108th Boston Marathon - The True Inspiration

Cindy Peterson

It would be very hard to top Debbie's Story of our Boston Marathon,
but I would like to add the real inspiration behind her story.

As you all know Debbie is a fast runner but since she hadn't trained
to do a Marathon, Neil advised her to run at my speed 12-13 minute
miles and would be able to run it without injury. She would run and
then walk so that I could catch up to her and wait at every mile to
give us a progress report. She would always make sure that we would
step on the computer at the same time so that Neil should be proud of
us.

Then she would check my facial expressions to be sure that I was not
feeling sick, and staying hydrated.
How great was that!!!

I had my own personal Doctor and Pacer by my side.
I was so fortunate to have her with me because I know I would not 
have finished the Marathon for another half hour or more, or maybe 
not at all.

When I did the 100th Boston Marathon in 1996 with the original Merms,
Kim, Shirley, Gail and Gloria, I thought there would never be another 
Marathon like it.

However, this one was a close second. As the original Merms bonded in 
every way & experienced what a wonderful friendship was happening, 
the same happened with Debbie and me, but only after I dragged her 
behind a car to potty. She swore she would never do that. 

                            ALAS, A TRUE MERM!!! Back