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Donald Wolent and his wife, Abigail Wolent

Donald Wolent catches Lance Armstrong (right) dashing through Washington Square

Students from the Asian Student Association

Student Helen Chu at the starting line in Hopkinton

Students from the Physician Assistant Student Society at the finish line in Copley Square

Student runner Jason Raehl with family after the race

MCPHS at the 112th Boston Marathon

All three MCPHS campuses were well represented both on the race course and behind the scenes of the 112th running of the Boston Marathon on April 21. Marcy Winokur, Admission Counselor, Michael Steinberg, Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Practice and first-year PA student Jason Raehl successfully ran the race. Donald Wolent, Assistant Director of Public Safety, and students from the Asian Student Association (ASA) and the Physician Assistant Student Society (PASS) volunteered at different points along the course. Below is a sampling of Monday’s events.

-Donald Wolent and his wife have volunteered at the marathon for the last five years with the Red Cross as Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs). This year they were stationed at mile 23.2 in Brookline’s Washington Square and were on call the entire race to tend to injuries. Wolent says that this year all of the injuries they treated were minor, and that each treated runner went on to continue the race.

-A team of five students from ASA were stationed at the starting line in Hopkinton, where they helped the runners load their belongings onto buses and snapped photographs of many of the runners. Once the race began, the group traveled to the finish line in Copley Square to make sure everything arrived safely.

-Fifteen students from PASS were assigned to the "wheelchair sweep" from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and placed at different locations behind the finish line. Their job was to assist runners who had just finished the race, which included massage therapy and transporting the runners to see their families and, sometimes, to a medical tent.

-Marcy Winokur, who was profiled in last week’s Under the Microscope, said that it’s hard to imagine that on Monday she finished her first marathon. Although most of it was a blur, she does recall a few things: a man dressed in a Tweety Bird costume in Natick, the pain in her knees, the "Wellesley Scream Tunnel," the many people who called out her name, and the people who yelled "Thank you Dana-Farber!" "I’ve had an array of emotions, but they all lead to one proud fact: I completed the Boston Marathon," Winokur said.

-Monday was Jason Raehl’s first Boston Marathon, but his ninth overall. (He has also run marathons in Chicago; Detroit; Traverse City, Mich.; Dearborn, Mich.; Toronto, and his home town Grand Rapids Mich.) With his parents and aunt traveling to see him run, Raehl says that he relaxed and enjoyed the race, took in the sights and sounds, snapped some pictures with spectators, and finished in three hours and 34 minutes. (His personal best is three hours and 8 minutes.) No rest for the weary - Jason just signed up for the Vermont City Marathon on May 25.

-Michael Steinberg says that heavy congestion at the start of the race made it hard to get into his usual race pace. Before the race, he slapped a huge sticker with his name on his chest and received countless personal words of encouragement along the way. Approximately 100 yards from the finish line, Steinberg grabbed his children from the stands and sprinted the rest of the way with them. Michael finished the race in four hours and 10 minutes. He says that although it wasn’t his best time, he has many great memories and can’t wait for next year.

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