HomeMy WebLinkAbout1978 05-03 Boston roads easier to run for Maplewood duo THE REVIEW Boston •roads easier to
run for Maplewood duo
by Mickey Herron
"When I finally managed to reach the finish line,"said Judy Kirby,wife of
Maplewood's Boston Marathon runner John,"there was a man in a wheelchair
who was just finishing the race.The massive crowd surged by me,screaming
and hollering with tears in their eyes.And then I looked at this man's feet and
he had on running shoes."
Now,26 miles on foot is no easy task,but to wheel one's way along the route,
up Heartbreak Hill, through the estimated 1.5 million spectators in cold and
windy weather,is a feat which did not go unnoticed by Judy Kirby.
It almost did, however, considering the trouble she encountered as official
driver for John and friends. On the way to the registration site they became
mired in the teeth of a traffic jam so deadly that the four runners in the car
decided alternative measures were needed. "I'm driving along,trying to keep
from hitting other cars,pedestrians,bikers,and what have you,when the car
doors fly open.John said he and the other runners were going to jog the two
remaining miles to make sure they registered on time. The back seat looked
like a locker room."
To make matters worse,Kirby, the spectator, almost hit one of America's
most illustrious runners,Frank Shorter,with her front fender."He touched the
front of the car,but I saw him in time,"sighed the woman who has been to the
last three marathons.
Epitomizing the spirit of the day, Kirby stated that this marathon was the
most enjoyable of all three.
One can only speculate on the trials she withstood the first two years after
hearing her recollections of last week's affair.
"The crowds will never cease to amaze me." On the ground or in the air.
"There were so many helicopters and planes flying around that it seemed just
as crowded up there."
For residents of Massachusetts the Boston Marathon is the focal point of the
Patriot's Day Holiday. Everything is closed for the day—that is, except for
the police industry.Lining the streets,and fronted by barricades, the local law
enforcement people put diplomacy before the rule-book on Marathon day.
"I was close enough to hear a couple of people try and persuade this one
policeman to let them cross over into a barricaded area," continued Kirby.
"And after allowing them to go, I asked him if he believed their stories about
searching for lost sisters and such.All he could say was,`wouldn't you?'"
The voluminous number of people made it impossible for Kirby to spot,at the
finish,her husband or the three others she had dropped off in the middle of the
road three hours earlier.Add to the dilemma 4,200 runners and another 1,000
unofficial runners, and the odds diminish even further.
Kirby, the runner, was forced to fight his way to the finish line as people
cluttered the last few miles of the course.As a result,his time was slower than
last year's.But the first sighting of her husband would not come for a while.
"After an hour or two,I went up to the Lennox Hotel and found all four had
already showered holding beers and talking about the day.John looked good,
especially compared to last year when it was hot."
There is a certain irony reflected in the plight of the runners who must
struggle past the hordes of people to reach the finish line. The reason for so
many spectators in the first place is the race,or so it goes.
That situation, along with the unofficial runners stealing the true runners'
glory by jumping into the race at the very end has not enamored Kirby to
future marathons. He is undecided about next year.
But in a town where they refer to freeways as tollways, and beans as the
spice of life—an 82-year-old event will never cease to be the largest spectator
event in the nation.
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