April 16, 2012 - One Red Grape

Kenneth Williams

You could see it coming: An early spring heat wave, making its way from the Great Plains eastward across the central United States. The unseasonable weather spared neither north nor south as it baked its way across the country. With only a week to go before the start of the 116th Boston Marathon, BAA warnings began arriving for registered runners. Faced with an ominous forecast, race officials warned: “Only the fittest runners should attempt the marathon,” causing me to introspect, at age 70 and just weeks removed from Melanoma surgery, how I could possibly be in that ‘fittest’ group. However, the chance to lengthen my streak of consecutive Boston Marathon finishes to ten overrode any conservative decision to defer or postpone. So, at 10:40 a.m. on Patriots Day, when the gun went off in Hopkinton for my starting wave, once again, I struck out on foot for Boston.

2013 - Never Got To Make The Last Two Turns

Kenneth Williams

"Right on Hereford, left on Boylston" – that’s what was written on the T-shirt Kenneth Williams decided to wear to the Boston Marathon. Those are the last two turns of the race, and Williams was just about to make that right turn on Hereford when the bomb went off on Boylston.

"I saw smoke and thought to myself, ‘what is that?’ " Williams said. "One moment, I was just trying to survive up to the 26th mile, and I was only thinking about oxygen. Then, a moment later, we were stopped."

That was the end of the race for the Corinth, Mississippi, native who traveled to Boston with 17 or so members of the marathon running group he leads.

2013 - "The sweetest e-mail a marathoner could hope for"

Dallas Smith

Most of the stories on BOSTONlog concentrate on a runner’s effort to qualify for Boston and the personal experiences of race day. This story is unusual, as it concerns a happy ending four months later…

Today I received the sweetest e-mail a marathoner could hope for.

For four months I told everyone I had finished fourth in my age division at the 2013 Boston Marathon, broadcasting it on Twitter and Facebook and even saying it in a radio interview. But all the while I knew it wasn't true. Boston had made an error in my time. I'd actually finished third, hence a podium position. But given the tragic blast there, where so many lost so much, I didn't feel like raising a big whine about it. The workload at B.A.A. must have been overwhelming, I figured.

Too, leg cramps had ruined my run, and I didn't feel like I deserved to win anything. I should have run better. I accepted fourth.