Point Marion woman aims for Boston Marathon
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Mary Salisbury-Hubeaut of Point Marion runs along the Cheat Lake Trail as she trains for the Boston Marathon.
John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard
Without stopping, Mary Salisbury-Hubeaut of Point Marion takes water from her training partner Ralph Martin while running along the Cheat Lake Trail to prepare for the Boston Marathon.
POINT MARION — Boston Marathon-bound Mary Salisbury-Hubeaut looks like a runner.
She is thin, fit and has a face that looks accustomed to enduring long runs in the wind, rain or snow on the rail trails by her home. Hubeaut, 47, joins an elite field of runners who will be running the Boston Marathon — 26.2 miles — about a week away April 21.
“I’m looking forward to this year,” she said. “It is going to be emotional. Everyone is going to be there. I’m looking forward to finishing, seeing people out, all the crowd support. Last year, that was just unbelievable what happened. I want to see everybody happy again and really celebrating. It was just a sad time last year.”
The marathon was marred by tragedy last year when bombs injured at least 264 people. The bombs went off near the finish line. Some runners who had toiled mile after mile had their legs blown off. An 8-year-old boy was among the three people killed.
The media attention that swirled around Boston in 2013 will return tenfold this year, as the eyes of the world take in events. Between 25,000 to 35,000 people enter the race — the oldest continuous running marathon in the world. Thousands more will line the streets to cheer those pacing up and down the city’s terrain that includes Heartbreak Hill.
Hubeaut is not worried that the heightened media attention may attract terrorists intent on mayhem.
“I’ve been sent many emails from Boston Athletic Association saying they’ve tightened security, so I’m not afraid — not at all,” she said.
Hubeaut, a former smoker, has been dauntless in her pursuit of marathon glory. This will be her eighth marathon and second trip to Boston. Her pace usually dips below four hours — an 8- to 9-minute pace. She has completed the Richmond marathon twice, Pittsburgh marathon three times and Cincinnati once.
Hubeaut started thinking about Boston after she gave up cigarettes in 1997 to start running. She said the going was slow at first, but she persevered.
“When I stopped smoking, I knew that if I didn’t do something, and I like to eat, I’m going to get big,” she said. “I started walking on the treadmill.
Then I started running with a neighbor. I kept at it and I thought, one of these days I’m going to get to Boston — one of these days. And I finally did it. I couldn’t believe it.”
Hubeaut’s first trip to Boston was tough because temperatures that April day in 2012 were well above 80 degrees.
Hubeaut said she drank a lot of water during the race and used a cold, damp towel around her shoulders to stay cool.
“I saw that at mile six, my face was beat red — I am in trouble,” she said.
“I kept going though. I finished about a half hour after I was projected to cross the finish line, but everyone else was having a hard time too. Everybody was slower, but you beat yourself up because you train so hard for it and it was a big letdown. I wanted to go back, so I’m going back this year. It is going to be a fun time I think.”
For any marathon runner or someone aspiring to finish the great grand race, why keep going? Heat issues aside, every marathon runner hits the wall.
That’s the place in time during a race when the morning’s coffee has worn off, a person’s legs feel like heavy stones and the brain is shouting or soothing a person into stopping to make the pain go away. Because the impulse to quit is so powerful, overcoming the wall is how character is forged.
Hubeaut contends that while some runners may be stronger, the sport’s mental aspect provides the power needed to finish the race.
“The secret to do this is mental,” she said. “You just have to push yourself. For me, it’s worse mentally than it is physically. I can do it physically. It’s just the mental part is getting there.”
Runners can’t just send in a check to race organizers, but need to qualify for Boston by beating a specific time within their age group at another marathon. That’s not easy, which is why the race attracts the best runners in the world.
Hubeaut runs more than 40 miles each week. Monday, she ran the trails around Cheat Lake, W.Va., and into Point Marion — 22 miles — the last long run before the big day.
“It’s a struggle to get to Boston because they don’t let you in unless you qualify,” she said.
“You work hard to get to that point. You’ve earned it. This is the elite; the big one that everyone wants to get to. You can run almost any other marathon, but not with Boston. You know that if you’ve struggled and made your time, they can’t take it away from you. Boston is the big one.”