Last updated at 1:14 AM on 14/04/07
Stratford runner prepares for Boston Marathon
CHARLES REID
The Guardian
Over the years, the Boston Marathon takes its pound of flesh from most runners and for Pam Power-McKenna, Monday’s 111th version of the great race may get its last chomp.
Power-McKenna is running her fourth, and perhaps final, race unless a nagging leg injury goes away.
“I’m hoping not, but I’ve had a really rough year and a half,’’ said Power-McKenna on Thursday.
The Stratford resident partially detached two muscles high on her left leg while stretching on a hardwood floor. It’s part of the piriformus muscle which allows the thigh to rotate outward. It hasn’t healed properly and affects her running style because she’s constantly compensating for the injury.
“I get out of alignment more or less. (It feels) like an aching tooth.’’
She’s not yet had an MRI (magnetic resonance image which uses a big magnet and radio waves to snap 3-D pictures of the inside of the body), but she’s seeing a chiropractor which, she said, has improved things.
And she’s in for the proverbial penny in Boston.
“I'm not going to give up. If I have to walk I’m finishing this marathon. That’s my goal.’’
Power-McKenna said e-mails from the marathon organizers warned runners to expect heavy rains, high winds and temperatures as low as two degrees Celsius.
She ran a marathon two years ago in Halifax in similar conditions and understands the implications of fatigue and dehydration in that setting.
“I hardly remember the last few kilometres,’’ she said.
But at the Marathon, things have their own life, too.
“It's always to finish decent. To finish not in tears. I pretty well dance after every marathon I go to.’’
She leaves today and returns Tuesday.
Seventy-year-old Mike Meacher of Charlottetown is also competing.
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Best luck Pam, and all our Island runners.
See "18 PEI Runners off to Boston Marathon" for more on Island Runners off to Boston and watch this blog for more Boston Marathon stories & updates between now and the Finish Line on Monday.
Today, April 14th, is Mike "Rocketman" Meacher's 70th Birthday.
Happy Birthday Rocketman!
Best luck Pam, and all our Island runners.
See "18 PEI Runners off to Boston Marathon" for more on Island Runners off to Boston and watch this blog for more Boston Marathon stories & updates between now and the Finish Line on Monday.
Today, April 14th, is Mike "Rocketman" Meacher's 70th Birthday.
Happy Birthday Rocketman!
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