By Dave Matlow
With the 118th running of the Boston Marathon a week away, two Westporters, who competed in last year’s event say they won’t be back this year, but not because of the 2013 terrorist bombing.
Blake Benke and Kathy Muro (holding 2013 Boston Marthon jacket): other reasons for not running this year. Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
Blake Benke, 37, who completed the Boston Marathon for the 10th time last year and was only a couple blocks away when the explosions happened, said, “It will never be the same for me.
“The day is somewhat tainted. The aftereffects are disturbing, like a pre-9/11 and a post-9/11. Life, as we know it, changed. We were pure and innocent. That changed on a dime.”
Benke said he has many friends who are entered in this year’s event, but he cannot participate. “My absence has nothing to do with last year’s experience,” he said. “I will not be there because I’ve run many long races and am not focused on a marathon at this point.”
Kathy Muro, 50, who also completed the Boston event last year, said she has not entered the race this year “not because I do not want to, it’s just that I did not complete a marathon with a fast enough race time to qualify for Boston.”
Muro, who completed the Boston Marathon in 2011 and 2013, said she crossed the finish line last year just about two minutes before the fatal explosions. (See WestportNow, April 15, 2013)
“Last year, my marathon calendar was surreal,” she sad. “A few months after Boston, my husband Jon and I could not participate in the New York Marathon because it was canceled due to Hurricane Sandy.”
She added, “I wish I could be in the Boston Marathon this year. It’s a special one. Some of the injured victims are running it. Some of my friends who ran it last year will be in it again this year.”
Muro said that, in some races, in which she’s participated there is “extreme security.”
“For instance, I ran the half marathon in New York City recently and a full body scan and two security checkpoint searches were required,” she said.
“That’s a bit odd to me. Why screen runners since it was not the runners who created the violence in Boston? It came from persons in the spectator crowds.”
Muro called runners “the nicest people on the planet,” adding, “When together, they always create a sense of community. We help others during a race when we see someone needs assistance.”
Muro is registered to run a marathon in Salt Lake City in September. “I hope I can complete the course in a fast enough time to qualify for the 2015 Boston Marathon,” she said.
