The Memories of Some Harvard Runners

If there was ever a time that Harvard sophomore Deirdre McCarthy wanted to ride the green line down Commonwealth Avenue, it was yesterday during the final miles of the Boston Marathon.

"I was wondering where Rosie Ruiz got on the subway," McCarthy said. "Going past B.C. and seeing the cars running beside you. It was tempting."

Tempting? Not finishing the 26.2-mile course of the marathon, after running for what seemed almost a lifetime? Forget it. Not when McCarthy's roommate, Ronie-Richele Garcia, was running beside her.

"Around the 21-mile mark, she caught up to me," McCarthy said. "We wanted to finish it together and that's just what we did. We basically talked to each other."

Both McCarthy and Garcia finished the race in four hours and 35 minutes. No subways necessary.

For a while, miles maybe, Garcia thought she would never see her roommate until after the finish line. But, for some reason or other, she caught up with McCarthy. Around mile 21. Five more to go. What's up, roomie?

Last night, McCarthy and Garcia stayed in their dorm. They wanted to celebrate, to remember their finish together. They ordered a pizza. And had it delivered.

Running downhill in Newton is like "somebody taking a hammer to your knees for about an hour."

Ned Seaton of Lowell House has a vivid memory. Even though he finished the race in 3:35, Seaton remembers the race down those hills. And the crowd. Especially the crowd.

"The crowd was probably the reason why I never thought about [giving up," Seaton said.

Seaton remembers one point in the race when a runner next to him yelled to the mass of fans, "Yeah, spectators!"

Senior Brian Warrener, who finished the race with a time of 3:22 and "some change," said, "It really is Boston at its best."

The crowd at Wellesley. The fans at Boston University. The mass of people crowded in downtown Boston.

Yeah, spectators.

The first six miles of the marathon.

"They were crazy," said senior Colin Goar (3:12:45) of Mather House. "It was like rush-hour traffic going to the airport on Friday afternoon."

That's crazy.

And the infamous Heartbreak Hill? For Goar, it was no heartbreak. No problem.

Goar trained for the Hill by doing "towers." That is, running up and down 16 flights of stairs in the Mather tower two or three times at night. What hill?

Then there was the guy from West Point. Goar had to pass him. Fans kept yelling, "Go, West Point." Admitting that it was "really rude", Goar ran past the Army man, turned to the crowd and yelled, "Go, Harvard."

After running eight more miles than she has ever run in her life, Gretchen Peters of Currier House had to make sure the marathon was over.

"All I remember was my roommates pouring champagne down my throat," Peters said.

Peters wasn't sure she would ever make it to the finish line. Then she ran through her hometown of Wellesley, heard the cheers from her relatives and friends.

"The crowd totally got my mind off the fact that I was in intense pain," Peters said.

No pain. No champagne.

Senior Brendan Barnicle of Lowell House felt his legs start to cramp up. He blamed it on dehydration.

But around mile 17, Barnicle knew that "there was too little left to stop."

So he kept running and his legs kept cramping up. After crossing the line around the 3:15 mark, Barnicle was taken to a medical tent and treated.

"Something I would not repeat tomorrow," Barnicle said.

Sophomore Dehan Chan started the race quickly. Perhaps too quickly. The hamstring in his left leg cramped up. He had to start walking. "Bad news," he said.

Then around mile 21, Dehan's sister, Deming--who admits that she didn't realize her brother was in the race--caught up to him.

Instead of racing past him (which is probably what my younger sister would do), Deming helped her older brother finish the last five miles.

"I am so grateful to my sister," Dehan said of Deming, who lives in Weld. "She forced me to jog and practically carried me."

Dehan admits that he was really "down" during the last six miles of the race. Then his sister came along.

"I told him, `You might as well finish it,'" Deming said.

They crossed the line together. Somehow, Dehan's injury wasn't so painful anymore.