Tag: Boston Marathon
Ten Years Later, Boston is Stronger
by Connor Flynn '25 on April 20, 2023
Opinion Staff
Opinion
City’s Spirit of Resilience Grows with Time
For those of us from the Boston area, April 15, 2013, lives vividly in our memories. With schools closed on Patriots’ Day, the official state holiday commemorating the battles of Lexington and Concord, early risers assemble on Lexington Green to catch a view of the reenactments, and then crowds flock to the streets from Hopkinton to Boston to watch the Boston Marathon. The Red Sox always play at home on Patriots’ Day, as runners make the final gritty push past Fenway Park into the heart of the city.
Sunshine blanketed Boston and the heat felt more like July than April. On a picturesque New England day, without a cloud in the sky, our entire community cheered on family, friends, and strangers as they trotted through my hometown of Natick. As a fourth grader, everything about that day, from the sun to the community to the baseball and the history, was truly perfect in my eyes. Best of all was the larger-than-life Boston Marathon, an event I knew as an exciting, dependable, and seemingly indestructible part of life growing up. Until it wasn’t.
In the years that have followed the Boston Marathon bombing, I, like many others in the Greater Boston area, have returned to that day many times. The contrasting feelings of blissful joy turned to confusion, then horror, and despair that will stay with us forever when we recall April 15, 2013. As the city and the surrounding area locked down for days during the ensuing manhunt, the Boston Strong campaign was just getting started and the Red Sox made it a point to play baseball on April 20, five days after the attack. In what is now an iconic pregame ceremony speech honoring victims and first responders, Red Sox legend David Ortiz, “Big Papi,” declared that “this is our f*cking city. Nobody is going to dictate our freedom.” To my ten-year-old ears, that was pretty much the greatest thing I had ever heard. Papi’s speech has resonated with the community throughout the years, speaking to the resilience of the Greater Boston area.
During the aftermath of the tragedy, the strength of Boston and of its people was on full display, from the spectators and public safety officials who ran towards danger to help in the seconds after the attack, to the outpouring of financial support for the One Fund, a charity that was arranged to assist survivors. Even as a fourth grader, I was processing and internalizing this spirit, the timeless spirit of Boston, that those who sought to knock us down through cowardly acts of terror only revealed further strength.
Stephen Colbert summed it up nicely on his show the day after the marathon, saying: “These maniacs may have tried to make life bad for the people of Boston, but all they can ever do is show how good those people are.” Nothing could be more true. Now, ten years later, Patriots’ Day holds a reflective and proud meaning for people in Massachusetts and around the country.
Time has passed and our lives have changed since that week in 2013, but the spirit of Boston, the spirit of steadfast revolutionaries and hardworking immigrants, of valiant heroes and inspirational survivors, remains constant in the face of history. Bostonians have a reputation for being proud, but nothing makes me prouder than experiencing how the city, the Commonwealth, the country, and the world came together to rally and look out for neighbors and strangers alike following what is undoubtedly the hardest chapter in the modern history of Boston. A decade after the unthinkable, Boston has time and again shown itself to be a resilient city, its people turning to each other for support instead of turning on each other. It is full of people who wear their hearts on their sleeves, but who never back down from defending their own. It is full of people who have stared terror in the face and have emerged more united than ever, prouder than ever. They are people who truly define what it means to be Boston Strong.
Hungry Pantoum
by trogers5 on March 27, 2022
Poetry
Mariela Flores ’23
***TRIGGER WARNING: EATING DISORDER***
I empty myself out.
While the world concaves around me I center myself.
Scrapping what is left of me until I feel nothing––
moving inside of me.
I center myself in the feeling,
of sharp bones that rip through my skin.
Nothing moves inside of me,
only the echoes of a rumble I cannot hold.
Sharp bones rip through my dull skin,
I wear them like trophies proving I was good.
I want to muffle the echoing rumbles,
but my hands tire from digging deep inside myself.
I want them to see that I was good.
Their praise is enough for me to stay––
My hands are tired from digging inside myself again.
My skin is cracking from the force of myself again.
Their praise enough for me to stay this way.
Even with nothing moving inside of me.
Even with cracked skin itching red from my choices.
I empty myself out again, and again.
I empty myself out.
While the world concaves around me I center myself.
Scrapping what is left of me until I feel nothing––
moving inside of me.
I center myself in the feeling,
of sharp bones that rip through my skin.
Nothing moves inside of me,
only the echoes of a rumble I cannot hold.
Sharp bones rip through my dull skin,
I wear them like trophies proving I was good.
I want to muffle the echoing rumbles,
but my hands tire from digging deep inside myself.
I want them to see that I was good.
Their praise is enough for me to stay––
My hands are tired from digging inside myself again.
