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Running to defeat the enemy
Photo
A group of runners who meet at Second Sole shoe store in Boardman will participate in today’s Boston Marathon one year after the terror bombing that killed three people and injured more than 260. From left are Jaclyn Disibio of Poland, Jonathan Bolha of Austintown, Amy Pagac of Boardman, Tammy McFarland of Austintown, Jane Timmins of Huron, Dr. Vincent Marino of Poland and Kevin Guthrie of Struthers.
By Kalea Hall
Boardman
It’s just a runner thing.
That’s why seven local runners will compete in the 118th annual Boston Marathon today.
When the gun goes off they will unite with 38,000 other runners.
Through sweat, emotion and whatever physical pain might strike them, they will run — or in some cases fly — 26.2 miles to get to the finish line — a place of havoc last year after a terror attack left three people dead and more than 260 injured.
Yet these runners have no fear. Maybe a little apprehension, but no fear. After all, they qualified for a difficult, prestigious race that they know as the best of the best.
On Wednesday, the group met for the last “Wednesday night group run” at Second Sole in Boardman.
“I knew immediately I wanted to go back” to the Boston Marathon, said Jane Timmins, 35, of Huron, Ohio.
This is Timmins’ second time running the marathon. She ran it first in 2011. Her qualifying time is 3:33.
“I felt like I owed it to myself and the victims and the running community. We need to send the message that we will not be defeated. It’s going to be a wave of emotions,” Timmins said.
About 2:50 p.m. April 15, 2013, Patriot’s Day, two pressure-cooker bombs went off near the finish line. Killed were Lu Lingzi, 23, a graduate student from China; 8-year-old Martin Richard, the youngest victim; and Krystle Campbell, 29. Two brothers, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, went on the run and also killed Massachusetts Institute of Technology officer Sean Collier. Tamerlan was killed by police, after his brother drove over him and fled. After several frantic hours of searching, 19-year-old Dzhokhar was found hiding in a boat in Boston, wounded from the fight with police.
He pleaded not guilty and will go on trial in November.
Many of the local runners had friends running in last year’s Boston Marathon, so, naturally, their gut extinct was to check on them.
“I was just heartbroken that they would do something like that,” said Jonathan “Scooby” Bolha, 32, of Austintown.
Bolha’s friends running the marathon were all OK. Despite the scare, Bolha knew he wanted to run “such an exciting race” again.
He ran in the Boston Marathon in 2010 and 2012. His qualifying time for this year is 2:52.
“I have run in over 40 marathons and [this one] is my favorite,” Bolha said.
Bostonians united after the attack, spreading the “Boston Strong” statement through the nation. Strength in the midst of pain has always been a collective characteristic of runners.
“It made you want to go out there and show them they are not in charge and they can’t mess up a great event,” said Amy Pagac, 31, of Boardman, a first-time Boston Marathoner.
It is Pagac’s dream to run in Boston. She qualified with a 3:31 time. “I think I knew [I wanted to run it] before I ran my first marathon,” Pagac said.
It also was a dream for Tammy McFarland, 37, of Austintown. She is running Boston for the first time with a qualifying time of about 3:33. She ran the Cleveland Marathon just a few weeks after the attack in Boston.
“I remember thinking to be more aware [of surroundings],” McFarland said. “It was an attack on the whole running community. It’s not something I will let stop me.”
Dr. Vincent Marino, 41, of Poland, with a qualifying time of 3:10, also will participate in the Boston Marathon for the first time today.
“I go all over the world [to run],” Marino said. “You never know if you will ever get to go [to Boston] again.”
The attack also didn’t change anything for Kevin Guthrie, 39, of Struthers, another first-time Boston Marathoner with a qualifying time of 3:06.
“It’s not even a concern,” Guthrie said.
Jaclyn Disibio, 30, of Poland was apprehensive about her family members joining her at the race, so they will stay behind.
The first-time Boston Marathoner qualified with a time of 3:26.
She described the attack as “scary,” but an event that strengthened the bond of the running community here and everywhere.
“It inspired a lot of people to run,” Disibio said.