'I just wanted to help'
This was Jodie Ayres Mohnkern's, a 1991 Seneca Valley High School, third time running the iconic Boston Marathon, but it might have been her most memorable.
Not just for the brutal weather — temperatures in the 30s, wind and a torrential downpour — but for her experience with a fellow runner in need, who Mohnkern helped to the finish line.
Between miles 21 and 22, Mohnkern saw an older woman ahead of her begin to collapse. Another woman was also nearby, so they both went to the woman in distress and ran with her the last four miles of the race.
Mohnkern found that the older woman, named Jeannie, was 70 years old and running her 114th marathon.
A photograph from the finish line shows the three women crossing holding hands, with Mohnkern supporting Jeannie.
“We got her to the finish line. That's probably why this is one of my most rewarding medals,” she said.
Jeannie was escorted to a medical tent. Mohnkern said she also ended up in a medical tent later, where she was treated for symptoms of hypothermia and quickly recovered.
Mohnkern finished in Boston this year with a time of 4 hours and 15 minutes. Her personal record in the marathon is 3 hours and 38 minutes.
“I just hope that if I can still be running at 70, someone will help me finish,” she said.
She will run the Pittsburgh Marathon May 6.
Read more about Mohnkern's story and why she started running, in Wednesday's Butler Eagle.
