Lyndsy Schultz battles rain and cold to complete her sixth Boston Marathon

    Relentless! That’s how Imperial native Lyndsy Schultz described the weather in Monday’s Boston Marathon.
    The six-time Boston marathoner said she’s never run in conditions like she did Monday.
    Imagine running 26 miles in 35°F weather that felt much colder due to 30 mph winds. Add to that a torrential downpour to the mix that challenged even the most hardened runners.
    As the race progressed, Schultz said her hands got so cold that she had a hard time even grasping a bottle of sports drink as she passed an aid station.
    That’s when the mind over matter challenge begins. For a bit, she questioned whether she would be able to finish the race.
    Conditions proved so brutal that half of the professional runners didn’t finish the race, Schultz said.
    The weather had already dashed her goal of finishing the race under three hours. So from there on, it became a mile-by-mile race for her.
    “Just one more mile. Just one more mile,” she began to say to herself. Then it was mile 25.
    That milestone, along with the boost of the cheering crowd, gave her the energy she needed to finish strong.
    She said that despite the weather, the crowds were as big as they always are.
    In spite of the weather, her time of 3:10:21 was the best she’s ever run at Boston. Plus, it was the third fastest time she’s run across the 17 marathons she’s competed in.
    She finished 283rd of all women competing in the race and 258th in her age group of 18-39, which included more than 6,000 runners. Nearly 27,000 started the race, with 5 percent dropping out.
    Normally, Schultz would run one to two marathons to qualify for the Boston Marathon. Fortunately, her finish this year  automatically qualifies her for next year.
    That also means she will start further up in the first wave of runners. She had more than 5,000 runners in the group she started with.
Marathon high

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