Students Race in Marathon

Overcoming failing knees, jittery nerves and overenthusiastic Wellesley students, Harvard students skipped class yesterday to participate in the Boston Marathon.

The experience of four members of the Harvard community who ran in the 26.2 mile race from Hopkington to Copley Square ranged from thrilling to painful. The race is held each year on Patriots’ Day.

Sachin M. Shivaram ’02 completed the marathon in 2 hours and 52 minutes.

This was Shivaram’s second time running the Boston Marathon. He also ran the Milwaukee Marathon earlier this year.

Last year he was an unregistered “bandit” runner—a marathoner who participates without actually qualifying for the event—but this year he was able to reap the goodies that come from being an official participant.

All registered runners received a frisbees, T-shirts, free food after the race and medals commemorating the 106th Boston Marathon.

Jessica M. Matthews ’04 ran—also for the second time—as part of the Dana Farber Marathon Challenge, which raises money for cancer research. That cause holds special interest to Matthews, whose mother is a cancer survivor.

She completed the course in 5 hours and 45 minutes.

Matthews was forced to walk almost half the course, after injuring her knee at the 14 mile mark. She said this injury caused her “horrendous pain.”

She said the most memorable part of the trek was walking the last mile hand-in-hand with her mother.

Despite the pain from her knee, she called the experience “very exciting.”

Matthew L. Butler ’04—a bandit runner—finished the race after 4 hours and 12 minutes, despite pre-race fears that his arches would give out.

A first-time participant of the marathon, Butler was energized by the many children along the route who eagerly took part of the Patriots’ Day tradition by handing water and oranges to the runners.

Butler said he was also amused and annoyed by a fellow runner who barked “like a puppy” in order to sustain her energy.

Sharing in the tradition of the Boston Marathon was “fulfilling and wonderful,” Butler said.

But the run was also quite taxing for Butler, who trained extensively for the event but was inexperienced in marathon running.

“For now, I’m going to take the week off,” Butler said.

Timothy C. Harte ’90, senior tutor of Kirkland House, ran the marathon for his sixth time, finishing this year in 2 hours and 33 minutes. While Harte did not place in the top 100 this year, he finished in 38th place three years ago.

He said this year proved more difficult than previous years, as his calves tightened up in the last four miles, leading to a “tough finish.” But he still bested his time last year by two minutes.

I was surprised at how little I had left at the end of 22 miles,” Harte said. “I usually have a little more at that point.”

One point where stamina was not a problem was while passing Wellesley College. Harte’s running partner calls the “deafening” sounds of the cheering women “the best half mile in all of running,” Harte quipped.