A Lanarkshire runner took a successful Stateside trip in her Stateside earlier this month – by completing the iconic Boston marathon.
Karen Edgar, from Cambuslang, was thrilled to take part in the world-famous race.
The 34-year-old, who is a member of Newton Road Runners, completed the course in an impressive time of three hours, 26 minutes and 18 seconds.
Karen, who works as a housing manager by day, is a keen runner and has earmarked tackling all six of the largest and most renowned marathons in the world, which also includes London, Tokyo, Berlin, Chicago and New York.
Having taken part in the Berlin marathon a few years ago, Boston was next on her list, even though both Covid and injuries conspired against her.
Karen told Lanarkshire Live: "You need to a qualifying time to be offered a place in Boston, and that needs to a sub 3.30 - I ran three hours and 25 minutes in Berlin, which got me offered a place.
"I planned to do Boston in 2020 or 2021, but then Covid kicked the can down the road. Then I got injured a wee while back with a stress fracture, so I've been getting back into shape for it. I was worried if I didn't take the chance this year it might not come around again.
"I wanted to soak up the atmosphere and not focus too much on my time, but when I started running I felt really good, and I wasn't too far off my best times in the end."
Fittingly for a marathon in the city that's home to the bar from Cheers, Karen said it really felt like everyone did know her name with the support she was getting during the race, which had 30,000 people taking part.
She said: "The support was amazing. It was by far the best atmosphere I've ever experienced when running, at some points the noise was genuinely deafening.
"People of Boston seemed really passionate about it and they wanted to support you all the time – even afterwards some of the race volunteers were saying thanks for running today, and I was like 'no, that's the wrong way round –I've to thank you'!"
Karen also had plenty of home support, as she knew her friends at Newton were cheering her on.
Although Karen started running about eight or nine years ago, she believes it was when she joined Newton that she felt really at home.
She added: "Everyone is really supportive there. When I did Berlin I was just running by myself, so this time it was nice to know I was being tracked by folk back home. When I finished I had so many messages saying well done – it was quite overwhelming."
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