Kristie & Tom McConnon

Back in October, Kristie and I ran the St. George marathon…she killed it, and it almost killed me. But, with her awesome time, she qualified to to run the Boston Marathon; the world’s oldest annual (and perhaps most prestigious) 26.2 mile course. What made this even cooler is that Boston is conveniently located 40 minutes southeast of my our place in Acton, MA…so we got to visit and spend time with my family leading up to the race.

We arrived Thursday afternoon and got a chance to go out to eat with my brother Coleman and my parents. Andrew had to be in NC competing at an equestrian event and couldn’t make it…we missed him like crazy. Friday we got a chance to swing by Walden pond and soak up some history and sun. In the afternoon we dropped Coleman and his buddy Matt off at South Station in Boston so they could embark on their spring break trip to Miami Beach, FL.  Besides a close call with the car overheating, everything was cool and they made it out ok. My aunt DD came by and surprised us with an Edible Arrangements gift for Kristie (fruit, a thoughtful and safe pre-marathon food). It tasted as great as it looked:

On Saturday, mom came with us to the pre-race expo in downtown Boston. There Kristie received her bib, timing chip and free shwag. While we were there, we picked up an official Boston Marathon jacket that Mom and Dad gave Kristie as a graduation present. She loves it…it looks awesome on her:

After church on Sunday, DD took us out in her new Yaris to check out the beginning of the course in Hopkinton to make sure that we’d be able to get Kristie to the starting line on time and beat the crazy traffic. Then, at 6:30 am on Monday we got up and got everything together for the race. We had the pleasure of travelling with Littleton’s bishop, Frank Gentile, who was running his second Boston Marathon–this time for charity. Here’s a shot of Kristie leaving the house:

At about 8:30 I dropped the pair off in Hopkinton so they could get to the starting line around 10:00 am. Then I drove back to Acton and we all departed for the finish line to wait for Kristie and the other runners to come by.

We got off around Kenmore square and walked a couple miles away from the finish line till the crowd thinned out a bit. From there we had a great view of the course and the runners that came pouring by in droves.

The air in Boston on Patriots day (a holiday for MA!) is electric. College kids, locals, and out-of-state visitors can’t help but get caught up in the exiting atmosphere surrounding the day’s big events. For a comical perspecitve on the race, check out Bill Simmons’ Idiots Guide to the Boston article (thanks for sending that over Ang!)

At around mile 24 of the course we watched the leading men, women and wheelchair athletes come roaring by. Kara Goucher was leading the pack for the women at that point and we all had high hopes that she’d take it (she didn’t, but still had a great showing at third). When Kristie came by we went nuts, ringing our cowbells, yelling and waving our signs. I think we actually startled her a little.

As soon as she passed us, we fought huge throngs of people to meet up with her at the finish line. She said the hills (Heartbreak and its nasty cousins), the crowded course, and strong headwinds were real challenges…but she did awesome, coming in at another Boston-qualifying time of 3:34. I’m amazed that she did so well after having lost so much training time to her nagging foot injury. It was so cool to be there to cheer her on…the race is so huge, and contains so many of the world’s best distance runners. If the qualifying time were a little more forgiving for my division, perhaps even I would consider it. It would be something incredible just to be a part of.

So congrats babe, you’re an inspiration to us all. Thanks to everyone that supported Kristie with calls, texts, emails and more…it meant the world to her!