Kearny resident Annemarie Uebbing trains last week to prepare for her first Boston Marathon, competing in the marathon a year after the deadly bombing that terrorized the finish line.
By Jim Hague
Observer Sports Writer
Annemarie Uebbing found running late in life.
In 2003, the Kearny resident just began running as a form of exercise.
“I saw that there was a race in Bayonne and thought it was a good idea to try it,” Uebbing said. “The race was for a charity, so I thought it was good. As it turned out, I had so much fun.”
Little did she know that it would become a major part of Uebbing’s life.
“I started to do other races,” Uebbing said. “I liked getting the goody bags that they gave to runners. It was also a good way to meet others.”
At that time, Uebbing never dreamed it would eventually lead to her running marathons.
“When I first started, I never thought I would run a marathon,” Uebbing said. “I just did the 5K races. Now, I hate 5Ks.”
She wanted longer distances.
“I think it was part physical and part mental,” said Uebbing, who qualified to compete in the Boston Marathon for the first time last Monday. “I just started to like the longer distances.”
In 2005, Uebbing ran a half-marathon in Jersey City. She also competed in a 10-kilometer race in her native Buffalo.
“It’s the oldest Turkey Trot in the country,” Uebbing said of the Thanksgiving Day race. “My nephew was running track at that time, so I did it with him. It was a lot of fun and found out that there were a lot of other races.”
Soon after, Uebbing began training seriously to run marathons.
In 2007, Uebbing ran the New York Marathon for the first time and finished in 4:11.33.
“Once I started running marathons, Boston always became the goal,” Uebbing said. “But I needed to have a better time. I also needed to be older. I needed to be 50. I needed to cut my time and get two years older.”
But the marathon bug had definitely bitten Uebbing. She ran the Berlin Marathon in 2008 and competed once again in New York, still pining to run Boston.
In 2009, she married her husband, Sergio Cano, who was also a competitive runner.
“He never runs with me during races,” Uebbing said. “He’s so much faster than me.”
She was hoping to cut her time enough to qualify for Boston, but she suffered a knee injury that sidelined her for almost a year.
“With the knee and not training, I never thought I would get it,” Uebbing said. Uebbing returned to running regularly in 2010 and competed in the Chicago Marathon.
“It was extremely hot that day,” Uebbing recalled. “I don’t like the heat.”
In 2011, Uebbing and her running club, the Clifton Roadrunners, ran together in the Baltimore Marathon, still looking to get a time worthy of competing in Boston.
A year later, Uebbing competed in a marathon in Amsterdam.
“I trained well and there were good conditions,” Uebbing said. “The one thing I like about running in Europe, it’s all kilometers and not miles. But I still never thought I’d get into Boston. They made the qualifications tougher and tougher. It was just getting harder and harder to get in. I trained hard during the summer. I ran the race a little ahead of my pace and finished in 4:07.33. I didn’t know if that was a qualifying time. There was no guarantee.”
She watched the 2013 Boston Marathon on television. She watched in horror as the bombs went off near the finish line, killing four people and maiming hundreds of others.
“That was so upsetting,” Uebbing said. “There are tons of people at the finish line,
cheering. It’s such a huge event. Running had given somuch to these people. To see all these people terrorized, it was just such an affront to something I love. I couldn’t believe that it happened to Boston like that.”
Last year, Uebbing received word that her time in Amsterdam was good enough to qualify for Boston.
Needless to say, Uebbing was determined to run the Boston Marathon this year.
“I’d say it really inspired me,” Uebbing said. “I wanted to show that running is stronger than the bombing. I don’t know if things are normal, but we’re going to
try. We’re going to prove that we’re stronger than what happened.”
Uebbing will be running with three members of her running club, all competing in the Master’s division.
“It’s going to be amazing,” Uebbing said.
The director for community planning and development for the federal Housing and Urban Development office in Newark, Uebbing trains by running home to Kearny from her Newark office daily.
For Uebbing to make her Boston Marathon debut on the year anniversary of the bombing is almost surreal.
“I think I’m going to be an emotional wreck when I reach the finish line,” Uebbing said. “I hope I’m not dehydrated from crying. In some ways, it’s not believable for me, to be able to run in this one. This race means so much to the running community. I have friends who didn’t get in and others I know will never get in. But I got in this year.”
Needless to say, it will be an emotional day for Uebbing, seeing a quest that took more than a decade to become reality at the world’s most famous road race.
“I’m going to just enjoy it,” Uebbing said. “There will be so much to take in. We’re going to prove that we are better than the bombers.”
