As every one knows things have been more than tense around here, so it was a pleasant surprise when Bart came into the house with the Worcester Telegram this morning. Jonathan Miganowicz , my sister Donna's boy made the front page. Tomorrow he will run another Boston Marathon, heart break hill and all. I am more than thrilled to go and cheer him on one more time. This means we have to be at Wilson's Bus at 5:a.m., to go with his team to the start of the race, to get back on the bus to be at the finish, to cheer him over the line. For us it is a easy task, not for him though. The first time he ran, he was in the dead last bunch to cross the starting line. That meant he had thousands of slow people in front of him, and he had to get past these people, between the start and the finish line.
He told me, it got real tough by the time he reached Newton. It being his first race, heart break hill is not a hill at all, it is a grade that gradually goes up, not unlike his drive way. The fact it comes at around mile 23, is the hard part., for people starting to struggle. To the people from the mid west it must look like a mountain. The second year, John was right behind the elite runners. He had earned his right to be there, and it also put thousands of people behind him. Last year it was hot. This took a tole on many people that simply dropped, in sight of the finish line. That was so sad, but Jon finished in good shape. We have it figured about when he should cross the line. Donna starts getting anxious, you never know what can happen along the way. This race is the result of all of the miles he runs all alone, rain, snow, hot or cold, every day to get to this place THE BOSTON MARATHON., and aunt Bev. will be with the thousands of other people cheering at the finish line, but I will yell, like I always do, RUN, JON RUN !! RUN JON RUN !! He said he could hear me, so as long as I am not too old, I will go and watch, and leave Templeton's problems behind me, just for one day. Bev. .
Bev, You've earned more than one day away from Templeton troubles! Enjoy the day & wish your fine nephew all the best. Congrats to him & to his aunt for going out to cheer him on!!
ReplyDeleteGood luck to Jonathon and enjoy the festivities Bev! You deserve a fun distraction.
ReplyDeleteGood luck to all the runners! Have a great day Bev!
ReplyDeleteRun Jon, Run!
Bev, I hope you weren't near the explosions and got home okay. So awful!!!
ReplyDeleteI heard from Bev. She said Jon and the people with her group were OK. I think they are stuck in Boston. I don't know when they will be able to leave.
ReplyDeleteMass Ave bridge is closed for now.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured and dead.
Stay safe
Thanks, Julie, for letting us know they are safe. What a shame people can't even enjoy the day without this type of thing. Yes, prayers are much needed for them & the entire world.
DeleteI never in my wildest dreams, would have thought the day would end up like this. It is about 9:00 p.m., and I just got home. Things started out well. It was not as cold as I thought it was going to be. Don, Donna and I watched the start, and had a hike to the bus, to make it back to Boston. We had a pretty full bus on the way down. Over three quarters of us got off to race. Donna, Don and I made our way to the finish. There were so many people, it was hard to believe. The crowd was cheering as the runners went by. We met some nice people, a couple of guys from South Korea, I asked them if they were afraid of the leader in North Korea? They said no, not at all, the North Korean's do this stuff all the time. I hope they are right! We were standing very close to where the bomb went off, but were lucky because Jon. ran a great race. He ran the 26.2 miles, in two hours, fifty nine minutes and thirty eight seconds. There were twenty seven thousand runners. His pace was six minutes and seventeen seconds a mile. For once he did not need to go to the medical tent after the race. The weather was cool enough so he did not get dehydrated. There were nice people around us that let Donna and I go to the fence, so we could see him finish. We had them all watching, and everyone cheered for him when he crossed the finish line. If he had been in the medical tent, he would have been too close for comfort. We left after he crossed the finish line, and went into the Prudential Center and found a place to eat. We were not there long, and when we walked out to go to the hotel, all hell had broken out. I never saw so many cops, and ambulances in my life. We went into the lobby, and a guy told me what happened. We went up to the thirty second floor, and watched the event take place, right before our eyes. The police made our bus move, cell phone service was poor for awhile, then it stopped all together. The hotel was locked down, no way were we going any place! We watched the FBI search the roof of the building next door, The police and FBI were everywhere. It took a while to find everyone in our group, it was not fun. We were told we could not go down stairs, and use the front entrance. We finally walked out the back door, everyone carrying something. One of the guys found the bus, and we beat it out there as fast as we could. Maybe Bart is right, he says "you have to be lucky to live to a old age". Well, I guess I should enjoy life while I have it, you just never, never know. Bev.
DeleteSO happy to hear that you and your family are ok, Bev.
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