Boston Marathon 2011: Time of 3:32
Mary “Rage” Rueda
Hometown: Denver, CO
Accomplishments:
Running brings out the best in me! It’s my motivation for getting up and tackling each and every day. Running is inspiring, challenging, and my venue for disconnecting from what can be an unkind and unforgiving world. I had been running short distances for several years when I met what turned out to be a wonderful friend. My friend talked me into running longer distances & doing shots of tequila! She was there to encourage, coach and eventually persuade me to take on distances of 13.1 and eventually 26.2! My friend Tracy turned out to be my first running coach. Then she up and left me for beautiful San Diego, who can blame her? I was in need of new running buddies and that’s when I joined a local running group and met Brian Snow. Brian helped me take running to a new level. I was no longer just running to run I was running to compete and better myself. Brian told me things that I did not believe initially. He said I could run faster, he said I had the potential to place higher in my division and then he told me the biggest lie of them all. Brian said I had the potential to qualify for Boston! In 2008 Brian paced me at the Denver Marathon – we were on a quest for Mary’s Boston qualifier. I managed a PR of over 11 minutes but missed the qualifier by 46 seconds! So the work began and I finally got the qualifier at the end of 2009 at the California International Marathon, only to be shut out of a sold out 2010 Boston race! That’s okay though because while I was working to qualify for Boston I met an awesome runner who had very similar goals, Barb Peterson. Barb and I have trained and raced together to better our times. We encourage one another to give it our all no matter what it takes! In 2011 Barb and I traveled to Boston in April and kicked some serious butt while we were there. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we did it again in 2012! I guess what I’m really trying to say is that running is for me. This is where I achieve and meet great people who help inspire me to go to places I didn’t think were possible. Now I believe that significant- personal levels of achievement are possible in running and in life!





