My skin is cracking from the force of myself again.
Their praise is enough for me to stay this way.
Even with nothing moving inside of me.
Even with cracked skin itching red by my choices.
I empty myself out again, and again.
PC Student to Run in Boston Marathon
by The Cowl Editor on April 11, 2019
Friar Sports
Kathleen Garvey ’20 Raises Money For Boston Children’s Hospital
By Sullivan Burgess ’20
Sports Staff
In just a few days, the city of Boston will host its annual marathon, commemorating the state holiday Patriots’ Day. 2019 will mark the 123rd marathon. There will be an estimated 30,000 runners participating, both amateurs and professionals.
The marathon runners include amateurs of all ages, who are able to run as a sponsor for charity. One of the sponsor runners for this year’s marathon includes Providence College’s own Kathleen Garvey ’20.
Growing up in Massachusetts, Garvey has been an avid fan of the marathon throughout her whole life, and has always dreamed about running it. In watching the marathon every year at Wellesley Square, she was out on the street cheering for her mother, who has run over 24 marathons over the years, and the Boston Marathon for 14 years in a row, supporting the Boston Children’s Hospital.
With her 15th year coming up in the Boston Marathon, Garvey’s mother has decided to make this her final one in Boston. When Garvey heard this news, she quickly decided to join her mother in her last race for her own first ever Boston Marathon.
For Garvey, she sees the race as not only a memorable moment with her mom, but also a passing of the torch moment. Garvey says, “It will be quite different than watching on the sideline, and I am looking forward to compete with her for such an amazing cause.”
As mentioned, in support of the Boston Children’s Hospital, each member supporting this charity has a goal of $6,000, and is given a sponsor child to represent. For the past 15 years, Garvey and her mother have represented a patient named Jillian, who has basically grown up with the family and is a member in Garvey’s eyes.
One of the most important aspects of the race, as well as the longevity of how long her mother has been running the marathon, is how it brings Garvey’s family together even in the worst times.
Garvey’s mother was one of the runners of the 2013 Boston Marathon, the race when the bombs had gone off at the finish line of the race. She had finished the race before the bombs had gone off, but was just a mere few blocks away from the scene.
Garvey says this event shows the accomplishment her mom had put into running the next year along with the other survivors, Garvey notes, if she can accomplish this, she can accomplish anything.
While abroad last semester, around Thanksgiving, Garvey had gotten the call that she was able to compete and run in the marathon. From the moment she returned home from Europe, the training began. Running most days around PC and into the city, Garvey is ready for the marathon.
One note of excitement she is able to witness while running is being able to hear the cheers of her name from the groups of people around Massachusetts supporting her and her cause. While she does not care what her time is for the marathon, she has asked everyone around her and around the world to donate to her cause for the Boston Children’s Hospital.
U.S. Female Runners Shock the World
by The Cowl Editor on April 19, 2018
Professional Sports
American Women Sweep Places 1-7 at the Boston Marathon
By Meaghan Cahill ’20
Sports Co-Editor
While the race may have seemed more like a swim meet than a running event, Desiree Linden shocked thousands—and herself— when she became the first American female runner in 33 years to win the historic Boston Marathon.
“It was such a miserable day…I was freezing and my muscles were tight, and I was like ‘This is not my day.’ So I did kind of toy around with the idea of stepping off,” Linden confessed after her win.
That notion of wanting to back out of the race propelled Linden’s unusual actions of following fan-favorite Shalane Flanagan off-course for a bathroom break. At that point, Linden confessed she was “happy to run through the wind for [Flanagan] and just kind of be a block [to the wind].”
It was during that break that Linden was re-inspired by Flanagan to go out and win the race. She commented, “There was just so much pride on the American side this year. We wanted it so bad. Thirty-three years since an American winner, and I felt like there was some team camaraderie out there.”
Near the end of the race, Linden pulled ahead of Flanagan and after 2 hours, 39 minutes, and 54 seconds of running, the two-time Olympian crossed the finish line on Boylston Street.
On her historic finish, Linden commented, “It’s the moment you dream of during the tough days when you don’t wanna go out and run, when you’re a little kid and you’re getting into the sport, and you turn [on] the TV, and you see the Boston Marathon. You dream about breaking that tape. It was the culmination of years of hard work, and years of dreaming, and years of never giving up.”
Linden was not the only American runner who surprised viewers on Patriot’s Day. After years of being beaten out by female runners from Kenya and Ethiopia, Americans placed first through seventh in the race as followed: Linden (1st), Sarah Sellers (2nd), Krista DuChene (3rd), Rachel Hyland (4th), Jessica Chichester (5th), Nicole Dimercurio (6th), and Flanagan (7th).
