Vancouver BC proved to be the perfect location for a spring marathon. Julie Connors and Brendan O'Connell took it on as their first International Marathon. They were joined by Dorothy Giarla and Walter Burgess, just for the beauty of it, and it was a most beautiful course!

The city is surrounded by water and snow covered mountains and was in full bloom with the lushest gardens that John Govoni has ever seen. (John is injured, so he did not run this marathon, he did however, provide much appreciated support throughout the day. Dorothy's friend, Alison Brownlie, who lives in Vancouver, alternated strategic cheering areas with John and was at the 10, 16, and finish. Thank you Alison and John!)

The day itself started out overcast, a little drizzly and cool, perfect for us approximately 4500 runners, not so for the spectators, but surprisingly, they were out there with music and good cheers along most of the course. Brendan, Julie, Walter and Dorothy left John at the start at 7:15 am all together for at least a 1/2 mile. Then, Julie and Walter managed a few more miles together before Julie found her stride and lost Walter (but then, this was Walter's 2nd marathon in 3 weeks, so he probably deserved a little more time to get into his rhythm). Dorothy and Brendan were together as they passed John again at the 5 mile mark and ran on for 4 more miles of serious heart monitoring, Brendan was definitely keeping them on pace, until he stopped for a Port-a-John break and Dorothy went off on her own. About this time, the course entered Stanley Park, even more beautiful than the rest of Vancouver, oh yes, and hillier. Did I mention the hills?? Lots of long upgrades, sort of like always training in West Roxbury with many Center Streets and even a Goddard/Bellevue Hill thrown in at mile 14, just to keep us awake. That did give way to a wonderful long downhill, but even though it made up for lost time, it took, its toll on the leg muscles. Thank goodness for Motrin Hill. They were actually passing out Motrin out at the mile 21 water stop! (When we drove the course the day before, Julie and I were a tad overwhelmed b the hills! Walter, the veteran, took it all in stride, just another marathon course.) John greeted us again at mile 17 after we got out of the Park, as did a serious weather change, very wet rain followed by hail! A first for all of us, even Walter. However, it was short lived and we were dried off by the sunshine in no time. It was just enough torment to keep the course interesting and keep us moving. Kind of like that hill at 14. Did I mention that hill at 14??

The finish brought us over the Burrard Street Bride for the 3rd time (and, believe me, it did get tougher each time) to more cheers from John with less than 2 miles to go. Julie was the 1st PRC finisher, followed by Walter, who per usual came back out about a mile to help Dorothy struggle over the finish line; and then, Brendan joined us shortly afterwards at our hotel room (wearing a great long-sleeve black marathon T-shirt). Hmm!! Walter and Dorothy had short-sleeve T-shirts, these were the 1/2 marathon T-shirts. Not acceptable to marathon finishers!

All of a sudden, all their aches and pains were gone as Walter and Dorothy dashed back (well, maybe not dashedî) to the finish area to claim their rightful T-shirts
In the end, it was a great day for all of us and thank you again to John & Alison for getting through it. Now on to Prague, 2003. Anyone want to join us?