What takes 25,000 aspirin tablets, 15,000 runners and 600 port-a-johns?
On Monday, eight students represented Dartmouth among the pack at the 102nd Boston Marathon. The mental and physical strain of running the 26.2 mile marathon seems overwhelming to many, but those who ran were pursuing the goal of pushing the human body to its farthest limits.
"You might fall down after it's over and be wheeled on over to the massage place where you could do nothing but cry and weep and ask your friends for some nourishing goodies. And you may feel like you accomplished something amazing, and you'll want to do it again," said Nils Ericson '00, one of the eight Big Green participants.
Ericson, Nick Dankers '01, Brian Feldman '00, myself, Jim Hourdequin, Kate Knight '01, Roberto Miki '98 and Cheryl Shannon '00 joined 15,000 other runners who were all aiming to accomplish that "amazing something."
Joining the Dartmouth runners were five other Big Green students who lined the roadway offering encouragement, an occasional joke and their unyielding support for their comrades.
"It was like the whole city was involved to help people finish the race. It was amazing to be a part of it," Adin Kawate '97 said. Those students were part of a crowd of one million people, the second-largest sporting event audience in the world behind the Superbowl.
The race wandered throughout the streets and suburbs of Boston following Route Nine, weaving not only inbetween eight old New England towns but dissecting thousands of people, volunteers and roadways.
Fans, security and roadblocks were not the only things that were numerous on Monday. Over 34,750 gallons of water were dispersed in 1,000,000 paper cups. However, much of that liquid found its way to the pavement as the ratio of the water and Gatorade that ended up the nose and down the shirt far outweighed the amount actually keeping runners hydrated.
Dankers, who raced with a "Powered by Luv" T-shirt, marveled at the support he received from the crowd entering the town of Wellesley, one of the race's furthest points from downtown Boston.
"Having people all the way along the course cheering 'Alright. Powered by love,' at me completely taught me how much energy the crowd gives the runners," he said.
The other Dartmouth runners also enjoyed encouragement evoked from a series of shirt quotes including: "Where is everyone running?" "Running Sucks," "Happy little girl," "Adopt-A- Gimp," "Are we there yet?" and "Got Milk?" Upon reading the latter two, spectators generously informed the runners that the race was indeed not over and that they had no milk but plenty of beer.
Other racers outside of the Dartmouth circle added some character to the line of Boston Marathon apparel. A South-African ran in a Rhinoceros costume to draw attention to the animal's plight, while one contender had a beer can tied to a wire extending from his head and chased that can for over three hours. But for the most part, extra material baggage was stripped within the first three miles of the race, the volume of which could have easily resupplied the Salvation Army.
Not surprisingly, none of the Dartmouth runners were among the top finishers in the race. Except for Hordequin, most of the Big Green participants still had eight miles to finish when the radios lining the streets boomed out the awards presentations to the two winners, Moses Tanui of Kenya with a time of 2:07:34, and, for the women, Fatuma Roba of Ethiopia was recorded at 2:23:21.
"It's hard for me to think of starting right next to Tanui, run the race, and have him finish with time to accept the first place prize, shower, eat dinner and take a 20 minute nap by the time I get to the end," Dankers said.
Although no one from Dartmouth came away with the monetary rewards, which started at $80,000 for first place, the runners ran away with some irreplaceable prizes. Unforgettable are the visions of a one-legged man from Guyana, a paraplegic pushing his wheelchair step by step, and hand cycles rotating their way through the streets of Boston. Hearing of a woman with multiple sclerosis still racing 25 hours after everyone has finished places our leg pains in perspective.
It's said the Boston Marathon is divided into three parts: 14 miles of fun, eight miles of sweat and four miles of hell. All together, it is 26.2 miles of camaraderie along a path to the triumph of the human spirit.
After the most grueling day of her life, Knight summed up the experience best.
"All those people, all that support and the goodness of everyone's work and energy all in one place was astounding.
