Axios Finish Line: The stride and joy of witnessing a marathon
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Bill Kole at last weekend's Boston Marathon expo. Photo: Bill Kole/Axios
You can learn a lot about the indomitable nature of the human spirit by training for and tackling a marathon.
Why it matters: It's a tremendous physical feat. But standing at the finish line — watching thousands of people arrive after 26.2 miles of pain, doubt and persistence — may be even more gratifying.
- I witnessed it this week at the atmospheric end of the Boston Marathon.
Zoom in: I've spent years chasing finish lines myself.
- A Massachusetts native, I ran track and cross country at Boston University. I'm a nationally certified distance running coach who has run 18 marathons, including three Bostons.
- In 2014, one year after bombs placed near the finish line killed three people and wounded 260 others, I live-tweeted each mile of the race for the AP. That was the last Boston Marathon I ran.
The big picture: Now, I watch. And from the sidelines, the view is somehow bigger.
Monday's 130th edition of America's oldest footrace was a tableau of 30,000 sweaty success stories — often further from the spotlight than the elite runners and celebrity athletes.
- An inspiring scene I've seen at so many big-city marathons played out again in Boston: A few dozen yards from the finish, a runner's legs gave out, but two fellow competitors stopped to help him the rest of the way.
- Race announcer and self-described "hype girl" Ali Feller, who's being treated for Stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, spent hours shouting out midpack runners from the footbridge above the finish line.
- Terrence Concannon, who ran barefoot, trained by running on Lego bricks and stabbing his feet with a fork. He raised $13,000 for a charity.
The bottom line: "If you're ever losing faith in humanity, go watch a marathon," coach, athlete and writer Mario Fraioli wrote on his blog.
Go deeper: Why more people are running marathons
