Running the Boston Marathon will be something Colleen Bauer will never forget.
“It was an amazing experience. Even the whole winding up to it and the actual marathon was fantastic,” said Colleen Bauer.
Nearly 27,000 runners took to the streets of Boston to run in the 115th running of the race.
“I have never run with that many people, at that high of a level before. It was indescribable running with a massive sea of runners all going the same direction,” said Bauer.
More than 500,000 people lined the entire length of the 42-km course.
“The entire way there was people cheering us on. They were handing out oranges and pretzels and licorice, it was incredible. Kids were giving the runners high fives, and there were members of the US military running along side us,” said Bauer.
Bauer had arrived about a week ahead of the marathon, and got to take in some of the sights and sounds of the city.
“Businesses had signs in their shops saying ‘go marathoners.’ There was a huge sports expo, which we got to check out. They also had a huge pre-race dinner, where we got to mingle with other racers. We sat and ate with a runner from Finland, Saskatchewan and Boston. We talked about training through the tough winter. There was so much camaraderie there,” said Bauer.
Bauer finished the race with a time of 3:48:13.
“I was a little disappointed, because I was about five minutes slower than what it usually takes me, but looking at it in perspective, I moved up 5,000 places in my ranking, which means I did better than where I had started,” said Bauer.
The Boston marathon is considered by many to be one of the toughest courses in the world.
“I thought to myself, ‘so what if I lost five minutes off of my time.’ The experience was amazing; I did well in the course. Some people didn’t even finish. The race takes a lot out of you because it’s so hilly,” said Bauer.
While running the course, Bauer had a few metaphors going through her head to keep her going.
“Each person has to find their own way through life, and how to best approach things that come up. As I’m going along, there are people beside you and you’re going at it together. This race represented a lot of hard work, and a lot of support both from my family and friends back here in Barrhead. I didn’t run the race alone. I went out there and showed off Barrhead,” said Bauer.
