Posted: Apr 18, 2017

Goding is all smiles after Boston Marathon finish

BOSTON, Mass. - Salve Regina alumna Mallory Goding '13 (Cumberland, Maine) was one of the 26,411 runners who covered the 26.2 miles between Hopkinton and Boston on Monday, a successful marathon finish that was two years and hundreds of miles in the making.

To earn her bib number – No. 15082 – and her place among the second wave of starters in the 121st running of the Boston Marathon, Goding started running longer in 2015, building mileage toward her marathon debut. While many first-time marathoners focus on a successful finish, Goding hoped that a course in Portland, Maine, would be the road to Boston.

Her qualifying effort, at the Maine Marathon in October 2015, went exactly as planned. With a time of 3:28:37, Goding was well under the 3:35:00 Boston-qualifying standard for women ages 18 to 34 and eligible for the 2017 running of the world's oldest annual marathon.

In training for Boston, Goding sought to learn the course, traveling to Massachusetts for long runs along the first miles in Hopkinton, Ashland, Framingham, Natick and Wellesley. By race day, she was ready.

"I felt well prepared in terms of knowing the course ahead of time," Goding said. "I met with the Heartbreak Hill Running Company in Newton on Saturday mornings, where I was able to run the first 13.1 miles of the course and the three major hills."

When Goding's wave started at 10:25 a.m. on Monday, she had a strategy in mind.

"I told myself three things: patience, pace and consistency," Goding said.

The first half of the race went as expected. Goding averaged just over 8 minutes per mile, reaching the halfway point at 1:46:11. But with temperatures in the low 60s – about 13 degrees above average for April 17 – the warmer-than-normal conditions soon took a toll.

"The majority of my training was done in cold weather," Goding said. "After running the first half of the course, my strategy changed and my new goal was to stay as hydrated as possible, keep my feet moving and make it to the finish."

She did exactly that, crossing the finish line at 3:54:16, an average of just under 9 minutes per mile. Goding finished in the top half of the women's field (4,954/11,973) and was nearly in the top half of the field overall (13,981/26,411).

But this race was more about an experience than it was about splits and statistics.

"Running in the world's greatest marathon was both incredible and inspiring," Goding said. "The city of Boston comes together to cheer on the runners; the excitement is beyond belief. There were endless fans from the start in Hopkinton all the way to the finish on Boylston Street. I have never seen anything like it."

The support continued beyond the course. Wearing her race medal and a jacket sporting the marathon logo, Goding was congratulated by strangers as she walked around the city afterward.

"I felt like a champion," she said. "I couldn't stop smiling for the rest of the day. In fact, I still can't."

Goding was a cross country champion at Salve Regina, running in the No. 6 spot when the Seahawks captured the 2011 Commonwealth Coast Conference Championship. She was an All-CCC honoree in 2009 and played a varsity role in 14 of 20 collegiate races.

"Our distance runners were well aware of Mal's marathon efforts, and we were tracking her splits on Monday," said cross country coach Rob McGuinness. "It was exciting to have one of our own earn a spot at Boston, and we are incredibly proud of Mal for finishing strong."

Goding will return to the roads in May – running with her younger sister and brother – in the Run to Remember Half Marathon in Boston. She hopes to run the Boston Marathon again one day, with her siblings, in support of a charity.