Local Athletes Run to Honor Boston Brethren

Had fate not intervened a few days before she was to leave for Boston, Belmont resident and Boston Marathon qualifier Michelle Ladcani may very well have been eating her post-race lunch near the very spot where two bombs exploded, killing three and injuring hundreds more.

In the weeks that have followed the tragedy at the Boston Marathon, runners and walkers across the country have come together to put shoes to pavement to honor those whose lives were forever changed that fateful Patriots Day.

And so Belmont Michelle Ladcani organized a local run Sunday morning on Canada Road so that she, and others could run (or walk) their own marathon while raising funds for Boston victims.

Ladcani was joined by friend William Dai of San Francisco and mother and daughter runners Carol Elliott and Megan Storms of San Carlos for the fundraising event, "Heart and Soles for Boston".   

Storms, who has run Boston before, said there's a certain euphoria a runner experiences when reaching the finish line of a big race. "It's like a sancturary-- it's special. And they took that away." she said referring to the bombers.

"But we're fighting back and we're running today to show that they didn't take that away," said Storms.

William Dai credits his Belmont coworker Ladcani's for turning him into a marathoner and hopes to qualify for Boston next year. He ran Sunday's 26.6 on Canada road in 3:49.

Both Ladcani and Storms have already qualified for the 2014 Boston Marathon with a time of 3:31; Ladcani's came at the Portland Marathon and Storms' at the California International Marathon.

As Ladcani explained, participants in the Hearts and Soles events don't need to be marathoners, "People can walk or run any distance over 2.6 miles and 100% of the proceeds go to the victims."

As of last week, Ladcani said the run had 150 registered runners and has raised $4,600. She added that donations are still being accepted; the race website is:  http://www.tracysracing.com/boston