The race was in Buffalo, but Boston blue and yellow was evident from the Huron Street starting point to the downtown convention center finish line of today’s Buffalo Marathon.
“Boston kept me going,” Stacey Jedynak, 27, of Buffalo, said after finishing the race. “At one point, when my legs hurt while I was running, I said to myself. ‘You know what, your legs hurt? Well people lost their legs, so keep going.”
From the tightened security, to the blue and yellow shirts, to the “Boston strong” attitude, the not-so-distant memories of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing were part of the fabric of Sunday’s 26.2 mile race that wound through Buffalo’s streets.
Jedynak and the two women she ran the Buffalo marathon with had shirts made for the race. “For Boston,” was written on the front. “Run. Respect. Remember.” was on the back.
Liz Wolf. 45. and Erin Degroff, 42, both of Warsaw, and friend Heather Lester, 32, of Arcade, wore wrist bands honoring Boston. Wolf and Degroff wore blue and yellow “We run for Boston” shirts. Lester said she wanted to get one also, but the shirts had sold out.
Having run in several previous Buffalo marathons, Wolf and Degroff noted that security was heightened for this morning’s race. There was a strong police presence, as well as bomb-sniffing dogs, and security helicopters. In addition, spectators weren’t allowed too close to the finish line outside the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
“Security was beefed up,” Wolf said.
The women said they didn’t mind the police presence, and they also weren’t worried about any potential violence occurring during today’s race.
Neither was Deborah Newburg, 27, a Boston native who ran the Boston marathon last month. Newburg – wearing a Boston blue and yellow shirt – said she has family in Buffalo, so came here to visit them and run the marathon, along with her boyfriend and her sister.
Newburg said she finished the Boston Marathon an hour before the explosion turned what had been a beautiful day into a day of horror. The Boston bombing killed three people and injured over 260 others, some of whom lost legs in the explosion.
Newburg said the heightened security in Buffalo today wasn’t a problem, but noted her disappointment that terrorists targeted the Boston marathon, and have made it necessary to have beefed up security at other marathons.
Newburg’s sister, Adrienne Newburg, 32, said she felt the Buffalo security was handled very well, and that the entire race was extremely well organized.
It’s important, given the Boston attack, Adrienne Newburg said, that runners continue to run, in cities such as Buffalo as well as Boston.
In fact, next year, Deborah Newburg’s boyfriend, Matt Cline, will be running the Boston Marathon. His time in today’s Buffalo Marathon, she said, qualified him for Boston.
The security detail at today’s marathon included Buffalo police, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, New York State police, the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol, according to Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge.
“In general, with any major special event held in the city, a specific security plan is put in place for that event,” DeGeorge said. For today’s marathon “additional manpower and resources were added including Skywatch, Air One and patrol boats on the water,” he said.
email: sschulman@buffnews.com
“Boston kept me going,” Stacey Jedynak, 27, of Buffalo, said after finishing the race. “At one point, when my legs hurt while I was running, I said to myself. ‘You know what, your legs hurt? Well people lost their legs, so keep going.”
From the tightened security, to the blue and yellow shirts, to the “Boston strong” attitude, the not-so-distant memories of the April 15 Boston Marathon bombing were part of the fabric of Sunday’s 26.2 mile race that wound through Buffalo’s streets.
Jedynak and the two women she ran the Buffalo marathon with had shirts made for the race. “For Boston,” was written on the front. “Run. Respect. Remember.” was on the back.
Liz Wolf. 45. and Erin Degroff, 42, both of Warsaw, and friend Heather Lester, 32, of Arcade, wore wrist bands honoring Boston. Wolf and Degroff wore blue and yellow “We run for Boston” shirts. Lester said she wanted to get one also, but the shirts had sold out.
Having run in several previous Buffalo marathons, Wolf and Degroff noted that security was heightened for this morning’s race. There was a strong police presence, as well as bomb-sniffing dogs, and security helicopters. In addition, spectators weren’t allowed too close to the finish line outside the Buffalo Niagara Convention Center.
“Security was beefed up,” Wolf said.
The women said they didn’t mind the police presence, and they also weren’t worried about any potential violence occurring during today’s race.
Neither was Deborah Newburg, 27, a Boston native who ran the Boston marathon last month. Newburg – wearing a Boston blue and yellow shirt – said she has family in Buffalo, so came here to visit them and run the marathon, along with her boyfriend and her sister.
Newburg said she finished the Boston Marathon an hour before the explosion turned what had been a beautiful day into a day of horror. The Boston bombing killed three people and injured over 260 others, some of whom lost legs in the explosion.
Newburg said the heightened security in Buffalo today wasn’t a problem, but noted her disappointment that terrorists targeted the Boston marathon, and have made it necessary to have beefed up security at other marathons.
Newburg’s sister, Adrienne Newburg, 32, said she felt the Buffalo security was handled very well, and that the entire race was extremely well organized.
It’s important, given the Boston attack, Adrienne Newburg said, that runners continue to run, in cities such as Buffalo as well as Boston.
In fact, next year, Deborah Newburg’s boyfriend, Matt Cline, will be running the Boston Marathon. His time in today’s Buffalo Marathon, she said, qualified him for Boston.
The security detail at today’s marathon included Buffalo police, the Erie County Sheriff’s Office, New York State police, the FBI and U.S. Border Patrol, according to Buffalo police spokesman Michael J. DeGeorge.
“In general, with any major special event held in the city, a specific security plan is put in place for that event,” DeGeorge said. For today’s marathon “additional manpower and resources were added including Skywatch, Air One and patrol boats on the water,” he said.
email: sschulman@buffnews.com