Norwalk Woman One of 30,000 Runners in Marine Corps Marathon
MARATHON
Norwalk Hour
Katerina Voutsina
Boston University Washington News Service
10/25/2009
WASHINGTON – Her bib number was 10449. His was 11801. She is a sales planner from Norwalk. He is a former Marine aviator in Vietnam.
For Kathryn Marie Laganza, 30, there was nothing more valuable than running the 34th Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday with her father, Joseph Charles Moosbrugger, 65.
“He lives in Long Island, I live in Connecticut, but we have been able to do some races in New York City through the Road Runners Association, so we have been able to meet on weekends,” Laganza said. “Sometimes I go home to my parents’ house and run with him.”
The morning breeze did not hamper the 30,000 runners who lined up at Arlington National Cemetery, the starting point for the race. Among them were 400 registered Connecticut runners – 141 women and 259 men – who participated in the marathon or one of the shorter races also held Sunday, said the marathon’s community relations coordinator, Tami Faram.
The 26.2-mile marathon route wound its way across the Potomac River into Washington, passing the Jefferson and Lincoln Memorials, the Washington Monument and the Capitol, among other landmarks before crossing the river again to the finish line at the Marine Corps Memorial.
Laganza, riding the Metro, arrived at Arlington National Cemetery at 6:50 a.m. accompanied by family friends and neighbors.
She was initially a bit concerned about her father’s leg. “My dad tripped on a metal garden box and gashed his lower leg and shin,” Laganza said. She said Moosbrugger spent a few hours in the emergency room Saturday night having stitches put in.
However, Moosbrugger who had also torn his hamstring in a water skiing accident two summers ago, was the one who finally supported Laganza until the finish line, especially after a stomach problem knocked her off her pace.
“For any father, there is nothing better than to be able to run with one of his children,” Moosbrugger said. “I couldn’t be more proud.”
Laganza said she feels it is an accomplishment for her as well.
“It was awesome. I couldn’t done it without him,” she said after the race. “It is very emotional. It is really nice to share together the fun.”
She had been in training for the race since July. “Basically it is running an average of five to six miles for four days a week and then have a long run on the weekends,” Laganza said.
She said she received some cheers along the way, but not as many as when she ran in the New York city marathon last year. She said running over the bridge across the Potomac at mile 20, where no fans were present, was the hardest point of the course.
“I just wanted to stop,” Laganza said. Nevertheless, she said, the experience justified 100 percent of her effort. “It is not my first marathon, but it is something that I can put on my bucket list with things that I have done. I am sure there will be more.”
For Lindsay Gordon, 19, of Darien, this was her first marathon.
“I think the Marine Corps Marathon is a good marathon to do as your first one, because it is not a particularly difficult course,” said Gordon, who studies international affairs at the George Washington University.
Washington, she said, “is familiar territory.” “The beginning was kind of rough, but running on M Street, so close to my university, transformed the whole area.”
Gordon said that as she approached the finish line, “I loved it when people put their hands out to high-five them…. That was great.” Her mother, Caroline Gordon, traveled from Darien to cheer for her daughter, holding a poster with the words “Let’s go Lin.”
First-time marathon runner John Mentzer of Kittery, Maine, a Navy lieutenant commander, finished in first place, at 2:21:47. Ethiopian Muliye Gurmu was the top female finisher, with a time of 2:49:48.
Beth Johnson, the marathon’s public relations coordinator, said the race is the world’s largest marathon by number of finishers that does not offer prize money to its winners, earning its nickname, she said, of “the people’s marathon.”
But the race is not without any rewards.
“I am really excited to go the runners’ village and get a free massage,” Gordon said.
“There are supposed to be 220 massage therapists [actually, 167] there. They want to break the world record.”
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