However, it was not the fact that the Americans swept the top spots that was the most surprising, but rather the fact that aside from Linden and Flanagan, these runners were mostly unknown. No one predicted them to win. While both Linden and Flanagan are Olympians and well-known for their running success, Sellers and DuChene are more commonly known as being a nurse anesthetist and a mother of three, respectively.
Sellers, much like Linden, surprised herself with her second place finish, stating after the race, “Some of the women I was passing, it was just complete disbelief. I look up to them extremely and in no way do I consider myself on their level at all.” She was in so much disbelief over her placing that she had to question officials to make sure they were positive they were looking at the right division. And while this year’s marathon has Sellers determined to “run another marathon…in better weather,” Flanagan has announced that she “thinks this was [her] last Boston Marathon,” admitting that “This course is really hard. The conditions are really hard. And I’m not averse to hard things, but I think I’m good with Boston. I think this was it.”
Regardless of the unfortunate weather conditions, the runners of the Boston Marathon never ceased in their fight to the finish. And the women running this year were able to make it more memorable due to their achievements rather than the horrendous rain and wind.
PC’s Jessica Looney’20 Looks to Compete in the Boston Marathon
by The Cowl Editor on April 12, 2018
Friar Sports
By Meaghan Cahill ’20
Sports Co-Editor
After a mere 26.2 miles, Jessica Looney ’20 will become the youngest member of the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge team to complete the world famous Boston Marathon.
Running for both of her grandfathers, who each passed away from cancer, Looney decided to apply for the Dana-Farber team because it was “a good charity to give back to.” The team consists of a little over 500 people, and this year 50-75 new applicants were accepted.
The application process was very extensive, and once she made the team, Looney was faced with the challenge of having to raise the required amount of money to be on the team.
“There is the expectation to raise $10,000,” Looney said, which is double the required amount of raised donations. With that $10,000 price in mind, Looney decided to set the goal of reaching the minimum $5,000 before Christmas.
“Anything after that is a bonus,” she said. Her goal was met and to date, Looney has raised well over $8,000.
“I am so happy to be raising…much more [than the required $5,000].” Looney relentlessly pursued fundraising opportunities, choosing to send fliers to neighbors, family friends, etc. However, the main source of her fundraising came from the blog that she decided to create to put her marathon experience into words.
The blog, entitled “Why I Run,” is a way for Looney to publicly reach out to as many people as she can to receive donations, but also to memorialize her “milestone moments” in word form and track her progress and training experience, which officially began Jan. 1 of this year.
When asked why she decided to start training for the Boston Marathon, Looney admitted that it was “always something I wanted to do and the [Providence] half marathon really pushed me to want to go to that next step.” Looney then continued to say, “It had been on my mind since I got to college.”
Come the start of the new year, Looney wasted no time getting into her training, setting apart long distance days and short distance days. Her runs range from 10 to 18 miles.
Her longest run to date was when she completed the first 22 miles of the Boston Marathon, stopping just after grinding up Heartbreak Hill, which Looney boldly claims is “not as hard as everyone makes it out to be.”
“Your body is moving and you aren’t even thinking about it after a while,” Looney commented on the long distance of the course and the amount of time it takes to finish it. “Plus, after a while everything just goes numb,” she jokingly added.
With no prior running training, Looney turned to Andrew “Drew” Harrod ’19 for tips and assistance in how to prepare.
“He’s really helped a lot,” Looney said of her running companion, who is not running the Boston Marathon, but is planning on competing in the Providence Marathon.
Being a “student in training,” Looney does admit to missing out on a lot of things such as “going out on the weekends with my friends,” but she does not regret her choice to run the marathon.
“I’m probably gonna cry when I finish,” she admitted.
Turning more towards the actual race, Looney claims she is “feeling pretty confident” and that she has “no need to prepare any more [then she already has].”
“It’s been in my mind for six months and I can’t believe that it’s finally here,” she stated. And if there is one thing that she definitely wants to highlight about the past six months, and the biggest race of her life, it’s that to Looney, “It is all about the experience, the experience is the most important part,” and that she will “be happy to finish no matter what [time she gets].”
In terms of her final time, Looney admitted, “I’d be excited to break four hours.”
Having run every day since sophomore year of high school, Looney believes she is “not going to know what to do with herself” once she finishes the Boston Marathon.
“I am going abroad next spring and I would like to run some half marathons in different countries,” she admitted. Due to her being away next time the Boston Marathon comes around, Looney will be unable to run it, but she is determined she will “definitely run it again,” in the future.
Donations are still being accepted for the Dana-Farber Marathon Challenge Team. Those who wish to donate can go to Looney’s personal blog why-irun.com to make a donation.