the first time , no longer reining in , but pushing to keep going . Finally the hill crests and a view of Boston opens up . The Prudential Tower is closer than I thought . Boston College slides by . Only five miles more to go .
I can run five miles in my sleep , I think . Such a feeling of elation and success ! Yet the marathon is no place for smugness . The steep downhill slope rips apart my legs . The blisters on my feet have burst , the raw flesh is rubbing on my stiff boys ’ running shoes , and running in the heat has left me seriously dehydrated .
Our ragged bunch of survivors pass into Boston , while busloads of men who have dropped out wave and cheer at us . Kenmore Square looms above everything else .
" One more mile !" the crowds chant . Yet my pace has dropped off . I am barely moving , tiptoeing along , each step sending a searing jolt to my brain . My blistered feet feel as if they are cut through to bone . The bottoms of my feet are on fire .
This is where I discover the real meaning of fortitude : to go on , to keep going in the face of disappointment , to see your hopes dashed but to keep on anyway , to finish what you set out to do even if it isn ’ t what you had hoped . This last mile takes me longer than the preceding five .
I turn onto the brick canyon of Hereford Street , where so many people crowd into the street only a small passage is left . I turn onto Boylston and suddenly the road opens up . Thousands of people line the streets . The press truck rolls along beside me , flash bulbs , the announcer and police . I pick up my pace and trot across the finish line in a time of three hours and twenty minutes , I ’ m told , ahead of two-thirds of the pack . Not bad , I think .
Those who kept my pace congratulate me . Some kind soul throws a wool blanket around my shoulders . I ’ m overcome by a supreme happiness , having reached the end of a long journey which I hope will change the world for the better , and begin a new journey for our times toward a better world for all .
“ I really hoped that what I had accomplished would change how people looked at women — and how women looked at themselves .”
Photo : Scott Draper / Competitor Magazine
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