Not only did Amramp of Omaha owners Todd and Bridgette Torring complete the 2011 Boston Marathon, the high-school sweethearts ran the entire 26.2 miles side-by-side and finished together. Bridgette’s official finish time – just one second a head of Todd – was 4:02:59 on a sunny and windy Monday in Massachusetts.
Although she did not meet her personal best of 3:43, Boston marks Bridgette’s sixth marathon. Todd returned to the Boston Marathon for a second time and has now completed seven marathons with a personal best of 3:13: both highly commendable times for runners who didn’t start marathons until they hit age 40.
Boston has one of the most challenging courses of any U.S. marathon, mostly downhill at the start but with several difficult hills starting at the 16-mile mark, culminating in “Heartbreak Hill” around the 20-mile mark in Newton.
But the couple enjoyed Boston despite its challenges. “We were able to talk during the race and strategize because I had been there before,” Todd said. “It was a good time, we enjoyed the sights and all of the people who came out and supported the race. There’s no other race like it! It’s just a great, great event. Since it was Bridgette’s first Boston Marathon, just qualifying for that race and running it was a good experience for her. She really enjoyed it.”
They were also fortunate to have excellent weather: “It was absolutely a perfect, perfect day,” Todd said. “The Boston Marathon hasn’t had weather like that in years. It was ideal conditions for running. You couldn’t ask for a better day to run that race.” In fact, Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya set the record for fastest marathon ever recorded at 2:03:02.
When they weren’t racing, the Torrings enjoyed Boston, even shared a few beers with fellow racers from Omaha at Faneuil Hall Marketplace. Immediately following the race, they traded race stories at the “packed-with-runners” Marriott Copley Place.
Jut two days after the marathon, Todd returned to operating Amramp of Nebraska and Bridgette was teaching: the “normal swing of things.” The Boston Marathon won’t be their last race together.
“We definitely want to keep running marathons,” Todd said. “We’re taking the next week and a half off and then running a half marathon in Lincoln, Nebraska, to benefit Team World Vision, which raises money for children in Africa. I am also going to train all summer and hope to run another full marathon in the fall.”
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