By Chanel Nardone

This is the last installment in a series chronicling two students’ preparations to run the Boston Marathon.

As the gun sounded, close to 20,000 people began the run, or walk, to the finish line. In the middle of the mass of runners was junior chemical engineering major Jim Rice and middler biochemistry major Lauren Skeffington. Both Northeastern students had been training for months, and finally, Marathon Monday had arrived.

Both runners had set goals they had wished to meet on Monday, but some of the obstacles that come along with running a marathon proved to be too much.

An early start

Neither Rice nor Skeffington woke up Monday morning planning on taking home the first place prize of $100,000 after the race. Instead, both hoped to achieve a personal victory by joining runners from all over the world as they wound through the city streets.

At 7 a.m. the two friends met at the Marino Center, boarded a green-line train to Park Street and were bused to the starting area in Hopkinton where they arrived by 9 a.m.

To pass the three hours before the start of the race, the two stretched and talked with other runners about to head out on the 26.2-mile journey.

The starting gun sounded at noon and they were off, heading toward Boston with miles of road ahead.

Almost there

For Rice, the three-and-a-half hours went by quickly. He didn’t listen to music, he just ran.

However, once he hit mile 21, Rice had to drop his seven-minute mile pace. As he reached the last five miles of the race, Rice got a leg cramp, which forced his pace to decrease and his time to increase to an eight-minute mile.

“Mentally you’re OK, and you’re not even tired, but if your leg decides to cramp, there’s nothing you can do,” he said.

When his legs began to cramp, Rice said he walked for 30 seconds or so before running again.

Compared to Skeffington, Rice was lucky.

Skeffington went into the race feeling good despite a lingering injury in her right leg resulting from overuse of her muscles. She said she had been experiencing pain in her knee for about the past month, which stemmed from a tight iliotibial band that connects the kneecap to the hip.

She had been alternating ice and heat to keep swelling down for days before the race, as well as going to physical therapy, taking anti-inflammatory pills and excessively stretching in preparation for the race.

“I was fine. I was running a high seven-minute mile. I was having a blast,” Skeffington said. “I did Heartbreak Hill and got up to mile 22, then I wiped out. I dislocated my patella [knee cap] and it shifted all the way to the outside of my knee. It felt like the worst pain I’ve ever experienced,” she said.

Paramedics successfully popped her knee back in place and she said her injury should not cause any permanent damage.

Her fierce drive however, didn’t want her to stop.

“The paramedics wouldn’t let me go, but I considered getting up again,” she said.

Although she considered it, Skeffington was not able to get up again, and after months of training the marathon had ended for her at mile 22.

Looking ahead

Although he finished in a net time of 3:23:38, Rice said he was disappointed that his finish time exceeded the limit for next year’s qualification, but he was glad he finished at all.

“I think I’m smart enough now that I know if I want to finish then I need to go slow. The people that you see crash to the ground at the end are those that feel that twitch [of an oncoming cramp] and don’t stop. What will happen if you do that is your leg will lock up,” he said.

He said he is planning on running the Boston Marathon again next year and hopes to make the qualifying time of 3 hours, 10 minutes during a marathon next fall.

“I’m not disappointed with myself or the marathon, it will give me another goal to work towards,” he said.

Upon crossing the finish line, Rice went through a series of checkpoints including a medical stop, a water and food stop, and the station where he received a medal. He then met up with his parents near the Prudential Center and they drove him home, eager to shower, he said.

Because she ran the Bay State Marathon last October, which ensures her a qualifying spot for two Boston Marathons, Skeffington is planning on running again next year.

“I don’t regret [running this year] because it makes you appreciate all of your little successes and every day that you can go on an hour or two hour run with nothing bothering you,” she said.