The day before the running of the Boston Marathon, three Michigan running friends posed for a keepsake photo left to right): Gary McRay, president of Foster, Swift, Collins & Smith, P.C.; Terry Carella, Cooley Law School director of communications; and Charlie Ross, manager for the State of Michigan, department of technology and management and budget.
By Tom Kirvan
Legal News
On a day when records were eclipsed at the Boston Marathon, Terry Carella broke one, too.
And almost her ankle as well.
Carella, director of communications for Cooley Law School, turned in a personal best for the Boston event on April 19, covering the 26.2-mile course in 3:34, more than two minutes faster than her previous record for the race.
Her 13th marathon, befitting the number, was “quite a ride,” she admitted.
“The weather was near perfect, although there was a cold wind waiting before the start,” Carella said of the race from Hopkinton to Boston, which was highlighted by a record-setting performance by Kenyan Robert Cheruiyot in a mind-boggling time of 2:05.52. “I love running in the sun and I was feeling very good, clipping right along, then at mile six I must have been running on uneven ground and rolled my ankle and fell, splat on ground.
“A runner luckily pulled me up like a rag doll, asked me if I was okay, and kept on running. Thank goodness, because I certainly would have been trampled. I didn't even look and kept on running.”
By the time Carella “got to Wellesley,” near the halfway mark, “my ankle was numb and I refocused because I needed to get through the Newton Hills,” including the diabolical “Heartbreak Hill” that has dashed the hopes of many a marathoner.
“I am thrilled that I was able to keep going and actually do a Boston PR with a 3:34:01,” she said. “Once I finished, I looked at my ankle, which was purple and swollen the size of an orange. Good grief.”
Fortunately for Carella, she has a doctor in the family.
Her husband, Michael, is a physician in Lansing, and quickly tended to his wife’s ankle needs, helping reduce the swelling.
“Mike got me all fixed up . . . and at this point it looks almost normal,” Carella said of her ankle.
After a week off, she has resumed training for her next marathon quest, the Bayshore event in Traverse City over
Memorial Day weekend. It was there, last year, that she set a personal best of 3:28, a time that she hopes to beat this time around.
“If my ankle holds up, I think I have a good shot at it,” Carella said.
In the meantime, Carella can relish the fact that she finished in rarefied air at Boston among Lansing area runners.
“The Lansing State Journal said I was the top female mid-Michigan runner to do Boston – not bad for an old lady,” she said with a smile.
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