2013 - "I became delusional around mile 20, barely finished, and ended up in the medical tent."

Katherine Hopper

I finished the Boston Marathon, I ended up in the medical tent, bombs went off, people were hurt/killed and nothing has been the same since.

It's been difficult to shake the images, memories, and sad feelings from my mind. The past week has felt a haze, it feels like my mind is stuck in quicksand.

The actual race has been the last thing on my mind since then.

Tough to stop thinking about the poor innocent folks who suffered as a result of these bombing suspects.

This marathon and aftermath was NOT about me, so I feel weird talking about it, but I'd at least like to share part of the experience from my perspective.

2000 - Choosing to run rather than drive the bus

Billy Pearlman

In April of 2000 a relationship began. A runner fell in love with a city.

Back in the summer of 1989, after doing some hiking in the Green Mountains, my cousin and I took in a Saturday afternoon game at Fenway Park. It was my first look at the city, but only a five hour stop over. I could feel the "thunderbolt" coming, but I had not quite fallen in love (yet).

Having raced bicycles most of my youth, I transitioned to running in 1998 at the age of 39. Richmond was my second marathon and qualified me for Boston. I had intended and expected to better the time requirement. However, once I qualified I did not take this accomplishment for granted, and was thrilled about running Boston the following spring. And really excited when told of the reception I would receive at Wellesley College!

Boston Qualified! 2014 – "...but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward!”

Lisa Johnston

My Boston Story is not complete yet. My Boston Qualifying story is. After seven marathon attempts, with my best time being 4:02, I had basically given up qualifying for Boston. I took a five year hiatus from running, had a couple of beautiful baby girls, and finally got back into running in 2012.

In early 2013, my best running friend convinced me to sign up for a 50k. When I got back into running in 2012, I had decided to “never run a marathon again,” so this was a long shot, but I accepted the challenge. A few weeks later, I decided that running a marathon would be a good “training” run for my 50k, so I signed up for the Potomac River Run Marathon.