Plymouth State Alumni Runs Her First Full Boston Marathon

BOSTON, MASS – Alumni Mariellen MacPherson ran on her Londonderry, NH high school track team for 4 years and the cross country team for 3. Since then, she has run recreationally. Last week, she fulfilled one of the biggest goals of her running career.The 22-year old Manchester native and 2003 PSU graduate ran her first full marathon Monday, participating in the 108th Boston Marathon. Her first taste of the Marathon was in 2001, when she ran the second half of the race with her sister. MacPherson says that it has been a personal goal of hers to complete the marathon from start to finish. When asked why it was so important to her to participate in the race, she said that she has always loved running and her father, sister, and cousin have all ran the full marathon in the past. “As a runner from a family of runners, completing the Boston Marathon represents a huge accomplishment.”Despite the brutal heat, MacPherson finished the marathon in just over 5 hours. “It figures that the first time I decide to run the full marathon, it was the second hottest time when the marathon was held,” says MacPherson. MacPherson explains that the marathon route is mapped at measured at 26.2 miles. She says that she actually had to run about 27 miles, plus a 1 mile walk to cool down at the end. She was a so called “bandit” runner. “Bandits” are runners that do not have a number, either because they have not ran the race before or have not qualified for a number in the past. MacPherson recalls the emotions before, during and after the race.She was extremely nervous the night before, wondering if she had trained hard enough to finish the race. MacPherson says that the anxiety dissipated quickly once she arrived at her starting position. “It was just such a rush to be in a sea of runners like that. I was very excited for the race to start.” The race did not start for her or the other “bandits” around her for 20 minutes after the gun shot sounded. “It takes a long time to even get moving because, as a bandit, there are so many people in front of you,” explains MacPherson. MacPherson said that the first 14 miles went smoothly. She was amazed by the support given by the spectators. She says that crowds of people line the course, handing out water, jelly beans, calorie and electrolyte filled energy packets, and oranges (among other items). “The college students try to hand you beer. That would be the end of the race for me,” she says.Other spectators help the runners in other ways besides cheering and feeding them. Many homes line the course and homeowners will often spray the runners with a mist of water from their garden hoses to help cool them off. MacPherson recalls one such homeowner in detail. “A transvestite man was standing on his front lawn in a dress and blond wig. He was spraying the runners and saying, ‘April showers,’ in a feminine voice. You see all kinds of weirdos along the way.” By mile 15, MacPherson recalls, the pain of so much running was catching up. She started having hip pains and cramps. Despite the pain, she kept her pace. She says that miles 16-22 were somewhat of a blur. She says that she was so exhausted that it was hard to focus. MacPherson says that she could see the finish line from nearly a half mile away. “It was the longest stretch of the run, mentally, because I could see the end,” she says. However, seeing the end in sight gave her a boost and she pressed on. Upon crossing the finish line, volunteers wrapped the runners in foil-like blankets to keep in body heat. The rapid change in energy output is not good for the body and the blankets help to nullify the effects of the temperature change MacPherson explained. She says that she got “teary-eyed” when she crossed the finish. She was so happy that she had accomplished her goal. She continued to walk for approximately one mile after the finish line. At the end of the walk she met up with her father. She says that when she saw him and hugged him, she just started crying. “I’m a runner and a crier; it was a happy cry though,” she said.When asked if she would run the Boston Marathon again in the future she replied that the idea sounded miserable; she was sure that once she fully recovered from this last one, she would change her mind.