This year’s Boston Marathon was held on Monday, April 21st. The marathon first started 117 years ago, with very few people who were all welcome to run. As its popularity grew, however, qualifying time standards were implemented to limit its size, depending on one’s gender and age. It now is one of the biggest and most popular marathons in the world. This year, the winners of this 26.2 mile run were 38 year old Meb Keflezighi, with a time of 2:08:37 in the men’s division and Kenya’s Rita Jeptoo, 33, the winner of the women’s division with a second consecutive victory. Keflezighi led America to its first victory since 1983. “Boston strong, America strong,” he said after his finish.
The 2013 Boston bombings had killed three people and injured hundreds more, runners and spectators alike. Too many of these injured lost legs and arms that prevent them from reaching their full potential. Although some of these people have stopped running entirely, quite a few are continuing to participate in marathons with the use of equipment like prosthetic legs. One runner is 39 year old Heather Abbott, who had lost part of her left leg last year. After the bomb has struck her, a fellow marathoner Erin Chatham found Abbott and with Matt Chatham, her husband and a former Patriots football player, carried her to safety. The two women have been friends ever since and finished the race together this year. Abbott says, “They’re a big part of the reason why I’m walking today and I’ll always remember that… I will always be forever grateful to them, I want their kids to know someday that their parents are my heroes.” Today, they consider each other as family.
Unlike last year, where the finish line had been marked with terror and grief, the hearts of this year’s runners were filled with hope and new beginnings. Multiple marriage proposals have been successfully made at the conclusion of the race on Monday. Some were also made pre-marathon, also met with yeses.
The new hope and love demonstrated by the 35,000-plus runners and a crowd of one million this year is truly remarkable. “It’s like this is a new beginning in lots of ways,” as the winner of the wheelchair-race Tatyana McFadden tell us.
