Michelle McCollum finishes Boston Marathon in 3 hours, 37 minutes and 4 seconds

Published 6:38 pm Tuesday, May 9, 2006

A sickly child, Michelle McCollum wasn’t supposed to finish life much less finish a marathon. She not only finished the Boston Marathon, but finished with a very respectable time of 3 hours, 37 minutes and 4 seconds.

When McCollum was a child in Branford, her mother learned she was severely handicapped. “The doctors told me she had the lungs of an old woman,” mom Sandra Haas said.

McCollum’s lungs were extremely scarred from recurring bouts of pneumonia. But McCollum refused to be held down. She started running when she was 8, ran cross country in high school, ran track and was a cheerleader. Nothing stops this pretty, slender blonde woman with the giant heart.

After the birth of her two children, McCollum was encouraged by her family to start running again. When McCollum finished the Disney Marathon with a great time of 3 hours 20 minutes, she received a notice she had qualified for the Boston marathon lottery. Yes, so many runners wish to run in the prestigious event, they have to pull names out of a hat. McCollum received the notice by email that she’d been chosen to run.

“When I got the email,” McCollum said, “I just sat there. And then I thought Wow! I’m going to Boston.”

McCollum, her husband and mother took the trip to Boston. They stayed in the Jurys of Boston, a renovated Police Station.

“It was an experience,” McCollum said. “It’s like the Super Bowl. There are people there to cheer the runners from mile one to mile 22.2. I had a blast. I got to meet thousands of elite runners. They all had to qualify to be there.”

McCollum said the morning of the marathon was cold. “I kept my shirt on until mile 16, then I tossed it,” McCollum said. “At mile 18 I wanted it back.”

McCollum said there were an amazing amount of runners participating in the race. “When the gun went off, my first thought was ‘Am I ever going to make it to the start line?’ We walked. It took 12 minutes to just get to the start line. That should give you an idea of how many runners there were.”

McCollum said the first 16 miles is downhill and then you start hitting the three hills that culminate in Heartbreak Hill.

“I’m a Florida girl,” McCollum said. “I’m used to training on the flat. Those hills were all mountains to me.”

McCollum finished 1647 out of the women runners. She ran the marathon in 3 hours, 37 minutes and 4 seconds.

“It’s the best feeling to finish a marathon, but when I finished, I felt horrible,” McCollum said. “I pushed myself harder than I ever had before. But now I feel amazing.”

McCollum says she’s going back next year. “I hope to pull off a 3:25,” she said.