Monday, April 21st was the 129th edition of the Boston Marathon, and I’ve been fortunate to have run in four of them. First a little background on the event. The first Boston Marathon was held on Patriots' Day (April 19, 1897), ten years after the founding of the Boston Athletic Association (BAA). The race was originally 24.5 miles long and included only 15 runners. Women were not officially allowed to compete until 1972, after Kathrine Switzer ran in 1967. The starting point of the race moved from Ashland to Hopkinton in 1924, and the current course is 26.2 miles long. The Boston Marathon has become the world's oldest annual marathon and is regarded as one of the most prestigious road racing events.
My Boston journey started in 2004. I had just moved to Cochrane and had qualified the previous September at the Toronto Water Front Marathon. After qualifying, I was so excited that I got my one and only tattoo…..a runner with a maple leaf (a bit faded now!). Early on the morning of the race, runners were bussed out to Hopkinton, where we hung around in a muddy field for about three hours, until noon. I don’t remember much about the race other than it was a hot day and making the final turn to the finish line.
Next up was the 2008 race. I had qualified at the Kelowna marathon in BC and a group of us from the Cochrane Red Rocks Running Club headed east for that year’s event. The 2010 race was one of the 250 marathons I completed that year as a fundraiser for the humanitarian organization Right To Play. The 2020 Boston Marathon was a little different. I had qualified at the Edmonton Marathon in August 2019 but in December 2019 the world changed. COVID shut everything down and it was decided that the 2020 Boston Marathon would be virtual. On September 12th I was lined up on Horse Creek Road just outside Cochrane. Instead of the usual 20,000 runners there were just three of us, running buddy Ken, Nephew Chris and myself. We had our own “Heartbreak Hill” on the route but we all had a great time.
So, do I have another Boston in me? Well, I’ve been recovering from Hernia surgery and recently was diagnosed with “Bilateral Adductor Tendinopathy” (don’t ask). I been working with Physiotherapist Kim at Cochrane Physio who has put me on a “Return to Running” Program: Run 1 minute, Walk 1 minute and increase the repetition by one each day. So as Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
Fingers crossed!
© 2025 Martin Parnell
