“People always ask me why I run. Usually, my easy response – so I can eat and drink more. Today I know.” – Stephanie Miller, April 15, 2013.
Steph Miller’s phone and e-mail basket were flooded with calls and messages on April 15. The 30-year-old Cincinnati native, now a Chicago high school teacher of special education students, was in Boston. She had completed her sixth Boston Marathon, running with her long-time friend Danielle Schneider, a 27-year-old speech pathologist now living in Boston, who had just finished her seventh consecutive jaunt from Hopkinton.
The runners were celebrating good days. It was a perfect day to run, not like last year’s Patriots Day when the temperatures climbed into the 80s and made life tougher than normal for 26.2 miles. This Monday wasn’t too hot, it wasn’t too cold.
The usual 30-45 minutes Miller and Schneider spend after the race searching for each other amidst the cluster of feet crossing the finish line on Boylston St. was shortened considerably this year, down to about 15 minutes. With the help of some inflatable bananas they quickly found their parents, who became friends years ago over ice cream in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood, and Danielle’s boyfriend Steven.
Randy Miller, Steph’s father, was going to get drinks as the group waited for a table at Stephanie’s on Newbury, a block away from the finish line, when the day turned for everyone.
“I immediately thought in my head for a second that was a bomb, that was an explosion,” said Schneider. “My sense of direction, because my boyfriend and I are the only ones from here, said that happened on the marathon course. Whatever it was it was on the marathon course because we were that close and it was behind us.”
People shouted speculations. A bridge had collapsed? There is no bridge on Boylston. Perhaps the stands at the finish line or the media canopy above the finish line?
Then the second explosion occurred.
“I knew something bad was happening,” said Schneider. “It was like a season of '24.'”
This Sunday on the streets of Cincinnati, including through Hyde Park Square where their parents met, Miller and Schneider will be running again. One day shy of three weeks since the Boston Marathon bombings took the lives of three incident bystanders, including 8-year-old Martin Richard, and wounded more than 250 people, the friends will be running in the 15th annual Flying Pig marathon as a salute to Boston and those throughout the running community.
They are running for Christian Williams and Caroline Rensch. They are running for Patrick and Jessica Downes. The two couples were severely injured in the explosions. A web-based fundraising effort Miller and Schneider began a few days after the bombings hoping to generate $2,602 – in honor of the 26.2-mile marathon distance – for the couples. Eight days into the campaign and that amount was nearly tripled.
“You are crossing (the finish line) for a very different reason. You’re not crossing because of your time and you’re not crossing because it’s your 31st marathon,” said Miller. “You’re crossing it for all of those people who got hurt, for all of those runners who qualified probably for the first time and didn’t get to go to the finish line in Boston.
“I’ve been thought spiraling for the last two weeks about how many different people in so many different ways were affected by all of this. My heart is going to beat a little faster when I get to the finish line but Cincinnati is going to be a great marathon for Danielle and me to do after this one.”
This will be the third Flying Pig for Miller, a 2001 graduate of Sycamore High School, but the first one for Schneider, a 2004 graduate of Cincinnati Country Day. Three weeks is a tight window between marathons for most runners, although Miller has run them on consecutive weekends before, she said. Miller has 31 marathons to her credit, Schneider 18. It’s the main reason why Schneider hasn’t run her hometown marathon before.
The reason to run it is much bigger.
This will be the first time the friends have been able to hang out together since the bombing; Miller flew back to Chicago that same night, using the time to write on her iPad a letter to all of her friends and family letting them know she was safe, that she appreciated their well wishes and telling them of all that had gone right that day before the explosions.
“While we were waiting for the start, we (s)aw a woman who has her splits written on her arm as well as the words ‘kick cancers ass’ written above,” wrote Miller. “I didn’t talk to the woman but as I was on the course today I certainly thought of her and many other incredible fighters in my life who have been effected by cancer, both past and present, those I know and those I don’t know – reminded me every runner has a reason and a story. Not to mention the ability of the running community to support many other awesome organizations.”
There was no doubt in the mind of either Miller or Schneider that they will be running Sunday’s Flying Pig. Or in Chicago in October. Or next year’s Boston Marathon.
“We want to wear our shirts that have ‘Boston’ on it. I want to paint my nails blue and yellow for Boston,” said Schneider. “I feel like I’m doing something to help out. I can’t go and give someone surgery. I can’t give them rehab because I’m not a physical therapist but this is a way I can feel like I’m helping. This isn’t a competition to see how much money we can raise but it’s like, ‘Wow, this person cares’ when my mom’s co-worker’s friend saw it and wanted to donate. It’s been a huge uplift of support.”
The cover of the May issue of Boston Magazine has a photo of shoes from runners at this year’s Boston Marathon in the shape of a heart. With each pair of shoes comes a story. Danielle Schneider’s shoes are in that photo. Her shoes represent not just her own story but those of her friend Steph Miller and the thousands of other runners who were in Boston on April 15.
Their stories are still running.
For more information on Steph Miller and Danielle Schneider’s fund-raising efforts, go to their page on the GoFundMe.com web site by clicking here.
