Running the Boston Marathon is hard, even on the best of days. When you’re injured, in the pain cave, and completely doubting yourself, it is nearly impossible.
That is the position I found myself in on Monday. After weeks of dealing with a hip injury that should have sidelined me, I started the race anyway. For over 16 weeks, I had put in the work and I wanted to see it through.
I was cruising through the first 12 miles. I felt unstoppable. But right before the half marathon mark, my hip started to throb. By the time I saw my husband at mile 14, I was in tears. At mile 16 as the sweep car passed me, everything in me told me to stop. But then, I remembered that one of the Train With Runner’s World+ members, Bill Stewart, was volunteering at the race and was just up ahead at mile 17.
I met and chatted with Bill when he ran the Disney World Princess Half Marathon with us in February. While we were in Orlando, we chatted about Boston and he mentioned that he would be volunteering on race day. As I inched toward mile 17, I kept thinking, “Just try to make it to Bill.”
As I got to mile 17, I saw the volunteers and looked for Bill. When I finally spotted him, I mustered all of the energy I could, ran to him, and launched myself into his arms for one of the best–and most necessary–hugs of my life.
After seeing Bill, I felt reinvigorated. Seeing that friendly face, and knowing that he believed in me, kept me going.
When we work with members as part of the Train with Runner’s World+ program, we help them train for races and accomplish their goals. But we also get to build an incredible community of runners that supports each other and gets us through those really tough days.
Several times a year, we invite Runner’s World+ members to apply to train with us for races, like the New York City Marathon or the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. The selected members get access to personalized race training, a virtual community to train with, our editors, and guidance to run your best and strongest race. If you want to be a part of this amazing Train with community, sign up to be a Runner’s World+ member, and look for future Train with announcements in our member newsletter.
I can honestly say that if Bill wasn’t at mile 17, I might not have made it to the finish line on Boylston Street on Monday. So to Bill, and all the members of the Train with Runner’s World+ program, thank you. Chasing finish lines with you is the honor of my life.
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Aly is the Director of Content Hype at Runner’s World. She started running over a decade ago when she saw a Star Wars themed race happening at Disneyland and thought it looked like fun. Since then, she has run 8 marathons (so far!), and hundreds of shorter distance races. She is known for signing up for 5Ks in every city she travels to. She loves watching reality competition shows, playing board games with her husband and taking naps with her dog.
