The Shoes We Wore #BostonShoes

James Hughes

James Hughes42
BrocktonMass.

I got sluggish at mile 17, and I met with my daughter at mile 20. We walked a lot. We walked up Heartbreak Hill, and that’s when we started hearing about stuff, and the police started rushing in. All the phone calls, all the text messages, it was pretty crazy.

This whole thing, the marathon, is an experience. How could you put something so negative on something so positive? Anyone finishing at that time is a charity runner. Why are you going after the charity people?

It doesn’t matter if I finished or not. This is so bad, this is so horrible. It dulls the experience, it put a damper on everything. The excitement behind it all, it was gone. But I’m still all in. I’m all in this for next year. I’m all in for Boston still, that’s what I say.

—As told to Boston magazine. Photo by Scott M. Lacey