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Island runner Pam Glover comes full circle at Boston Marathon

It was an interrupted journey that was finally completed Monday.

It was an interrupted journey that was finally completed Monday.

Pam Glover of Victoria was nearing the finish line in the 2013 Boston Marathon when the pressure-cooker bombs went off to destroy lives, limbs and the illusion any event is immune from terrorism.

On Monday, Glover completed the race she couldn’t last year. The 60-year-old Cedar Hill Recreation Centre aerobics instructor, among the more than 40 Island runners in the 118th Boston Marathon, finished in four hours, 21 minutes, 1 second.

When Glover reached the point Monday, five blocks from the finish, where she was last year when the bombs exploded, she said to herself: “Oh my God, this is where I was! I’ve come full circle.”

Then Glover was past it, on her way to feeling the warm embrace of the finish line.

“I was feeling a lot of stress the past two weeks with the anticipation [of returning],” said Glover, from Boston.

“I think it [remembering hearing the bombs] was all coming back. I’m feeling a huge sense of relief. And pride. It was a bittersweet week, but everyone here is so strong. It was so loud the last three miles with the applause being thunderous. The spectators were reaching out and touching [the runners] and saying ‘thank-you for running.’ I just wanted to thank them back, for being there. It was an absolutely amazing experience.”

Numerous such stories were stomped into the pavement of Boston’s streets yesterday.

Lori Stenson of Oak Bay, who was less than 100 metres from the finish line last year when the bombs went off, also returned to complete the course Monday in 4:19:26.

Despite being on opposite sides of the continent, Island athletes feel a tight connection to Boston. Both are avid running communities. The GoodLife Fitness Victoria Marathon is an official annual qualifier for the Boston Marathon as more than 300 runners from around North America stamp their tickets for the storied Boston race each year by running the Victoria marathon.

Staff and patrons at the Frontrunners store in Victoria cut a birthday cake reading “Boston Strong” on Monday morning to commemorate that city’s fighting spirit in rallying one year later.

“Today’s Boston Marathon was special to the whole running community of the world,” said Frontrunners owner Rob Reid, race director of the GoodLife Victoria Marathon for 19 years, and who has been to the Boston Marathon six times.

The sale of One Fund Boston shirts in Victoria last year raised more than $5,000 to the victims of the 2013 Boston Marathon bomb blasts.

“We have a few shirts left over and we’ll put the last of them out for sale this coming weekend at the [Times Colonist] 10K Expo,” said Reid.

There were runners from 94 nations in the 2014 Boston Marathon. A total of 2,172 Canadians completed the race, the second most from any nation behind the 27,134 Americans. Top Islander was Brett McCullough of Victoria in 3:01:30. Rounding out the top-five Islanders, all from Victoria, were Joel Bryan (3:03:18), Felipe Edora (3:06:35), Ian Kulin (3:12:58), Daniel Girard (3:14:27).

Top Island women’s racer was Tanya Kormendy of Nanaimo in 3:15:02. The rest of the Island top-five females, all from Victoria, were Ann Signorella (3:21:28), Leigh Van Knotsenburg (3:24:10), Elizabeth Swiggum (3:25:25) and Carmen Agar-Newman (3:35:53).

cdheensaw@timescolonist.com