Three From Madison Complete “Brutal” Boston Marathon
HOPKINTON, Mass.- What a difference a year makes.
Near record high temperatures of 80 degrees a year ago to the coldest start in 30 years was the fate for the 122nd running of the famed Boston Marathon on Patriots Day. Brutal weather conditions of heavy rain, cold temperatures with a start reading of 38 degrees and strong winds of up to 40 miles per hour greeted the field of nearly 30,000 runners, including three of those hearty souls from Madison.
“Absolutely brutal,” is how Abigail Key described the race conditions after posting a finish time of 4-hours, 32-minutes, 32-seconds. “It was wet standing in line waiting on buses prior to the race until I walked into my hotel after the race. At one certain point in the run my feet and hands were numb.”
Key, along with Mark Fleming, 30, who had a finish time of 3:04.43 and 21 year old Elizabeth Lopez, with a posted time of 4:15:46, were the fearsome threesome from Madison who made the trip to the world’s most popular 26.2-mile marathon, which weaves its way on a course through many of the history laden boroughs of the Boston area.
For Key, just making the race was a goal she completed. She suffered a right leg IT band injury in February and had very little training miles in preparation for her 11th marathon. Key, who is a registered nurse and works as an exercise instructor at the UAH Fitness Center, said, “Before my injury my plan was to have a strong attack of the race, but after my injury the race became very challenging. It was not the Boston Marathon I wanted.”
Yuki Kawauchi of Japan was the overall top finisher with a time of 2:15:53 while Desiree Linden finished at 2:39:53 becoming the first American female to claim the women’s top prize since 1985. There were 25,746 official finishers.
The 28-year old Key and her husband, Lonnie, who is a personal exercise instructor, made their trek to Madison in 2013 from Ohio. Key worked at Madison Hospital for one year before choosing to move to the UAH Fitness Center.
Key grew up in sports participating in both gymnastics and soccer and took up long distance running after nursing school. “I became hooked on distance running as I love the ability to push myself as there are so many things you can do with this sport,” said Key. “You can set a personal goal, concentrate on speed and enjoy the races. There is so much you can accomplish.”
“Running down Boylston, the site of the finish line bombings in 2013, was an emotional moment and overwhelmed me,” said Key. “As I neared the finish line I thought of the bombing tragedy, which gave me a lot of respect for those who came back from that day. God went before me and helped me get through the race on injured legs.”
Overall race standings had Fleming at No. 2,502, Lopez at No. 18,578 and Key at No. 20,696.
The 2018 Boston Marathon is now in the record books and will go down in race history as one of the most savage races against Mother Nature, but for Key, Fleming and Lopez, finishing through their own personal challenges made for a race none of them will soon forget.
