RUNNING FOR CHARITY
BY STEVE SHEPPARD INDEPENDENT SPORTS EDITOR
The weather outlook was grim - there was even talk that the marathon might be cancelled - but it didn't dim the spirits of six Nantucketers who arrived in Hopkinton a week ago Monday determined to run the 26 miles, 385 yards to Boston.

Jessica Myers shows her medal at the finish line. All six Nantucket runners completed the course.

It was the first Boston Marathon for four of them, the second for one, and the 39th consecutive running for Dr. Timothy Lepore.

Despite the nasty weather, all of them finished. Five participated as part of teams running to raise money for various causes and charities, and their efforts helped bring in thousands of dollars.

It was this commitment that pushed Liz McIsaac, who works for the island's marine department, to the finish line. "It was hard for me," she admitted. "When I reached Cleveland Circle I thought, 'This is crazy, I'm not even into Boston yet.' But when I saw the other runners I just realized I can do it." No matter what her difficulties may have been at the time, she knew they were nothing compared to what her three-year-old nephew, Ethan, endures suffering from cystic fibrosis.

So she ran for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, despite

her own bout with pneumonia and a sinus infection over the winter. In the days leading up to the marathon, she trained on an injured foot. She said she had second thoughts when a major storm was predicted last weekend, but she also remembered the reason why she was running. "When I thought of what my nephew faces on a daily basis, I knew I just had to do it. It was the slowest I'd ever run in my life, but it was worth it." She finished with a time of 6:05:34 and raised over $3,000.

For E. J. Harvey, it was his third marathon in a year. "A year and two days," he corrects, since he ran his very first marathon last April. He and his son-in-law Travis Lombardi were competing in their first Boston Marathon, raising money for the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital.

"The conditions weren't too bad," Harvey said, noting that Boston differed from his first two marathons in terms of course difficulty. "I think it's pretty tough. I had Travis by six minutes at mile 18, and he beat me by six minutes, so the wheels started to come off the wagon."

"It wasn't as tough as I thought it was going to be," Lombardi said. "The cold didn't bother me; I felt the wind maybe twice while I was running - a benefit, I suppose, of training on Nantucket." The pair has raised close to their goal of $10,000, with donations still coming in. Lombardi proved to be the fastest Nantucket finisher (and, at 27, the youngest participant), crossing the finish line at 5:09:05. Harvey was close on his heels, at 5:17:12.

After running four half-marathons previously, island attorney Patricia Halsted was competing in her first ever full marathon, and her training paid off. "All in all, I felt pretty good," she said. "Fortunately, the rain stopped when the race started, but we had that headwind." She raised $4,500 for the Mass. Eye and Ear Infirmary, finishing right behind Harvey at 5:21:09.

Jessica Myers, a labor and delivery nurse at Nantucket Cottage Hospital, raised $6,000 for the American Liver Foundation and took part in her second Boston Marathon. She was fortunate to secure a spot in the Hopkinton High School gym before the race.

"We were bused to Hopkinton at 6:15 in the morning. I had a spot in the gym with 3,000 other people and was happy to be inside."

She was prepared for the cold weather but said she was probably a little overdressed. "I started out wearing a trash bag" over her layers of clothing, shedding them as she ran, and passing the extra layers to friends along the route who cheered her on.

As did the thousands of other spectators. All the runners remarked on the other facet of the Boston Marathon that sets it apart - the overwhelming support of the cheering throngs. "The crowds were tremendous," Halsted noted, while Harvey said: "The crowds were awesome. The highlight was going through Wellesley College, and then, finally coming down Boylston Street, the encouragement was pretty impressive. The streets are just lined with people."

"At Boston, the crowds are amazing," Myers said. "They're cheering you on the whole way."

The runners also agreed that the infamous hills are as brutal as advertised. "By mile 18 or 19 I was walking up one of the hills in Newton," Lombardi said. "By the time the hills came my quads were toast," Harvey said. "I never had that much trouble with my legs. I saw a lot of people in pain."

"By the time I reached Heartbreak Hill, I did start to lock up," Myers noted, while McIsaac said: "Heartbreak Hill just went on forever."

For Halsted, the toughest part was "the downhills; they were tough."

Along the course, Myers received text messages from island doctors Craig Bradley and Greg Hinson, who tracked the marathon on-line and reported that their colleague, Tim Lepore, was ahead of her at certain checkpoints.

He wasn't, but he finished just 10 minutes behind her time of 6:15:01. Lepore, who had worked on getting Myers' knee race ready the week before, had high praise for all the Nantucket entrants, and for the thousands of dollars they raised for different charities. "I can't say enough about them. I'd see them all training; they really worked hard."

The veteran Boston Marathoner had perhaps the best perspective on race conditions. "I don't doubt it was a tough day if you weighed 95 pounds and were from Kenya," he pointed out, but he recalled a couple of worse marathon days. "I don't think I've warmed up yet from 1970," he said. "It was colder; it was blowing harder; I've never been that cold in my life. In 1976, it was a hundred degrees, but 1970 was worse. In those days you finished at the Prudential [instead of the Boston Public Library] and I was at the Prudential for hours just lying around, wondering how I could get home because I didn't want to go outside."

By last Friday, the aches and pains had subsided, and the runners reported feeling no aftereffects, although all were taking a little break from their running regimes. "I'm done with that for a couple of weeks," Lombardi said. "Today, I'm almost back to normal," Harvey noted last Friday. "I haven't been able to go downstairs in a few days; I've been jumping into the hot tub."

"I feel great, I feel good, I'm rested," McIsaac said, while saying she's not sure if she'd do it again, a sentiment shared by Halsted. "But if I do," Halsted noted, "Boston's the one I'd run again."

Myers, however, has signed up for the New York Marathon in November and, after talking to Harvey, whose second leg of marathons was Chicago last October, is thinking of that one, too, and perhaps the Marine Corps Marathon as well. "I definitely got that runner's high."

Lepore hopes to keep his streak intact, and joked, "People raise money to try to keep me from running."

Harvey, however, isn't committing. "I'm thinking of retiring. But that Budweiser distributor (who spurred him into marathon running in the first place) beat us by 20 minutes. I might have to come out of retirement to beat him, but I'm going to say right now I'm retiring."

For all the runners, the accomplishment of completing the world's most storied marathon resonates deeply. "It was just a great experience," Halsted said.

"I was pretty tired at the end, but the excitement of finishing hit me," Lombardi said. "I said to myself, 'Oh, my God, I just ran the Boston

Marathon.' " I