Boston Bound PEI RoadRunners in Saurday's Guardian

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Sports/2012-04-14/article-2954750/Where-feet-meet-the-street/1

Where feet meet the street

Guardian photo by Jason Malloy
Despite it being a cold, damp day, Charlottetown’s Steven Baglole
is outside getting ready for Monday’s Boston Marathon. He is one
of 17 P.E.I. residents running in the marathon.

Published on April 14, 2012
Jason Malloy

Charlottetown's Steven Baglole looks to run a faster time in his second Boston Marathon

Steven Baglole’s first race would have been his last had someone offered him a ride.

The Charlottetown native didn’t get an offer and was “elated” to cross the finish line. Now, nearly five years later, he is preparing to run his second Boston Marathon on Monday.

“I’ve been training hard through a very cold winter for this weekend and I am really looking forward to it,” he said Thursday.

Baglole’s entry into competitive long distance running was a humble one.

After seeing information about a race in the newspaper his wife Jennifer asked if he was going to enter. She even went out and bought him a new pair of sneakers to prepare for the race.

“That day I went out and did 10 kilometres and I was just wiped, wiped,” Baglole recalled of his first practice.

When race day arrived the warm sun added another challenge for the rookie runner.

“If somebody had of come along halfway in that race in a car and said, ‘do you want a drive?’ I would have went with them for sure,” he said.

Baglole finished the race and never looked back, running a five-mile race a few weeks later and the P.E.I. Marathon the following year.

“I was so stubborn that I said, ‘I have to be better than this,’” he said.

That internal drive has continued to push him along through training in less-than-ideal conditions. Despite the cold, dark, windy and slushy conditions, he ran an average of about 75 miles a week through the winter in preparation for the Boston Marathon.

“You really have to have that mindset where you don’t mind putting in a lot of work by yourself,” he said. “I love the competition and working and seeing the improvement.”

The fisherman said he completed the Boston race in 2:56 in 2009.

“I was struggling the second half,” he admitted.

His legs were sore, but he never stopped or walked and recalls crossing the finish line.
“It was pretty awesome.”

He hopes to complete the “most prestigious marathon in the world” this year in about 2:40 and be among the top 300 finishers.

“It’s a really famous course and a really fun course to run,” he explained. “Everybody in Boston that weekend is really hyped for the marathon with very supportive fans all along the whole course.”

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Who Is Running
The following is a list of P.E.I. residents running in Monday’s Boston Marathon:

• Steven Baglole, Charlottetown
• Kimberley Bailey, Cornwall
• Brenda Benson, Summerside
• H. Diane Boswall, Frenchfort
• Beth Brown, Charlottetown
• Emanuel Manny Costain, Summerside
• Paul Dalton, St. Edward
• Francis Fagan, Charlottetown
• Chris Matters, Charlottetown
• Mike Murrins, Charlottetown
• Jen Nicholson, Cornwall
• Jocelyn Peterson, Charlottetown
• Michael Peterson, Charlottetown
• Carolyn Rowe Turner, Summerside
• Jo-Anne Shea, Stratford
• Shawn Shea, Stratford
• Beverley Walsh, Charlottetown

http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/Sports/2012-04-14/article-2954749/Heres-one-for-the-bucket-list/1

Submitted photo
Summerside residents Brenda Benson, left, and Carolyn
Rowe Turner will run Monday’s Boston Marathon together.

Published on April 14, 2012
Jason Malloy

Two Summerside friends to run together in Boston Marathon

A pair of Summerside friends will cross something off their bucket list Monday in New England.

Brenda Benson and Carolyn Rowe Turner met in 2008 through the city’s masters swim program.

The following year they set running the Boston Marathon as a goal they wanted to achieve.

“We decided that we wanted to put Boston as an experience that we would like to do,” Benson explained.

She qualified in Moncton in 2010 and Rowe Turner in Toronto in 2011.

Now they are days away from running the race together.

In their minds, they have already won.

“We just want to take the watches off and just take it all in, have a deep breath and just enjoy it,” Benson said. “We really just want to experience the Boston Marathon.”
That experience is like no other.

The sidewalks are packed with well-wishers and the streets are jammed with more than 25,000 runners from around the globe taking part in the 26-mile test of endurance.
The friends left Friday morning and were planning on taking in a number of the activities planned for the weekend.

They included a ceremony Friday night making 40 years since the first eight women ran the marathon.

Some of the athletes were expected to be there to share their stories.

Benson said while she and Rowe Turner will take part in the run, it would not be possible without all the support and encouragement they receive from family and friends.

We just want to take the watches off and just take it all in, have a deep breath and just enjoy it. - Brenda Benson

She is glad they set the goal and are able to achieve the feat.

“I still remember the conversation us having back in 2009. We knew we were capable of it,” she said. “It was definitely a bucket list item, for sure.”

******
Boston Marathon Facts
* What: The world’s oldest annual marathon and one of the most prestigious road racing events.
* When: Monday, April 16.
* Distance: 26 miles, 385 yards (42.195 km)
* The Course: Runs from Main Street in Hopkinton, a Boston suburb, to the finish line near the John Hancock Tower in Copley Square in Boston. For a map visit www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/participant-information/course-map.aspx .
* Estimated number of entrants: 27,000.
* History: This year marks the 116th running of the marathon. New York’s John J. McDermott won the first race on April 19, 1897 in 2:55:10.
* Source: www.baa.org/races/boston-marathon/event-information.aspx.