Monday’s Boston Marathon turned out to be a great day for nine Galveston County runners. They made their way along the 26.2-mile run from Hopkinton, Mass., to Boston, experiencing the exhilaration of thousands of cheering fans as well as the challenges of a hilly, sometimes windy course. League City runner Sam Rodriguez clocked the county’s fastest marathon of the day, finishing in 2 hours, 54 minutes and 34 seconds, landing him is the top 750 runners overall.
“The fans were just awesome,” Galveston runner Margaret Resto said. Resto, who was wearing a Texas Longhorns cap throughout the race, benefited from having an impromptu cheering section all along the marathon route. “I was known on the course as “Texas,” and people kept yelling “Go, Texas!” One even jumped the barricade to make sure I knew he was cheering for Texas.”
It was Resto’s first time to run in the prestigious Boston Marathon but not her last.
“I’ve already qualified for next year with my time at the 2009 Houston Marathon, and I’m running the Marine Corps Marathon this fall and Houston again in 2010, so that gives me two chances to qualify for 2011.”
Like many newcomers to the Boston Marathon, Resto found the hills to be especially challenging.
“Next year, I’ll do more runs in parking garages to prepare for the hills.”
Resto finished the race in 3:53:17.
“It wasn’t as fast as I’d hoped, but I was happy overall. I started way too fast, and then there was a headwind in the second half of the race that made it so cold I put my gloves back on.”
Steve Wisner was running Boston for the second time.
“It was another great experience,” Wisner said. “The crowd support was unbelievable. The weather was pretty good, so the people really came out. You just can’t beat Boston.”
Wisner, who ran the race in 3:45:01, will be taking on his second marathon in a one-week span today, when he will run the Country Music Marathon in Nashville.
“I feel pretty good now. I was a little sore on the plane home from Boston, but now I’m ready to run,” he said.
He is a member of the Marathon Maniacs club, a group of runners dedicated to running marathons as frequently as possible.
“It was by far the hardest run I’ve ever done,” Sam Rodriguez said. “I was running each 5K split right around 20 minutes, until the last 10K. At the end, the finish line couldn’t come quick enough. What kept me going was the support I had from family and friends. When my body wanted to stop and walk a bit, I thought about all the support I’d gotten, like the banner my mom made and the e-mails and supportive comments from people all over, and that carried me through to the finish line.”
Rodriguez’s parents were at the finish line.
“The final stretch on Boylston Street had people lined up seven and eight people deep. It really lifted your spirits.”
Although his finishing time automatically qualifies him for the next two Boston Marathons, Rodriguez is taking a wait-and-see approach.
“After a few weeks of recovery and cross training, I’ll start up with the Kenyan Way program again and do their summer program and fall marathon training. I’ll decide about Boston after next year’s Houston Marathon.”
Other locals runners in the 111th Boston Marathon were Galvestonians Christopher Holdren and Tad Lombard, League City runners Julie Morris, Dennis Malloy and Laura Yeager and Friendswood ultramarathoner Kim Budzik.
Bernice Torregrossa is a correspondent for The Daily News.
source: http://www.galvnews.com/
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