Stomach cramps also sidelined Bill O'Neil '82, forcing him to jog the last ten miles. A native of Centerville, Mass., O'Neil qualified to run in Boston by blazing through the Cape Cod Marathon in 2:44 last December. The 5-ft., 140-lb. sophomore said he worked eight months training for Boston. The week before the race he said he "felt like a little kid before Christmas who can't think of anything else." Most likely, O'Neil would have liked the weather to be a little more wintry, since the summery sun melted his dream of breaking 2:40. The Economics major started quickly and by ten miles, he said he didn't think he could make it. Although his jaunt through Wellesley in a Harvard cross-country shirt gave him a boost, he said, he soon "got to a point where I wanted to run but it wasn't worth it if I was hurting my health." Still, pressure from the crowd, who "all knew what the white H on a red shirt meant," kept O'Neil going at half-speed and he completed the race in just under three and one-half hours. "Right when I crossed the finish line I felt a surge of relief," the 15-lb. lighter Lowell House resident said. "It felt great to be able to stop running and not feel guilty."

First year Business School student Bruce Hamilton also described crossing the finish line as a "relief after a confusing and depressing final six miles." A graduate of Cal-Berkeley, Hamilton qualified to run officially with a time of 2:42. After spending what he described as the finest three days of his life before the race--tapering down to only a couple of miles a day and eating all he wanted to load up on carbohydrates--Hamilton used a few spare moments before the race to study a little.

Although he had hoped to average six minute miles and complete the race in 2:37, Hamilton changed his goal because at the heat, "trying to finish without walking." The 6-ft, 155-pounder succeeded in running the entire race and breaking three hours. While he considered the contest "unsuccessful," Hamilton said he wants to "start running again as soon as possible," adding, "There's always next year."

Harvard assistant women's track coach John Babington has looked toward "next year" for the past 12 years. Completing his 13th consecutive Boston marathon in 3:08, Babington said he sees the race as an annual tradition more than anything else--"I'm strictly a casual and amateur Marathon runner," Babington said. "As a coach I would discourage any runner who put in as little training as I did." Thirty-four years old, the rookie coach started running the Marathons when he entered Harvard Law School in 1968. Although he admits he does not really enjoy the race, preferring a shorter, faster pace, he still runs "out of force of habit." This year, Babington said "my motivation dropped to zero--after two miles I wanted to drop out." But the graduate of Williams College hung on, encouraged by Crimson track stars Ellen Hart and Darlene Beckford, who greeted him with sponges at various points throughout the race. Although he said he "did not enjoy the race at all this year," Babington plans to run again next year. "I can't leave it at unlucky 13," he says.

Other Harvard undergraduate finishers included former swim team captain Ned Cahoon '80, Lou Zachary '81, Wayne Forrester '80, Jim Whiting, '81, John Gargaro '81, Jim Rosenfeld '81, and Scott Schereschewsky '81. Like the others, they all completed the race with varying degrees of pain and satisfaction.

With the increase in the number and caliber of Harvard participants in the grueling race, someday Crimson runners in the Boston Marathon may become a new Massachusetts tradition.