Paula Metivier

In 1977 I ran my first race ever and it was the Bonne Bell Mini Marathon. A friend of mine asked me to run it with her and, with hardly any training, we both finished. I remember having to run up 17 steps to get up to the Mass Ave bridge. I also remember passing a woman running in high heeled sandals at about the six mile mark. Phew, I did beat her, but not by much.

One of the fondest memories that I have of this race was starting the race with Joan Benoit Samuelson. Although she was actually jogging through the race that year, I quickly realized that even though I was running probably at my fastest race pace ever, I would not be running very much longer with Joan.

I still enjoy being in the race with all levels of runners and seeing them run by at various spots in the race.

Running certainly has helped me in other aspects of my life. I have met some lifelong friends through running and a few are still running this 10K with me. I look forward to running this race every Columbus Day weekend and plan my life schedule around it.

I love being one of the “pioneers” of this 10K race.

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