Every year on the third Monday in April since 1897, thousands of runners of all skill levels, and abilities descend on the city of Boston.
The Boston Marathon attracts runners from all over the world looking to conquer the grueling 42- km winding-road course.
For Colleen Bauer, it all started about two years ago when she started running consistently.
Bauer ran in her first marathon in August 2010: the Canadian Derby Edmonton Marathon.
“I decided I wanted to run in a marathon. It was my first marathon, I did OK, not as well as I wanted to. It was really smokey that year because of the forest fires in B.C. I had bronchitis, so I wasn’t running my best, but I thought I would give it my all,” said Bauer.
Bauer finished the race in 149th place overall, and 29th out of 207 females that participated in the marathon. She completed the marathon in 3:43:42, essentially qualifying for the Boston Marathon.
“I thought I had missed the qualifying time, because I had looked at the men’s qualifying time. I came home happy with my time in my first marathon. It wasn’t until my friend came over and congratulated me on qualifying for Boston that I had realized I was looking at the men’s time and not the women’s. That’s when I realized I had qualified,” said Bauer.
Bauer ran in the Edmonton marathon hoping to finish with a smile, she said.
“People train for years to run in Boston; it wasn’t like I was shooting for it,” said Bauer.
Bauer hasn’t taken a formal running course, but began running as a way to relax.
“I have five kids, so I don’t get much peace and quiet. I quickly realized that running is something I love to do, so I kept doing it,” said Bauer.
Bauer had never raced before the marathon in Edmonton. She found a training program online.
For an average week, Bauer runs between 80 to 95 km. She splits her week up by running between 13 to 16 km on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Tuesdays and Thursdays are sprint days, where she runs about eight km. Saturdays is Bauer’s long-run days where she covers between 28 to 32 kms.
“I did a couple of 10-km runs, and found that wasn’t hard. So I thought I would do a half-marathon, and when I finished I knew I could do more,” said Bauer.
Bauer trained through the winter braving the frigid temperatures.
“This has been a tough winter. I would have quit if I didn’t have Boston coming up,”
The Boston marathon course is full of hills, and runners have to deal with the high humidity.
“That’s something we don’t have to deal with here. But if I can keep my same time from Edmonton, I’d be really happy with that,” said Bauer.
Ultimately, Bauer’s goal is to run a 3:30:00 marathon.
“Although it doesn’t seem like a lot, it is quite a considerable jump,” said Bauer.
Bauer is already looking past Boston, and will be running the Fallen Four marathon in June to honour the four Mounties that were gunned down in 2005.
Anyone can track Bauer as she runs the marathon, by going to www.baa.org and typing her bib number 17193.
