News of the postponement of next month’s Boston Marathon wasn’t unexpected Friday, but it puts a lot of plans on the back burner.
“I’m kind of bummed,” said Karen DiLisio of Lynn, whose plans to run her 10th consecutive race were derailed last year when she fell during the winter and injured her hamstring.
“I am ready,” she said. “This is the time of the year when you’re all geared up. I am so hungry for this because of last year. I’m really gung-ho.”
Yet she also understands the bigger picture.
“I have no arguments,” she said. “You have to be safe. That comes first.”
Ellen Goldberg of Nahant said she’d have approached the race with a sense of unease had it not been pushed to Sept. 14.
“I just feel it would have been so disrespectful and irresponsible to hold it with all this (precautions about the COVID-19 virus) going on,” she said. “I am grateful, and I feel a huge sense of relief.”
She feels especially happy that Boston, and Massachusetts, will work to make the marathon as special as it is on Patriots’ Day by making Sept. 14 a civic holiday.
“I love Massachusetts because of this,” she said. “You need the crowds in this race. I think the race is for the fans as much as it is for the runners. That’s why, even if they talked about making it an elite-runner event only, that wouldn’t have worked.”
One reason why, she said, is the amount of people running to raise money for various causes. It’s one of the main ways for runners who can’t meet the qualifying standards to obtain a number. Goldberg runs for the Massachusetts Association for the Blind.
It amounts to millions of dollars,” she said, “and I think the organizers and the city took that into consideration. These organizations count on that money. That would be a huge loss.”
Both DiLisio and Goldberg were still on the course in 2013 when terrorists exploded two bombs at the finish line. DiLisio said she thinks the attack was scarier than the threat of the virus.
“This (protecting yourself against the virus) is washing your hands and things like that,” she said. “You know what you have to do. But back then, your family was at the finish line, and that’s where you wanted to go. And you couldn’t. You couldn’t get in touch with them.”
In both cases, and despite their zeal, the two women welcome the extra time to prepare.
“I only found out a month ago that I was running,” said Goldberg. “I really haven’t trained as much as I would otherwise.
“I remember thinking, after last year, that you never know when it’ll be the last time you do something. Now, I can train a little better.”
DiLisio, recovering from an injury, feels the same.
“I always train in the winter, and your muscles and your bones hurt more in the cold weather. Now, I can train in the summer, with warmer weather.”
DiLisio thinks this year may be her last marathon. She’s not sure her knees can take the pounding too much longer, and there are other things she wants to accomplish.
“It wears and tears on you,” she said. “I’d love to do the PanMass. challenge That’s always been a goal. I’m going to start looking at that.”