Joey Payeur
Tara Allaire had plenty to give thanks for this past weekend, but even moreso four years ago.
The 27-year-old Emo resident, in her first competitive race at this distance, finished the 35th-annual Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon in Minneapolis-St. Paul on Sunday in a time of 3:33.21 to make the qualifying time required to run in the world-famous Boston Marathon held each May.
With the Boston event already full for next spring, Allaire has her sights set on registering for the race in 2018.
It is a race that comes with a frightening memory attached from 2012, though, when Allaire’s mother took part in it—the same year two bombs were set off about 200 yards apart near the finish line, killing three people and injuring another 264.
“She crossed just before the bombs went off at the finish line—I think she was just under four hours [and] they went off at 4:04,” recounted Allaire, who placed 105th out of 1,190 runners in the female age 22-29 category over the weekend.
“It was the scariest day of my life,” added Allaire, who is the assistant coach of the Muskie track-and-field team.
“I was tracking her online and saw she finished, so I knew she would be through the finish chute already,” Allaire noted.
“But my dad was out there on the course watching her, too.
“It took about 40 minutes before I could reach either of them and it was a very scary 40 minutes,” she admitted.
“[My mom said] it was crazy how it turned from the absolute best day ever to the most terrifying so quickly.”
Allaire’s father also ran in the Boston Marathon in the early 2000s, with Allaire looking forward to continuing the family legacy.
“I’ve watched both parents run it before, so I’m very familiar with the course and the entire weekend,” she remarked.
“It’s such an exciting event and so inspiring. I’m excited to be a part of it one day.
“I was so proud of both of them so I can’t imagine how it must feel to actually be a part of it,” she added.
The road to earning a spot in Boston was full of potholes, though, as Allaire combatted a variety of physical ailments.
“Every time I’d get back into training, or try to, my knees or feet would just give out,” she noted.
“So I was just being very careful to listen to my body and take a day off if I needed a day off and stretch a lot.
“Basically, it was knee and foot problems from not doing things properly,” she explained.
“I got some new orthotics this fall and have been trying to stretch a lot more.”
Allaire finally decided to put herself to the test to see if she had what it took to handle the rigours of a marathon.
“Just under two months [ago], I challenged myself to see if I could run 50 miles in a week,” she said.
“I did it and so the next week, I challenged myself to do 60 miles.
“About a month ago, I thought, ‘OK, I might be able to do this’ and registered [for the Twin Cities event].
“I haven’t been healthy enough to race in a long time, about 10 years,” Allaire conceded.
“So it was kind of a last-minute decision that worked out great.
“I didn’t really do any fast running or high mileage, just kept it between 50-70 miles a week and upped the long run every week,” she noted.
“I really just wanted to finish the race and ended up pleasantly surprised.”
On hand for Allaire’s accomplishment were her parents, along with her boyfriend and former OHL player Luke Judson of Emo.
“I think the really special part was the fact that throughout my childhood, I’ve been there to cheer them on as they ran these marathons, including this exact one, and now I’m able to do it, too,” she enthused.
“So that was something that was really special to me. . . .
“My dad was out there on the course with me, and my mom and my boyfriend were out there cheering for me,” she remarked.
“It was just such a great experience to share with everyone.
“I was so excited to just be there, and be running a marathon and be healthy for the first time, so I was smiling the entire race,” Allaire added.
“Seeing that I was going to squeak under the Boston qualifying time was just icing on the cake.”
With Boston on her radar 18 months from now, Allaire wants to intensify her training to give her the best possible chance to succeed there.
“I am planning on lowering my time by a lot more in the meantime now that I better understand what goes into the training,” she noted.
“I’d prefer to do a four- to five-month training block rather than two, and include some speedier runs and tempo runs.
“I’m going to do a spring marathon this year, and my goal is to run under 3:20 and stay healthy throughout my training,” Allaire added.
“I would 100 percent like to be in Boston in 2018.”
Also participating in the Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday were the Fort Frances duo of Sharla MacKinnon and Heather Bridgeman, who crossed the line together in 4:42.44.
MacKinnon finished 279th out of 502 entrants in the female age 40-44 division while Bridgeman was 400th out of 632 in the female age 35-39 group.
