Rockwall Running Club comes together to complete California marathon [Rockwall County Herald-Banner, Greenville, Texas]
By Jim Hardin, Rockwall County Herald-Banner, Greenville, Texas | |
McClatchy-Tribune Information Services |
Names of the six local
"True to form, the RRC runners waited for the final RRC member to finish," said Hopper, the running club's founder and coach. "We even provided our own tactical support, providing fluids and traffic control for the RRC runners once the course was officially closed. It really felt like we owned the event."
For 15 of the RRC runners, completing their first marathon was a victory.
But for
With the exclusion of the Olympics and various championship races, the Boston Marathon is the only marathon in the nation that maintains qualifying times and requirements. While specific requirements change from year to year, they generally state that a runner must have completed a qualifying marathon within a year and a half before the upcoming Boston Marathon.
The qualifying times are based on the runner's age.
Times of the RRC Boston Marathon qualifiers are as follow: Hemmer, 38 years old, 3:07; Barron, 44, 3:15; Hopper, 44, 3:21; MacInnis, 49, 3:22; Abraham, 38, 3:24; and Varner, 53, 3:38.
Other local runners with marathon experience were
First-time marathoners were
Comments from some of the runners included weather reports -- reports of rain, wind and high water during the race.
"By the time the gun went off (for the start of the race), we were experiencing 20-30 mph headwind gusts and sideways rain," Hopper said. "The steady rain lasted for over two hours, with some streets with three to four inches of water flowing across the street. Even in those conditions, there were some amazing performances."
"The weather would have been perfect if the rain was not sheets and the wind wasn't so strong that it felt like you might get knocked over at any point," said Dietz.
Running in those conditions was a challenge, she said. Another obstacle, she added, was trying to avoid raingear and other clothing items runners discarded early in the race -- jackets, trash bags, gloves, ponchos.
Dietz said she got a boost from seeing other RRC runners along the 26.2-mile course. But the 32-year-old school teacher said what she saw near the finish line was "heartfelt."
"As we (she and
MacInnis, one of the Boston Marathon qualifiers, said his time of 3:22 was a personal record by 18 minutes.
His post-race comments didn't center on the fastest runners. He talked about all of the runners, including an RRC group named the Turtles.
"All the runners that came finished," said MacInnis, national sales director for a life insurance company. "My favorite part was watching our Turtles finish. Staying there another three or four hours to watch everyone finish and to see all the people finish their first marathon was awesome."
"First mile was downhill and the wind was in our face," she said. "Second mile was uphill and that was the first time I felt my body warming up. The wind was a factor for the first ten-ish miles, switching from pushing us up the rolling hills to smacking you right in the face.
"It let up after that, but continued raining. I felt great and was on pace for a goal time until mile 15ish, when mentally, I was just done with running in the rain and wind. It was hard to press it when I missed my running buddies and just wanted to be dry. The rain let up and the sun came out at mile 23. Finished in 4:13."
Her husband, Ollie, felt great until his multiple injuries began to haunt him at mile 10. He finished in 4:21.
When her sister reached the finish line with a time of 5:03, Jenny said, she burst into tears.
"That was so hard," she said.
Varner, a paralegal, called the race "a beast." But her training paid off and her time of 3:39 qualified her for the Boston Marathon and earned her a 12th place finish out of 290 runners in her age division.
Blazier, a Turtle member who was running her first marathon, didn't hit a negative note in her post-race comments.
"The race was awesome," she exclaimed. "We didn't care about the rain and wind. We were just excited to be running our first marathon. It was amazing to see people out cheering for us in the weather. We thought we were the only ones crazy enough to be in it."
Blazier, a 41-year-old cost accountant, said it "warmed my heart to hear the cheers of those who waited for us at the finish line.
"The work and time commitment was worth every minute. Although, it didn't really feel like work because I enjoy running and training with my running buddies so much.
"I wish everyone could experience the joy of not only achieving a personal goal, but also getting to feel the love and support of friends in the best running club at the same time."
The RRC also had a relay team in the race. Members were
Raceday supporters in
Back home,
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(c)2012 the Rockwall County Herald-Banner (Greenville, Texas)
Visit the Rockwall County Herald-Banner (Greenville, Texas) at rockwallheraldbanner.com
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