Travel Tales
Young Chang
Right before beginning mile 16 -- which was a hill -- of a 26.6-mile
race, runner Paul King saw his mother, Jo King, waving and cheering on
the sidelines.
“I saw my mother before the hardest part of the race, which gave the
added inspiration to continue,” said the 39-year-old runner of the Boston
Marathon.
Newport Beach resident Jo King traveled to Boston in mid-April just to
cheer on her son.
She ended up walking the Harvard University campus and touring the
city also during her weekend trip, but her purpose was to join the
cheering squad for her rapidly running son, even if it was for just a
moment.
“I just kind of stood to the side and, as he ran by me, I snapped a
photo and yelled, ‘Paul! Paul!,”’ said King, a real estate agent. “He
raised his hand and waved, so he knew I was there.”
Manhattan Beach resident Paul King, vice president of construction at
Arden Realty Co., had run the San Diego Marathon with a friend early in
the year and did so well that he qualified for the Boston run.
Though usually a triathlon runner, which requires running, biking and
swimming, Paul King finished in the top 10%.
“The overall experience was phenomenal,” he said. “It was very
difficult, and the final mile was only made possible by the thousands of
people that were lining the route.”
Jo King said about 17,000 people ran the marathon, but the number of
sideline fans rivaled in size.
“It’s very popular, and all along the route there’s people. There’s
not one empty spot,” she said.
The proud mother cheered along with son Jonathan King, a Hollywood
producer who lives in Venice Beach. Her daughter in Palo Alto couldn’t
make it.
“We have a very close family,” Jo King said.
The day before the race began, the three travelers toured Boston,
while Paul King took a short run for part of the day to prepare. Jo and
Jonathan King rode the Duck, an amphibious vehicle that was used in World
War II to transport troops onto the beach, which took them around the
city on land and then onto the Charles River.
They had dinner -- Paul King ate a lot of pasta because carbohydrates
are what runners need -- and woke up early the next morning for the
marathon.
“It was incredible,” Jo King said. “When we met him near the end, as
we got to the buses and he collected his belongings, he walked around
like he wasn’t even tired.”
* Have you, or someone you know, gone on an interesting vacation
recently? Tell us your adventures. Drop us a line to Travel Tales, 330 W.
Bay St., Costa Mesa, CA 92627; e-mail young.chang@latimes.com; or fax to
(949) 646-4170.
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