Miles and Trials of Crimson Marathoners

It was the meeting of Massachusetts' two greatest traditions--Harvard and the Boston Marathon--each considered the finest in its field. And although one stresses physical strength and endurance while the other emphasizes mental adeptness, both require extraordinary concentration of the thousands of participants who make the long and grueling trek. For some, the atmosphere is intensely competitive. Others set their own pace and enjoy themselves. Yet, whatever method he chooses, each participant ultimately gains a sense of achievement, self-satisfaction, and fond memories of the people who pulled him through.

Approximately 15 Harvard undergraduates, 25 Business School students, and numerous Harvard affiliates set out to run the Boston Marathon Monday. And despite the scalding 70-degree temperature which caused nearly one-third of the official 5364 runners and countless numbers of the approximately 2000 unofficial runners to drop out, all the Crimson entries crossed the finish line, with times varying from Eddie Sheehan '79's 14th-place overall finish of 2:19.40 to Jay Larson '81's 4:47 effort in his first marathon race ever.

Officially, the runners were divided into two groups--those who had met the qualifying time of 2:50 for men under 40 and 3:20 for women under 40 and those who had not. Yet a less obvious and perhaps more poignant division lay between those participants who were shooting to beat the clock and those who merely wanted to finish.

Lorren Elkins '81, who completed his third Boston Marathon in 3:58, described this distinction--"It's like comparing a second-semester student with a first-semester student. The first one just wants to make it through, while the second one knows he can and now is trying to get good grades."

Applying this analogy, recent Harvard graduate Sheehan deserves an A-plus. With the 25th-best qualifying time of 2:16, Sheehan moved up 11 places to finish 14th--only five minutes, 29 seconds off Bill Rodgers' winning time. He trained between 115 and 120 miles per week since last winter, wearing two full sweatsuits. This training, Sheehan believes, better prepared him to run in the heat that sidelined many runners. "At ten miles I felt lousy, but I looked at the faces of the people around me and they all looked worse," Sheehan said yesterday.

The youngest of the top 15 finishers, the 21-year-old Sheehan said that he never would have made it without hearing the crowd of 1.5 million cheering him on. "I got to the top of the hill at Wellesley and the noise was tremendous. A WBZ reporter announced that I was a 1979 graduate of Harvard and the crowd started cheering wildly--I was lucky I had my shirt on by the time I got through."

Tracy Thayer, a first-year student at the Business School who ran the Cape Cod Marathon in 3:17 in December to qualify for her second Boston race, also credited the crowd with pulling her through in 3:30.24. "It's the one time a year I can feel like a star; if you smile the people start cheering. Wellesley was just deafening and I actually sped up. At Heartbreak Hill, the crowd really kept me going and from 18 miles on, I ran with my thumbs raised I was so psyched."

Perhaps Lowell House senior John Weston got the greatest boost from the crowd when he found himself running alongside a 73-year-old man. "At the 17-mile mark I was shoulder to shoulder with this guy running his 50th Marathon," Weston explained yesterday. At the 20-mile mark, a policeman called out, 'Let's have a big hand for John Kelley,' and much to my chagrin I realized they weren't yelling for me."

Completing the race in 3:54, Weston said he started off at an "incredibly stupid pace of six-and-a-half-minute miles" that caused him to cramp up around the 15-mile mark. "The first 15 miles I was thinking it's odd how I'm passing people, then the next ten miles I was thinking it was odd how people were passing me." Although Weston admitted that he didn't think he would finish at Heartbreak Hill, the Government major said he realized he "had to finish. The two last things I wanted to do in Boston were write a thesis and run the Marathon. Also everyone wants you to finish and you feel like you're cheating them if you walk."

Yet, to some runners, the crowd's screams become cumbersome and the greatest encouragement came instead from the water spectators sprayed on the runners and the oranges and ice they offered. "After a while when you're feeling really bad and the crowd is yelling, 'You're looking good,' you get angry because you're running as hard as you can and they're yelling, 'Go faster,'" Rodney Pearson, a doctoral student at the Business School, said.

Seeded 472nd going into the race with a qualifying time of 2:33, Pearson finished 390th overall with a time of 2:40. A veteran marathoner who hasn't missed a day of training since Jan. 10, 1979, Pearson had hoped to run under 2:30 after clocking a 2:36 last year. The Mississippian took it out strong, crossing the ten-mile mark at 55:40, 20 seconds ahead of his projected time. But by the 20-mile mark, the heat began to take its toll, as Pearson found himself three minutes off his desired pace. By that point Pearson said he felt "terrible and overheated." He went on to lose seven minutes in the last six miles. "It wouldn't surprise me if 200 people passed me in the last six miles," he said. A cold-weather runner, Pearson said he never doubted that he would finish the race, although he wasn't sure that he wanted to--"When I passed the bank at Cleveland Circle I saw it was 75 degrees and I remembered how last June I ran a marathon when it was in the 70s and I vowed I would never run another hot marathon in my life. If it hadn't been Boston I wouldn't even have gone."

