Cancer Survivor Mary Shertenlieb Finishes Boston Marathon After Midnight
April 17, 2018
Even after seeing her lips turn blue, Mary Shertenlieb was not going to let anything keep her from completing the Boston Marathon—even if it meant going all night.
After all, she has faced cancer three different times.
Shertenlieb, 42, ran in Monday's race to help raise money for cancer research, but rain and windy conditions made the 26.2-mile run tougher than normal. At the 15.5-mile mark, her body could not handle the conditions any longer, according to Dialynn Dwyer of Boston.com. Her clothes were soaked, her teeth were chattering and her lips were changing color.
However, after taking a warm shower and putting on a dry set of clothes, it was time to finish the race, via ESPN:
ESPN @espnMary Shertenlieb, a leukemia survivor raising money for a cancer hospital, was at mile 15 of the Boston Marathon when conditions got so bad she had to stop. But she was determined to complete the race. She and her husband crossed the finish line together at 12:18 a.m. https://t.co/f0Y3PJHn7b
"I told myself, no matter what, I'm running down Boylston," Shertenlieb said. "I don't care how wrecked I feel, I'm turning that corner and running. And we ran down Boylston, and, as we got closer, I could hear people screaming and I could see that people were actually still there."
Shortly after midnight, she crossed the finish line.
"If somebody told me I was going to finish the marathon last and that I would be happy about it, I wouldn't have believed you," Shertenlieb said.
According to her fundraising page, she raised nearly $37,000 for cancer research.