Brown-Smith Grateful For Boston Marathon Experience

EAST CALAIS – Candace Brown-Smith made the trip from her home in East Calais to run in this year’s Boston Marathon. “Just thinking about participating in the Boston Marathon is so exciting. To train for it, plan the trip, get gear that will serve for the entire race, or at least as far as you want it to, right down to thickness of socks and style of shoes is exhilarating! ”

This year was the seventh time she ran the race. She first ran in 2015, when she was 54. Brown-Smith ran each year through 2018, then virtually during the 2020 pandemic year, and again in 2023. She finished each time.

Brown-Smith said, “At the age of 64, this year I kept more focus on training, health and fitness in general to prepare myself to do well for me.” Her training includes winter running for which she says she screws sheet metal screws into the soles of her shoes to create her version of studded sneakers. She said she makes “concessions during the worst weather,” running on a treadmill inside.

This was the first year she had a real race plan, said Brown-Smith. “And then, you are there!” At the starting line were 28,928 other marathoners. Brown-Smith crossed the starting line at 11:21 a.m., and 50 seconds according to the electronic timing system based on a chip in her numbered bib.

Timing marathon runners to the second matters most to the professionals who started just after 9:30 a.m. Before that military marchers had started at 6 a.m. They were followed by the men’s and women’s wheelchair divisions.

It took Brown-Smith over six minutes to cross the starting line after the fourth and final wave of runners she was in got their signal to start. When she crossed the starting line, the men’s division winner was just 20 minutes from finishing.

Her Daughter Julia Ljungvall met her on the course in Natick, about 10 miles into the race, where they posed for a selfie.

“Everything felt great in the beginning. I was happy, confident, prepared to carry out plan A. My times posted through the 25K mark [15.5 miles] were better than ever,” Brown-Smith said.

“Then, the headache started.”

She says she decided to put it out of her mind. “At first, I was just going to ignore it and finish anyway I could: walk/run, walk, crawl maybe.

“From the neck down, my body was in perfect order. The question was, the headache. After 10 minutes, there was no letup. But when my vision blurred, I decided I had better get checked out.”

Her tests by medical personnel stationed along the course confirmed her sense that there was nothing physically wrong with her from the neck down. Her blood pressure, blood oxygen saturation and heart rate were fine. Her heart rate quickly dropped to 56, she said. That’s low for many, but the sign of a well-trained marathon runner.

A test of her electrolytes showed they were just fine, she said. That’s the sign of a well-executed race plan; she replaced what her body needed as it was being used up during the three hours and roughly thirty minutes she had been running.

Brown-Smith said the next day, “I had made the right decision: to stop.”

She said she hadn’t anticipated all the stimulation of the race, which she suspects affected post-concussion symptoms she was being treated for. With that perspective, she’s been able to see the headache as her body’s reminder that it was time to stop.

“Over the years, many athletes have said, ‘You don’t always have the day you want.’ April 21, 2025, was not ‘the day’ for me. The disappointment was unimaginable,” she said.

“This too will pass. I do not see this disappointment as a ‘fail.’ I embrace this new information and will use it to nurture my growth: physically, emotionally and spiritually. I am grateful for the experience, will learn the lesson, and can even try again if it feels like a good idea.

“Until then, I will deal with what was not successful and celebrate what was,” said Brown-Smith.