern time, got a wake up call, and set the alarm on my BlackBerry. I slept surprisingly well....

But I still woke before five (which is before four at home). I meticulously set out all my gear on Sunday night. Much the way I did before Chicago, I spent the first hour of the morning quietly, almost ritualistically putting together my gear and packing everything into the bright yellow Boston Marathon "drop bag" while prayerfully meditating about this run. I sent my daily text, and as I have done with every race, I sent Hebrews 12:1-3

¹Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, ²fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. ³Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.