By David Li, bostonese.com
Boston, April 28, 2014, — For the 36,000 runners of the 118th Boston Marathon, many of them returned to the race to finish it when two bombs interrupted last year’s Boston Marathon, such as Boston College student Yanyi Weng. For first-time runner Boston University graduate student Baiyun Yao, she trained hard for marathon in honor of Lingzi Lu. A beautiful sunny day with low humility certainly helped both of them finish the 26.2 mile course and cross finish line with pride on April 21, Patriots’ Day of 2014.
BU Chinese student Baiyun Yao (right) poses for a picture in front of China’s national flag after she finishes the marathon (provided to bostonese.com).
“It took me six hours to finish the marathon. But my goal was just to finish and I did. So I was very joyful! I was not planning to run this year because I was working for part time jobs to prepare for my upcoming studying abroad in South Africa and had many responsibilities at BC,” said Yanyi Weng.
Last year, Yanyi Weng partnered with Julia Kuo to run for Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC). Yanyi Weng was stopped at mile 21, and Julia Kuo was only a mile away from the finish line when the race was interrupted. However, Yanyi Weng, who immigrated to the US as a child, had learned a lot about herself from training for and running Boston Marathon last year.
Yanyi Weng kisses the medal after she finishes the 118th Boston Marathon (provided to bostonese.com).
Without a lot of time for training, Yanyi still managed to finish the race with her determination. “I was inspired by BC bandit runners who ran the week before the official marathon as BC organized its own marathon run for the Campus School for students with special needs. I also wanted to finish what I did not get to last year.” Julia Kuo also finished this year’s Boston Marathon with a time of 5:04:47.
For BU graduate student from Baiyun Yao, she returned to Boston Marathon as a runner this year. She was a volunteer for the race last year, and was heartbroken when she learned that fellow BU student Lingzi Lu was among the three victims of the bombings. “It was such a sad story,” said Yao. “I was so shocked about Lingzi’s death.”
This February, right after the Chinese New Year, Yao read an article on BU Today that said Lu’s family was given slots by the Boston Athletic Association and they intended to donate the university seven running spots. Yao applied after thinking about it for several days.
Hiking, traveling and other outdoors activities are among Baiyun’s hobbies, but running marathon is a whole new challenge. Baiyun has trained hard over past two months after her application was accepted. With preparation and determination, Baiyun finished Boston Marathon in 4:14:34.
“I’m very happy, very proud when I cross the finish line. But it’s a pity that I didn’t see parents of Lingzi Lu after the race. I wanted to give them my medal. I’m happy because I did what I committed to do to honor the life of Lingzi. At the finish line, when a reporter interviewed me, I could not hold back and started to cry,” said Baiyun.
It’s remarkable that these two students are able to prepare and complete Boston Marathon while the final exams are just around the corner. To Yanyi and Baiyun, crossing the finish line of the 118th Boston Marathon is the best lesson they could have learned.