麻豆传媒AV

April 21 was the 118th running of the Boston Marathon. It was Battleford's Brian Graw's third time competing in the historic race.

Graw, a 50-year-old employee at Home Hardware, has been running since 2007 at the request of his wife, Marie.

"All of a sudden, she said let's try running a half marathon," said Graw. "So, we did the half marathon in Saskatoon."

The 21.2-kilometre half marathon was the beginning of the running craze that swept up Graw and his wife. He said his wife was a major motivation to start running, but kept it up since he thought he was pretty good at running. Graw said he found it "easy."

"Training makes it feel easy," he said.

Graw still remembers the feeling after completing his first half marathon seven years ago.

"I said there's no way I'm ever going to run a marathon because I was so sore."

Now, after doing more training and more running, he said running a half marathon feels like a "nice run." He and his wife competed in two half marathons in Regina, another in Saskatoon and one in Edmonton prior to 2009.

It was then Graw and his wife first attempted a full marathon, a distance of 42.2 kilometres, at the 2009 Saskatchewan Marathon in Saskatoon. He said completing his first marathon was an amazing feeling.

"It's just an adrenaline high you get when you're done. Just the relief and knowing you're capable of doing it."

He added, "It's just quite an accomplishment."

Graw was the 24th fastest man with a time of 3:31:03. However, it was not good enough.

"I missed the qualifying time for Boston in that run by three seconds," he said. "[I] kind of made a mistake calculating miles from kilometres. I was training miles and the run was all in kilometres and I kind of got mixed up."

Graw's training consists of running three times a week. For this year's marathon, he started his training program Jan. 1. His first run was six kilometres, followed by an eight-kilometre run his second time out. The third run of the week was a long run on Saturdays, which started at 14 or 15 kilometres. He ramped up his training each week, trying to reach his peak prior to the race. Once up to his peak, his shorter runs during the week would be 12 and 16 kilometres respectively. His long run was 32 kilometres on Saturdays. At the highest point, Graw estimates he runs 60 to 70 kilometres a week.

The program he runs is designed to make him reach his peak three weeks before a race. At that point, Graw starts to scale back his runs to conserve his energy for the race.

His usual training run is around the trails in Battleford, then up past the golf course and up to the big elevators before turning back. He also runs up Highway 4 and back, but prefers the golf course route because of the hills.

After missing out at the Saskatchewan Marathon, Graw ran a time under three-and-a-half hours at a marathon in Regina to qualify for the 2010 Boston Marathon.

On the morning of the race, he and his fellow runners were shuttled to the starting line in Hopkinton, a small town about 50 kilometres west of Boston. The racers waited in a schoolyard for their start time.

"In the schoolyard, they have water for you. Bagels, oranges, bananas, pretty much everything you need."

They get the opportunity to stretch themselves out as they walk the kilometre between the school and the starting line. When he was waiting to begin at the 2010 marathon in his corral, he said it was just joy going through his head after seeing all of the people.

"You're running with 26,000 people. It's quite amazing. That was my first really big marathon. It was quite awe-inspiring."

There were some challenges for Graw during his first race as he said he started too fast at the start of the race.

"The start of the race of the Boston Marathon is a long, gradual downhill. It really attacks your legs when you hit the hills if you go out too fast."

The hills, the Newton hills and Heartbreak Hill, were what he considered to be the toughest part of the race. He was not worried about running at an uncomfortable pace because of the runners around him. Graw said he was placed in a corral of about 9,000 people who qualified with a similar time.

Graw finished his first Boston Marathon with a time of 3:29:08. He was unable to get into the 2011 marathon, but not because of a time he posted. The online registration for the marathon filled up in the first half hour of being opened.

The next time Graw competed in the Boston Marathon was 2013 - the year of the bombing.

"It was a nice race. I was running with my sister [Anna]. It was her first time running the Boston."

His sister, who was a runner in high school, started running again during a visit by the Graws to Newmarket, Ont. Graw and his wife had to keep up their training during their visit. Anna went running with them and was hooked.

Graw and his sister finished the marathon with matching 3:37:20 times, about 50 minutes before the bombs went off. Anna's husband and son were there, along with their mother. They celebrated their race together as they moved through the lines to collect their medals, Gatorade and belongings. He said everyone was having a good time as they walked to the subway to get back to their hotel.

"We're waiting for the train to arrive and, all of a sudden, the police come storming."

He said the police surged into the subway tunnel, yelling at everyone to get out because there were bombs going off. They did not provide any direction other than to get out of the tunnel.

"We just went on the street and saw people running from the finish line area just out of the area."

A feeling of shock came over Graw when he heard the news from the police.

"Everybody's face just went white and was like 'What's going on?' It was pretty chaotic there for a while, people running down the streets not knowing where to go or what to do."

Other runners had heard conflicting stories about what had happened. The first person Graw talked to said a bomb went off by the buses, which was where Graw and his family just left. The police eventually stepped in, telling people to leave the area and head back to their hotel.

Graw never considered not returning for the 2014 Boston Marathon. He said he wanted to go back.

"I didn't want terrorism to control people's lives. I wanted to show Boston and the world that they can't stop us from running because we love it."

He and his sister arrived in Boston late on the Saturday before the race. It gave them a day to get their legs stretched out.

Graw said the atmosphere on the day of the race was "mind-boggling." There were almost 40,000 people participating in this year's marathon. It was not just the amount of participants, but the number of spectators.

"Over a million spectators, people lined up the whole way from start to finish cheering you on. It was amazing."

Graw finished the 42-kilometre course in 3:33:31. His goal for the race was to be under three-and-a-half hours, but it did not happen. It was more important to run the race.

"We had to go back and finish that run again."

After this year's Boston Marathon, Graw originally planned to take time away from marathons and instead run half marathons. He has run marathons in Saskatoon three times, a couple of times in Regina, Edmonton, Ottawa and Toronto.

However, he has already made plans to run in the 50th Calgary Marathon June 1. He rejoins his sister for the race, and will be able to visit with his brother Ron who lives in Calgary.

Other marathons on Graw's radar are in London and New York. He said New York is supposed to be a "really cool" course, but it is hard to get in. Participants put their name into a lottery system and hope they are selected to take part in the race. He would also like to run the Big Surf Marathon in Hawaii.

Graw believes everyone should attempt running a half marathon or marathon.

"If you love running, never say you can't do a marathon. That's what I did. All it is, is a little more training. Put your mind to it and you can accomplish it."