UNSEASONABLY WARM temperatures in April may delight most sun-starved New Englanders but such conditions were most unwelcome to the nearly 18,000 competitors in the 2004 Boston Marathon.

David Rothstein, of the Appellate Defender's office, competing in his first Boston Marathon, echoed the comments of other runners who, after logging hundreds of conditioning miles on dark and freezing winter days, found it especially difficult to adjust to the race-day sunshine and low-80s temperatures on April 19.

"It just wasn't as much fun as I expected it would be," said Rothstein, who plans to run for fun for the next year or two before he will train seriously to qualify and compete in another Boston Marathon.

Dennis Ducharme, a veteran marathoner, said, "If the same conditions existed anywhere but Boston, I would have stopped about half-way into the race. I wasn't saying 'never again' but I was wondering why we get 95 percent cool, rainy days in April with a direct jump to August [on race day]."

Julie Moore, the top female finisher among NH Bar members, recorded a personal best of 3 hours, 29 minutes (net time), but she portrayed a grim scene in an e-mail reply to Bar News: "It was like a sauna out there. I poured water on myself every mile. By the halfway mark, I was zigzagging all over the road to get around the runners that were walking! It was unbelievable how many people crashed."

Overall, 93.3 percent of the runners who started the race completed it. There were 302 New Hampshire residents, and nine NH Bar members among the finishers (see sidebar below). For more on the marathon, visit www.baa.org.

THE FOLLOWING are the times of NH Bar members known to have competed this year. Our apologies to members we have not included. Contact dwise@nhbar.org and we will note your participation in a later issue.

*Times reported are "net" times - from start to finish line (Official times, which are longer, reflect the elapsed time since the starting gun. For runners not in the front, it takes a number of minutes of running simply to reach the starting line.)

Home | About the Bar | For Members | For the Public | Legal Links | Publications | Online Store
Lawyer Referral Service | Law-Related Education | NHBA•CLE | NHBA Insurance Agency | NHMCLE
Search | Calendar

New Hampshire Bar Association
2 Pillsbury Street, Suite 300, Concord NH 03301
phone: (603) 224-6942 fax: (603) 224-2910
email: NHBAinfo@nhbar.org
© NH Bar Association Disclaimer