Nick Kristof '81 also broke a vow to himself by running this year. Four years ago as a high school sophomore in Oregon, Kristof completed his first marathon in 3:32. After the grueling race, he promised himself he would never run another. Yet this year, the Lowell House resident recalled the romantic side of the race and began to train at the start of the semester, registering seven to ten miles a day. Kristof found Monday's race fairly enjoyable, especially while passing through Wellesley, where he received ice, oranges and kisses from three Wellesley students. But at the 22-mile mark, Kristof said he "hit a very thick brick wall" that refused to budge throughout the remainder of his 3:22 ordeal. "Until I reached the finish line I didn't know whether I'd make it or not," the Government major said. "I never convinced myself that I wouldn't collapse in the last ten steps." Still, a 12-lb. lighter Kristof said after the race that "It was a great experience," adding, "Right now I have a deep sense of ache, though I suppose tomorrow I'll have a deep sense of personal satisfaction."

Junior Jay Larson felt this same pain and sense of achievement. "After the race it seemed worthwhile, although on mile 26, nothing seems worthwhile," he said. Crossing the finish line at 4:47 along with his Eliot House roommate, Howard Johnson, Larson fulfilled his goal of "just finishing the race." Although he only started training for the marathon a few weeks ago, the ex-football player from Santa Barbara, Calif., believed that his athletic ability would pull him through. Yet after the race, he admitted that--like Kristof--his view of the race was somewhat romanticized.

"The first 13 miles were enjoyable, but after that it was just a matter of sticking it out and making it to the finish line by hook or by crook," Larson said. After running through Wellesley, Larson walked off and on for the remainder of the race when his lack of training left him feeling "physically abused."

Scott McLeod '80 also was overcome by pain as he walked the last 8.5 miles before sprinting the final 200 yards to notch a time of 4:45. A defensive end on the varsity football team, McLeod caught the running bug from his roommate, Thad McNulty, former captain of the cross-country team, and from the football team's 12-minute running drills. After three years of wanting to run, McLeod was determined to make it this year, and began training as soon as exams ended in January. Shedding 15 lbs. from his 6-ft. 1-in., 175-lb. football frame, McLeod said he found the two sports "somewhat similar in that you have to be reckless in both." However, the senior noted the night before the race that "preparation in football is different because you have to psyche yourself up to be mean, while for a marathon you have to be in the right frame of mind to stand pain, not give it out." This proved to be an unfortunate prophesy, since the inexperienced runner drank too much water during the race, causing his stomach to cramp. McLeod was ahead of his desired pace at 13 miles, he said, but "by 17 miles my stomach was hurting so much I just wanted to stop and get a ride back."

Stomach cramps also sidelined Bill O'Neil '82, forcing him to jog the last ten miles. A native of Centerville, Mass., O'Neil qualified to run in Boston by blazing through the Cape Cod Marathon in 2:44 last December. The 5-ft., 140-lb. sophomore said he worked eight months training for Boston. The week before the race he said he "felt like a little kid before Christmas who can't think of anything else." Most likely, O'Neil would have liked the weather to be a little more wintry, since the summery sun melted his dream of breaking 2:40. The Economics major started quickly and by ten miles, he said he didn't think he could make it. Although his jaunt through Wellesley in a Harvard cross-country shirt gave him a boost, he said, he soon "got to a point where I wanted to run but it wasn't worth it if I was hurting my health." Still, pressure from the crowd, who "all knew what the white H on a red shirt meant," kept O'Neil going at half-speed and he completed the race in just under three and one-half hours. "Right when I crossed the finish line I felt a surge of relief," the 15-lb. lighter Lowell House resident said. "It felt great to be able to stop running and not feel guilty."

First year Business School student Bruce Hamilton also described crossing the finish line as a "relief after a confusing and depressing final six miles." A graduate of Cal-Berkeley, Hamilton qualified to run officially with a time of 2:42. After spending what he described as the finest three days of his life before the race--tapering down to only a couple of miles a day and eating all he wanted to load up on carbohydrates--Hamilton used a few spare moments before the race to study a little.

Although he had hoped to average six minute miles and complete the race in 2:37, Hamilton changed his goal because at the heat, "trying to finish without walking." The 6-ft, 155-pounder succeeded in running the entire race and breaking three hours. While he considered the contest "unsuccessful," Hamilton said he wants to "start running again as soon as possible," adding, "There's always next year."

Harvard assistant women's track coach John Babington has looked toward "next year" for the past 12 years. Completing his 13th consecutive Boston marathon in 3:08, Babington said he sees the race as an annual tradition more than anything else--"I'm strictly a casual and amateur Marathon runner," Babington said. "As a coach I would discourage any runner who put in as little training as I did." Thirty-four years old, the rookie coach started running the Marathons when he entered Harvard Law School in 1968. Although he admits he does not really enjoy the race, preferring a shorter, faster pace, he still runs "out of force of habit." This year, Babington said "my motivation dropped to zero--after two miles I wanted to drop out." But the graduate of Williams College hung on, encouraged by Crimson track stars Ellen Hart and Darlene Beckford, who greeted him with sponges at various points throughout the race. Although he said he "did not enjoy the race at all this year," Babington plans to run again next year. "I can't leave it at unlucky 13," he says.

Other Harvard undergraduate finishers included former swim team captain Ned Cahoon '80, Lou Zachary '81, Wayne Forrester '80, Jim Whiting, '81, John Gargaro '81, Jim Rosenfeld '81, and Scott Schereschewsky '81. Like the others, they all completed the race with varying degrees of pain and satisfaction.

With the increase in the number and caliber of Harvard participants in the grueling race, someday Crimson runners in the Boston Marathon may become a new Massachusetts tradition.