Campus Profile: Nick & Carol Crandall
Since he was a little kid, Nick Crandall remembers his mom going on runs on a daily basis. Crandall, sophomore Communications major got the opportunity to watch his mom run in the Boston Marathon on this past Monday, April 17. His mom, Carol Crandall, works in Food Production at Dobbin’s.
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His whole life, N. Crandall, has watched his mother go for a run each and every morning either on a treadmill or on the dirt road where they live. She tries to get her kids into running by sharing that it’s a time to admire beauty and reflect on life. However, N. Crandall said, “The most I do is a thirty minute run on the treadmill at Junker when I work out. Usually I get tired after five miles and the most I have ever ran is thirteen.”
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For C. Crandall, it’s different. Running is her passion and she has run multiple marathons in Erie. The Boston Marathon, however, is a whole different story. “Every marathon runner’s dream is to run the Boston Marathon. It’s the only 26.2 mile run that you have to qualify for in the United States. This makes it the hardest to achieve and the most prestigious of all,” she confessed. She had originally qualified in 2015, but was disappointed by the terrible weather that day, so the experience was not what she had hoped. When she got another opportunity to run this year, she felt overjoyed. “This year was my chance at redemption to get the perfect marathon finish,” she said.
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This year, her family and friends were at the race cheering her on, some even running with her on a beautiful day. By the last part of the race, she was exhausted, but the cheering fans are what kept her going. “I couldn’t have run the marathon without their support because there were so many times in the race I thought of giving up,” she shared. Upon finishing the race, she was thrilled to see so many fans, her family and friends. “This is my Boston experience,” she said.
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As for the trip to Boston, N. Crandall was hesitant. He grew up in a very rural area, leading Behrend to be even overwhelming on occasion. “By the day the marathon came I was ready to support my mom no matter what. This is her dream and I wanted to see her complete it,” he said. Luckily he got to see her halfway through the race and also at the finish line, which seemed to fill her with joy. Along with his family, he shared that there was well over 100,000 people cheering on the 30,000 runners. N. Crandall was filled with joy that day and said, “I am very proud of my mom and happy I got to see her accomplish her dream of running the Boston Marathon.”