Orca Illustrator Graham Ross shares with us his story of running in the Boston Marathon.
“Qualifying for the Boston marathon has been a goal since taking up marathons 5 years back. The Boston marathon is somewhat mystical in running circles as it is one of very few marathons that you need to qualify to run. For my particular age group I needed to have a qualifying time of under 3 hours and 30 minutes. I have qualified two years in a row, but 2009 was the year I chose to head to Bean town to join 26,000 of my closest friends in a run from Hopkinton, Mass to downtown Boston.
Boston is notorious for challenging the runners with not only a tough course, but also the wild swings in potential weather on race day. Past marathons have been run in 32′C heat waves, Nor’easters that bring with it torrential rain and winds that could knock you over. This years edition of the marathon was to be visited by cool temperatures and mild winds. I can deal with that.
Heading in to the marathon I had had some doubt as to whether I would be able to run the race. The previous month and half I had been plagued by a foot injury that I couldn’t shake. I only learned recently through bone scan that I have a stress fracture. No wonder my foot hurt!
Race day came with me biting my nails and whining about being able to finish. My wife, Jenn was probably glad to see the back of my head as I headed out the door to catch the shuttle to the race start.
I had no expectations of what I would experience along the course as we ran from 42 kilometres outside of Boston into the city core. I was completely overwhelmed by the cheering throngs out three deep on either side of the course for the complete marathon. Buoyed by the unqualified support of all lining the streets I plugged away at the run, hoping my foot would hold out before letting me know that it wasn’t having anymore fun and it was going back to the hotel without me to sit by the pool.
Just at a point where I would consider packing it in. Someone in the crowd would yell “Go Canada” in response to the maple leaf on my hat.
Okay then, I’ll keep going. It was that support that saw me through to the finish, a little disappointed in my finishing time, but thrilled with the experience.”
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Author:
First, let me say thank you for choosing to review Alphabetter. But thank you as well for all the positive comments you both made about the book. When I was listening to your podcast, I kept saying “yes, they get it!” I especially appreciated the comment about acknowledging that your 5 year old and 7 year old child will have a different sensibility than an adult’s regarding story or humour.
I would also like to say that your website is brilliant. It’s convivial in a casual, community-oriented way yet, as I already noted, your reviews are not frivolous. I’m sorry that I hadn’t heard of it before. Your mission is a generous and noble one and certainly every children’s author will appreciate what you’re doing. I will definitely link the podcast to my website and hopefully get a page of links up soon with your home page in there as well.