For most people, running a marathon would be an arduous, if not impossible, task ? and that’s on a sunny day.
Imagine running 26.2 miles in the pouring rain with wind gusts of 30-50 miles per hour blowing in your face.
Matt Weber doesn’t have to imagine it. He did it when he ran in the 111th Boston Marathon on Monday.
‘The conditions here were insane,? he said. ‘The first 15-16 miles was just sideways rain.?
Despite having to battle the fierce nor’easter storm that slammed the East Coast, the 38-year-old Oxford resident finished the 42.195-kilometer journey from Hopkinton, Massachusetts to Copley Square in downtown Boston in 3 hours, 22 minutes and 38 seconds.
‘I was hoping not to go over 3? hours, so mission accomplished as far as I’m concerned,? said Weber, who served on the Oxford Village Council from 2003-05.
Of the 20,348 runners who actually finished the race, Weber placed 3,856th overall. He placed 3,450th among the 12,373 men who finished.
Among the 4,525 men who finished the race in the 18-39 age category, Weber finished 2,083rd.
Weber was astounded by the sheer number of people who participate in the Boston Marathon.
‘It was just a logjam at the start,? he said. ‘I had to walk almost the first half-mile because the field’s so congested at the start. It took me 4-5 minutes just to get to the starting line.?
Of the 23,869 who entered the marathon, a total of 20,640 actually started the race, according to the Boston Athletic Association website.
Once he got moving, Weber’s biggest competition wasn’t his fellow runners, it was an angry Mother Nature.
‘By the time you put a couple miles in, your shoes were so soaked it didn’t matter if you were stepping through puddles or not because you’re feet were already wet,? he said. ‘When it finally stopped raining about 16-17 miles in, the wind kicked up. The winds were just brutal. The gusts were really, really bad.?
Fortunately, being a Michigan resident, Weber was very familiar with adverse weather conditions.
‘I trained a lot in crappy weather all winter so I was ready for it,? he said.
To train for the marathon, Weber spent all of February and March running 50-plus miles a week.
A couple weeks prior to the race, he scaled back to 25-30 miles a week to recover, heal and ‘stay loose.?
‘Your body takes a beating when you train,? Weber explained. ‘You don’t want to be sore and beat up come race day.?
This wasn’t Weber’s first marathon.
In 2005 and 2006, he participated in The Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon, which takes runners through downtown Detroit and Windsor, Canada.
His time in last year’s Detroit marathon was good enough to qualify him for Boston.
‘I had to run it under 3 hours, 16 minutes to qualify,? Weber said. ‘I made it by 18 seconds. I cut it about as close as I could.?
‘Boston’s kind of like the Super Bowl of marathons because it’s the only one you have to qualify for in a previous marathon,? he explained. ‘Anyone can enter New York and some of the other ones like Detroit, but to run Boston, you have to run under a certain time for your age group.?
Given his qualifying status is also valid for the 2008 Boston Marathon, Weber said, ‘I’ll probably come back here next year.?
Running these marathons is more than just an extreme way for Weber to stay in shape and test the limits of his physical endurance.
It’s a way for him to battle a cruel disease that’s robbing him of a dear loved one ? his father.
Weber’s 69-year-old dad has lived with and courageously battled Multiple Sclerosis (MS) for about 25 years. Unfortunately, he’s now in hospice care.
Each year he ran in Detroit, Weber raised money and awareness for the Michigan Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, a cause very near and dear to his heart.
‘I raised over $1,000 in each one,? said Weber, who noted it’s ‘one of the few charities? where most of the money goes directly to helping people rather than paying for administration.
Even though the Boston Marathon wasn’t an officially sanctioned fund-raising event for the MS Society, Weber still asked people he knew to contribute when he told them he was running.
Weber’s only sorry his father couldn’t make the trip to Boston. He considered calling off it in light of his dad’s poor health. But his mother told him, ‘No matter what happens you’re going.?
‘Everyone said he would want me to go, so that’s what I did,? Weber said.

A little Boston Marathon history
After experiencing the spirit and majesty of the Olympic Marathon, B.A.A. member and inaugural US Olympic Team Manager John Graham was inspired to organize and conduct a marathon in the Boston area. With the assistance of Boston businessman Herbert H. Holton, various routes were considered, before a measured distance of 24.5 miles from the Irvington Oval in Boston to Metcalf’s Mill in Ashland was eventually selected. On April 19, 1897, John J. McDermott of New York, emerged from a 15-member starting field and captured the first B.A.A. Marathon in 2:55:10. In 1924, the B.A.A. moved the starting line from Ashland to Hopkinton. In 1927, the Boston Marathon course was lengthened to the full distance of 26 miles, 385 yards to conform to Olympic standards.
? Boston Athletic Association (www.baa.org)