TAMAQUA - A cross-country effort to raise funds for those affected by the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon came through Schuylkill County on Friday.
The bombings killed three people and injured more than 260, according to The Associated Press.
"Hi. Are you Kathy? Nice to meet you," said Kelly Spreha, 35, of Harrisburg, to Kathy Biscoe, 38, of Frackville, as she and four other runners finished their leg of The One Run for Boston on Route 309 near the Tamaqua Train Station.
Spreha's 11-mile run started in Mahanoy City on Friday morning and arrived near the station at 11:37 a.m. Spreha later handed the torch over to Biscoe so the seven runners - five from Schuylkill County - could run to Snyders. They left at 11:45 a.m. and ran 9 miles to the intersection of routes 895 and 309. From Snyders, runners headed to Ashfield, Carbon County.
Spreha said running from Mahanoy City to Tamaqua was worth it.
"It was tough. There was a lot of hills. We had a great time. We had a lot of fun," she said.
The five who ran from Mahanoy City to Tamaqua were: Spreha, Jon Teter, 27, of Annapolis, Md.; George Stephans, 58, of Arlington, Mass.; Todd Robertson, 38, of Syracuse, N.Y.; and Melanie Cicuto, 28, of Hummelstown.
The relay started June 7 in Los Angeles and will end June 30 in Boston. It covers more than 3,000 miles and winds through 14 states. To date, 1,827 people have joined the cause and money raised through donations and entry fees amounts to $70,762, according to the website onerunforboston.org.
Participating in the effort from Schuylkill County were Biscoe, Nicole Keating, 30, of Pottsville; Karen Graeff, 47, of Newtown; Eric Becker, 32, of Shenandoah; and Andrew Leibenguth, 35, of Tamaqua.
Also accompanying them were Steve Bender, 39, Landenberg, Chester County, and Karen McLaughlin, Kingston, Luzerne County.
Biscoe said she wanted to join in the run because she has two friends who ran in the Boston Marathon, although they were not injured.
"I think they (the bombing suspects, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev) tried to break the runners' spirits," she said.
To display her pride, she wrote on each of her legs using a black Sharpie marker.
The words "beep for us" were on the back of her left leg and "Boston strong" was written on her right leg.
"We're not going to let anybody break our spirit no matter what. We're Boston strong," she said.
McLaughlin ran in the 2012 Boston Marathon and wanted to do something to commemorate the lives lost and the families affected by the tragedy. She has already qualified for the 2014 marathon.
"I'm not going to let what two stupid people did let me be afraid," McLaughlin said.
Bender ran the relay in New Mexico and will also finish the race in Boston.
"It completes the cause for me," he said.