April 19, 2010 - The joy is in the journey: Boston is the reward.

Joy Gray

I started running to lose baby weight with a 2001 New Year’s resolution. My goal was to lose the last 10 or 20 pounds from my second pregnancy. I initially used running as a tool to see how ‘small’ I could get. I truly believe running saved me. One day after an eight mile run, I got very confused, and I think it was caused by an extreme low-carb diet. I was that dedicated. In the end, though, I chose running because it provided me much more satisfaction than just a low number on the scale. I was the only one of five children to earn a high school diploma. I found running made me feel special, like I could “be somebody”!

My friend Harvey Pendergrast coached me through my first 10k, our local Corinth Coca-Cola Classic race; and I ran it well enough to discover I had some natural talent. After the Coke 10k, I joined an online forum, Coolrunning.com. I read every post, and one guy encouraged me to run a marathon. My thought was I would do one marathon and be finished. I graduated directly from a 10k to a full marathon, with no half as a warm-up.

2013 - "I Have Unfinished Business in 2014"

John Hazen

My Journey started on a very good day, as I was blessed to qualify in my very first marathon, September 2012, at Presque Isle, Lake Erie, PA, running a 3:52:00, three minutes under my BQ time of 3:55.

At age 60, I was the oldest runner from Shelby County to run the 2013 Boston Marathon. Jan Jensen, a fellow runner in the Gazelles & Geezers and Germantown Thoroughbred groups, and a Boston Marathon veteran, convinced me I should try a full marathon, based on good runs I ran at the St Jude's 1/2, Gulf Coast 1/2 Ironman, and Navy Nautical 10 miler. Jan ran a PR at Presque Isle and also qualified for Boston.

In January, I tore a calf muscle, but Dr. Laura Linderman and Therapist Joel Lyons got me back up to 18 miles two weeks before Boston.

Marathon morning is exciting and the logistics of getting to the bus with your bag in hand are a challenge for a first timer. Athletes’ Village is busy; I hardly got off my feet though before I began the three quarter mile walk to the start. On the way, you shed clothing and my black Memphis Runners Track Club hoodie is now in a Boston charity. Jan and I both started at 10:40 a.m. in Wave 3, Corral #2, and we ran together the first two miles in a large crowd. There is no maneuvering and you are packed in very tightly with fellow runners. Boston is a hilly course, and my quad muscles really tightened up forcing me to walk several times. The spectators lined the entire route, were incredibly vocal and supportive, and made you feel special, like an elite runner.

2013 - "My legs were screaming to stop, but my brain wouldn't listen."

Joe Peters

I am a practicing physician in southwest Tennessee’s Hardin County, and live in a small community just north of Corinth, Mississippi. I started running seriously later in life, and over an eight year period worked my way up from 5k’s to marathons. I first ran Boston in 2011, after qualifying in 2010. I thought I was in heaven! There is nothing to compare with the Boston Marathon (at least for me)!

I have qualified four times for Boston since 2010, but did not run in 2012 due to a severe knee injury just one month before the race. I had knee surgery the week after Boston 2012, and spent the next four months not running and doing a lot of therapy. This included eight weeks on crutches. I had already qualified for 2013 Boston in February 2012. So, my recovery, including being able to run again at Boston, was a big challenge and goal for me. Boston 2013 was special.

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.

2011 - "Buddy, you are a WINNAH!"

Brad Box

There are days in our lives we know our family and friends will mention at our funerals. Today is one of those days for me.

The Boston Marathon experience is so incredible I could write 20 pages about it (and probably will at some point). There is one critical point I want to share now.

The race went just as I had planned. I was able to stay dead on an 8:00 minute pace through 30k, even with three bathroom pit stops. At 30k, I felt great and started obsessing about running well below a 3:30. That goal became all-consuming for several miles. I looked at my watch constantly. The race suddenly became all about me and my finish time.

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.

2008 - Putting off Boston until Age 65 (not to mention quadruple by-pass surgery)

Vic Thayer

I began my running program at age 39; I am almost 71 at present. I have competed in almost 1,000 races, and have logged close to 60,000 miles. As a competitive runner, I have participated in races from the Carolinas to California, and Rhode Island to Florida, as well as Canada.

In 2004, my annual physical revealed I had a heart problem: four blocked arteries. I was told I had no option but to have open heart bypass surgery.

On August 31, 2004, I had the surgery and was in the hospital for about 3 1/2 days. Prior to being released, my surgeon came to my room and during our conversation, I told him I would be looking forward to training for my first marathon. The surgeon just smiled and shook his head as he left my room.

Four weeks after being released, I was walking 50 miles a week. At ten weeks post-surgery, I was back on my training/running program, and at 16 weeks I ran the "Race on the Trace" 5 miler at Natchez Trace State Park and placed in my age group. I felt so blessed to be back competing. That was in January 2005. I continued to participate in racing distances up to the half marathon.

1991 - "After the rain chased my family from the finish line, I finished alone, but elated!"

Gerald Holbrook

I only began running at age 51. I ran my first Marathon after 21 months as a runner. It was the Memphis Express Marathon, and I ran in 3:58:07 at age 53. Over the next eleven years, I ran a total of 17 Marathons, until after knee surgery, I followed the doctor’s advice and cut back to no more than 20 miles per week.

Like most runners who love running Marathons, I began to wonder if I could qualify to run Boston. By 1988 I had been elected President of Memphis Runners Track Club, and I was leader and director of a local program to prepare runners for running a Marathon.

At the end of that preparation was the Memphis Marathon, the first Sunday in December. I conducted the same Marathon training group in 1989 with my personal goal to qualify for Boston at the Memphis Marathon. I was now 58 years old and needed 3:35 to qualify